Racism is a kind of self-centered attitude. People with racism hold the opinion that the racial differences determine human social history and cultural development, and their own groups, such as race, nationality or the country, belonging, are superior to other groups. Some people might define race based on the physical traits of human beings, like skin color, the color of the hair, the facial structures, but the anthropologists and biologists believe that such classifications of human beings are not scientific at all. Instead of physically or biologically constructed concepts, the term race is a socially constructed concept.
In AAPA Statement on Biological Aspects of Race, they discussed the human variations from a biological perspective. I have learned that firstly, in terms of the taxonomy, all human beings belong to the same species, Homo sapiens. Though we might have different traits after the long history of environmental and genetic influences, there are no reproductive isolation in our species, and no biological barriers between people from different regions with different traits.
Secondly, for human beings, we are not static animals living in fixed locations. We might migrations from one place to another, so it is impossible to set a clear boundary between different groups of people. Also, mating might introduce new differences and diminish the current differences within groups.
Thirdly, quote this statement as saying, “there is no necessary concordance between biological characteristics and culturally defined groups”. (AAPA) For example, a people with a light skin color might be exposed in a tropical island, enjoying the sunshine and having darker and darker skins. Even for people with the black skin, their traditions, languages, religions, and other cultural elements might be different, too.
For the AAA Statement on Race, I think the most important information is that “physical variations in any given trait tend to occur gradually rather than abruptly over geographic areas”. (AAA) We could imagine a very long process, and in this process, the environmental factors, like the UV radiation from the sun, and the genetic factors, combined with each other, and gradually form the physical traits we see now. Also, as mentioned before, it is really hard to draw a clear line based on the appearances of human beings.
After reading these two statements, I think the physical characteristics should not be the foundation for prejudgments. If we still put emphasis on the so-called racial differences, it might result in more tensions and conflicts in the society, the persecution on the vulnerable groups, and the errors we have committed history might be repeated again.
At last, racism originated in the late 19th century. I think it is an excuse for the imperial and powerful groups to maintain their dominance and their privilege, rather than a scientific classification of human beings. In the United States, the black people were regarded as inferior, and their black race provided an excuse or justification for the white race to treat and use them as slaves. Gradually, race becomes a kind of worldview, a social problem, while when people discuss about race and even commit racial discriminations, they seldom question the origin of this concept.
References
AAPA. AAPA Statement on Biological Aspects of Race. Course reading.
AAA. AAA Statement on Race. Retrieved from https://www.americananthro.org/ConnectWithAAA/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=2583
Hi! I really enjoyed your post and how it addressed many aspects of the readings. I liked the part where you talked about how humans are not static beings, noting it is hard to set boundaries between different groups of people. I found it important to also distinguish that since we are mobile, someone originating from one population area can relocate to another population and then mate, creating diversity within population areas. Your statement regarding physical differences being based off of environmental and genetic differences was similar to what I talked about in my blog, in which I noted that environmental differences were part of the reason for cultural differences and not due to the fact that people were from different “races.” I also noted that a being within the same species is often defined as being able to successfully mate, producing different viable offspring, which humans of different populations are clearly able to do.
Madison Diamond
I agree with what we learned and what you chose to focus on in your post. I think the biggest problem with the concept of race is its socially constructed origin. I think when looking at the background of this topic its so deeply rooted in history around the world. In the quote you brought up about reproductive isolation we as humans were capable of avoiding and not being constricted to reproductive isolation and therefore our differences seen are majorly impacted by the different environments in which people reproduced and grew up in. I think that you did a great job explaining how this impacted the continuation of prejudice and racism still to this day in our society and in places around the world. Therefore, I think that it is important for it to become a prominent understanding that there is really no genetic or biological superiorities or inferiorities between different physical characteristics that define the races that we are all classified into.