I found this week’s lectures to be really interesting. Especially how we started discussing the topics on race and biology. Since many people do not consider that while thinking of biological studies. Although I am not involved as much as I would like to be in my communities efforts on equality, I am a huge supporter of it and it intrigued me to hear anthropologists thoughts on it.
After reading the statements from the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA) I do agree with their views on race that society perceives. Many people nowadays focus on how everyone looks, from their eyes, skin color, body type, and minor details. This I believe is derived from social media and the “necessity” to be perfect in the public eye. The AAA discussed how racial worldview was created in order to place certain people in lower classes or statuses and how that view can affect how people behaviorally act throughout society. I believe that this is something that is absolutely prevalent in our society today. How people are being targeted for their race and skin color by police, how African American women are being told they cannot wear their natural hair because it is “unprofessional”, and how racial slang is still a major issue throughout the youth of America. These readings made me relate back to an IAH class that I took spring semester of this past year, in which we talked about racist comments, actions, and stereotypes that have become a “norm” in society.
This week’s lectures also got me thinking about how so many people that I grew up with and went to school with have experienced life. Some of my friends, who are African American, had an experience as seniors in high school getting pulled over by cops because of their race. They were told that they were speeding, which they had not been, and the cops told them to get out of the car so they could search it. It frustrates me that racism is still a very present idea in today’s society because there is absolutely no reason that in this day and age that we should be stereotyping anyone. It is crazy to think that just because I am white, that it allows me to live a “safer” life than some of my friends.
After watching the “Misconceptions of Race” this week, made me realize how little many people know about how traits are passed down. In the video, they refer to a trait definition which states that race is “a division of a species which differs from other divisions by the frequency with which certain heredity traits appear among its members” and continue on stating “types and numbers of traits used yield very different categories”. Then bringing up discordance and how a single idea of how one race should look or act, is not correct. I thought that this was an extremely thorough way of describing how race is not necessarily something that can be supported with scientific evidence and biological facts.
Overall, this week has helped open my eyes into the minds of anthropologists and how they view the connection between race and biology. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
Hi Megan, I had a great time reading your blog post and thought it was very informative. I also thought that this week’s lectures were particularly interesting. I appreciate that you support equality between races and want to get more involved! We could always use more allies. I agree that race was invented to place people in lower classes and justify cruel behavior such as slavery. I also agree that these racial differences are incredibly prevalent in our society today. Minorities and people of color are constantly being discriminated against all over the world. I have also had African American friends of mine tell me stories of being approached by police officers for no reason other than living while black. So, I agree that this man made concept has evolved and is still used to justify discrimination today.
Hey! I enjoyed reading your posts. You made a good point about social media. In the 19th and 20th century, you were judged based on your color. Like, stated in the article darker skin was associated with inferior traits, which caused black and indians to be less inferior and white to be superior. In today’s society, people are still judged on physical traits but more on body shape like butt, breasts, skinny, and fat due to social media. Social media has caused people to feel there is a way that we are “suppose’ to look and any other way is considered to be ugly.
Hi Megan!
First, I definitely agree with the fact that the reason why the old terms of race, race being based on appearance, are still around today is because of social media and the necessity to fit in. Social media puts a pressure on everyone to look a certain way. Whether it is to generally to have a specific body shape or to fit into the race or profile one feels they should fit into. I believe it is a good thing that the AAA and AAPA debunk these misconceptions to not only show people that still have these beliefs but to show the media that one should not feel like they have to fit into a specific category. I also enjoyed when you mentioned the part of the “Misconceptions of Race” video when explaining that the idea of one single idea of race does not exist. In fact, like what both the AAA and AAPA statement mentioned was that none of us are a pure bred anymore. Plus, each trait is not dependent on another but happen to occur together.
Hello Megan!
I read a couple people’s blog posts and I think you’re truly stood out to me. I related to a lot of the things you wrote in your blog post. I also agree that it is tremendously frustrating and sad that there is still racism and reading about what happened to your friends really bothered me. I think that is absolutely crazy and absurd that a cop can even do such of a thing, especially since the cop did not have a reason to pull them over. One thing that I learned today was that African Americans are frowned upon to wear their natural hair due to it looking “unprofessional”. I never even knew that has happened and happens today. That is absolutely so sad and makes me honestly think way differently about society now a days and kind of makes me feel ashamed. Overall, this was a great read and eye opening.