For this weeks blog post, we have the pleasure talking about race, and not only the general worldview of different races, but specifically how anthropologists view race and how they approach it. In my opinion, talking about race is an incredibly important thing. My dad was raised in Detroit and went to DPS his entire life, and being around successful, predominantly African American peers growing up really taught him a lot about how he views race compared to many other people view it, and he embraced those lessons and in turn taught me the same things.
I am really enjoying this class not because i have a general interest in anthropology, but I simply did not know that anthropology extended its reaches into issues such as race, and being able to read the AAA article and the AAPA article was super refreshing and a really great read.
The article that i will be focusing on is that of the American Anthropological Association. Like i said, i did enjoy the article from the AAPA, but i found the one from AAA to be a bit more in depth and i enjoyed reading it more. The one quote from this article that made me legitimately stop and think was “Evidence from the analysis of genetics (e.g., DNA) indicates that most physical variation, about 94%, lies within so-called racial groups. Conventional geographic “racial” groupings differ from one another only in about 6% of their genes.” This fact alone says so much about how ridiculous claims of such big differences in race are. Only 6%?! Thats insane! Not only is this quote quite mind blowing, but it indirectly calls out peoples perspective on race, and actively tries to change that mind set with evidence and reasoning that you simply cannot dispute.
Another quote that i found to be especially powerful was ” The “racial” worldview was invented to assign some groups to perpetual low status, while others were permitted access to privilege, power, and wealth.” This quote not only shows a big determining factor as to why ideas behind race were created, but i really calls those ideas into another light and questions the status quo of why there is prejudice and the motives behind it.
When talking about the non-existence of biological race and how i would explain it to somebody who has never heard about it, i would make sure to make my statements clear and concise. I believe losing all the fill in with such a conversation is important, and sticking to what you believe in and what matters. Along with the arguments made within the AAA and the AAPA articles, in our lectures, it also talks about genetic difference and the vitamin D theory, which both talk about geographics of a certain population and how it affects things such as skin tone. With this in mind, you could explain to a person that that certain population just evolved to have darker skin tones in order to adapt to the hot sun.
Race is a super important topic to talk about and keep talking about, so I am glad that i got the opportunity to talk and to learn more about it this week!
I completely agree with you in that I never knew that anthropology covered topics such as race, and that the perspective anthropology brings to the race discussion is very important. I definitely feel like the AAA statement was intentionally calling out the typical person’s viewpoint of race, as had a more direct way of telling how unreasonable and foolish the idea of race is. I like how your idea of making your statements very clear and concise if you were to explain the non-existence of biological race to someone, because I think otherwise you risk unintentionally letting the facts go over someone’s head. Using simple words and facts seems like the easiest and best way to explain to someone without leading to an argument or disagreement. Race is an important topic and one in which everyone in the world is affected by, one way or another.
Hi Jack!
I would have to completely agree with you that before taking this class, I had no idea how far anthropology extended into other areas such as race. I’ve really enjoyed, and look forward to, learning even more about how anthropology overlaps into our daily lives without always being aware of it. I love how you included the percentages about genes and DNA between individuals. When I read this statistic, I was taken back just as you were. I couldn’t believe the percentage! I liked your ideas about how you would explain the non-existence of biological race to those unfamiliar with it. You have great ideas and I think I would take a similar route as you described to convey the non-existence of biological race.
I think your approach to talking about biological race is really important! I know that I have tried to have conversations with my own family members about race and it hasn’t always gone over well. Being concise and presenting facts that we’ve learned from this class (and otherwise). I’ve tried to explain in my post and other comments that it’s hard to talk about race because of the cultural aspect. Not to be sappy but I do think that spending time with other groups of people is important to understand that humans really are the same and of the same “race.” My mother spent her early life in Forest Hills which was pre-dominantly white. She then spent 25 years working in Grand Rapids Public Schools, Lansing Public Schools, and Detroit Public Schools. Just being around more diverse communities has done a lot for her understanding of race. I do think we have to have a lot of conversations about race, both culturally and biologically.
Like yourself, I also have no interest in becoming an anthropologist nor did I have a general interest in anthropology. But I took this class because I really enjoyed medical anthropology, that class touched on many topics that were eye opening and that made very strong points. I didn’t know we would touch on race, and I think in today’s society, especially the United States right now ‘race’ is such an important topic. I myself chose the same statement from the AAA on the fact that there is only a 6% difference biologically in the genes of separate races. And that there was found to be more variation within these so-called ‘races’, compared to looking race vs race. Along with history, this idea of race was put into place more for a social hierarchy. Race was the driving force of substantial historical events, the idea of race allowed for the hierarchy to place allowing some to thrive off others.
Before this class I really did not know what anthropology was and how great of an impact it has on our lives. I never consider the topic of race to be apart of this field until now. I found the articles extremely interesting as well. The fact that there is such little biological difference between races yet society treats us as so different from one another. We really do live in a world that is separate and divided from each other. Understanding the non-existence of biological race would bring communities together. Instead of focusing on our differences in income, culture, etc. we could instead see each other as equals as we are not all that different. I do agree that teaching people the vitamin D theory would also give a better understanding of why we seem ‘different’ from one another, yet we really have a lot in common.
Hi Jack! Even though I don’t have an interest in pursuing anthropology as a career, I also enjoy learning about all the surprising connections that come with learning about this topic; especially this week, being able to learn scientific facts about the topic that has caused countless social issues that still occur today. I read the AAA article first, and also agree that the one statement involving the evidence that only 6% of human genes differ from one another was a great way to start their discussion. You pulled great quotes from the AAA article, however, I wish you would have gotten into a little more depth about explaining why you like them and what they mean to you rather than simply stating that these quotes “call out people’s perspective” or “calls ideas into another light”. Seeming that you are passionate about this topic, I would have liked to hear more about what you see personally and how this affects your thinking, rather than sharing more about your father’s experiences. Nonetheless, I did appreciate how you recognize this topic to be very important and are eager to learn more about how this all connects with anthropology!
Hello Jack!
I enjoyed hearing about your personal experience with race. I also did not know that anthropologists studied things like this. Talking about race reminds me of my minor in sociology. It makes me happy that we talk about these topics in this class and not just science/history! I too could not believe that there is such a small biological difference of just 6 percent. I think if the general population knew about this, there would be a lot more talk about it in the news. Race is such a big political and worldwide issue right now, and being educated is definitely the key. I am excited for a future when these things do not matter and we all accept each other as homo sapiens!
thanks for sharing
Hey Jack , I just wanted to commend you for creating such a well written blog. I found quite a few things interesting while reading your blog. I also never really knew that anthropologist cover such things like the topic of race. When it comes to skin tone, people associate different shades to match certain behaviors such as speech tone and pattern, mood, and even food, diet and health. And I definitely believe that these boundaries are what society tells us to judge each other by and the categories that we see ourselves in aren’t there. These categories limit the people that didn’t create the system and were historically exploited say for instance the black woman has always been at the bottom of this social structure because she is the darkest and she is a female. This opposes the white male who created the structure to justify racism and try to maintain control of groups of people around the world that they colonize (with darker skin).