Race and Biology
Most people in our society acknowledge race. Race along with gender constitute the major components of the first impression we have of a stranger. Both race and gender entail certain assumptions, many of them unconscious. The way we classify someone racially may inform what we think about them.
What is race? Does what we know about the genetics of humans support the notion of race? Or, to put it another way—is race biological?
To think about race, we have to distinguish race from other ways we have of characterizing people. The definition of race is vague, and has changed over time. For example, here is one popular conception of the recognized races around 1900. A concept of race is especially problematic when we also consider ethnicity and nationality. Race refers to “major biological divisions” of humanity (biological in this case means that the characteristics defining race are physical traits). Ethnicity refers to cultural background (things you learn in your lifetime). Nationality is the country with which you identify, are a citizen of, and likely live in. Sometimes there is a lot of overlap. For example, French, Italian, Iraqi, and Mexican are nationalities, but they are also ethnicities. They are not considered to be races today. If you went to Italy you could find Italians of different “races” and even ethnicities: White, Black, Asian. To be Italian as a nationality means you are a citizen of Italy. To be Italian ethnically means you were brought up in the culture of Italy, probably speak Italian, eat Italian food, etc. Race, on the other hand, as we recognize it today, is not the language you speak, the food you eat, the culture you express—it is something a bit more vague than that.
Keep in mind that race is a very different issue in the United States than it is elsewhere. We have a horrific history related to a certain group of people from West Africa who we call Black or African American. In other parts of the world, Black can refer to other groups, like Pacific Islanders, Australian Aborigines, or people from other parts of Africa. Similarly, African American means a black person to us, but there are lots of white people in Africa who, if they moved here, would be African Americans.
There is another major complexity in distinguishing race from ethnicity in the United States. Latinx, Hispanic, and Mexican peoples have a unique conception of race. The US Census says, “Hispanic origin can be viewed as the heritage, nationality, lineage, or country of birth of the person or the person’s parents or ancestors before arriving in the United States. People who identify as Hispanic, Latinx, or Spanish may be any race.” However, over a third of Latinx people refused to pick a race category and checked “other” on the last census. Many of them indicated that they consider their hispanic heritage as part of their racial identity.
1. List the different races (not ethnicities or nationalities) you recognize.
Es_Estefanyyy
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2.As you just read, some scientists do not think race is a biological feature of the human species. What scientific evidence do they base their rejection of the concept on? Write 2-3 paragraphs addressing the evidence for race not being biological.
Es_Estefanyyy
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3.Some scientists believe that race is biological. How do they define races? On what scientific basis do they claim to be able to identify races? Write 2-3 paragraphs addressing the evidence for race being biological.
Es_Estefanyyy
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4.Which set of arguments (race is or is not biological) do you find most persuasive? Why?
Es_Estefanyyy
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5.People who think in terms of race claim that each race has a distinct genetic profile. Obviously, humans do vary genetically from place to place. What three factors influence the pattern of human genetic variation?
Es_Estefanyyy
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Below is an evolutionary tree of humans. The figure shows time from the bottom (about 200,000 years ago) to today (at the top). Notice that humans existed in Africa for 100,000 years before migrating to other parts of the world. There are many lineages of humans in Africa (all the initial offshoots or lineages of the human family tree), and thus great genetic diversity. The groups that left Africa have less genetic diversity because they originated as small groups of people who had only a subset of human genetic diversity.
The tree consists of a set of lineages (groups of people descended from a common ancestral population). A lineage is a biological group—a group composed of a common ancestor and all its descendants. Each branch point represents a common ancestor for the two lineages that diverge from that point. Two important common ancestors are highlighted: the common ancestor of all modern humans, which was most likely a population of around 10,000 individuals who lived about 200,000 years ago. The other is a small group of people who left Africa and reached Europe by about 100,000 years ago.Looking at the evolutionary tree of modern humans, explain why African peoples are not a biological group. Would White (European), Native American and East Asian people be biological groups?
7. What does this tree suggest about human diversity in Africa?
