Chapter 12 Pt 3 Race

Historical Views of Human Variation Biological determinism - cultural and biological variations are inherited in the same way. Eugenics - "race improvement" through forced sterilization of members of some groups and encouraged reproduction among others.

Traditional Concept of Race Since the 1600s, race has been used to refer to culturally defined groups. Race is used as a biological term, but has enormous social significance. In any racial group, there will be individuals who fall into the normal range of variation for another group for one or several characteristics.

Polytypic A polytypic species is composed of local populations that differ in the expression of one or more traits. Even within local populations, there’s a great deal of genotypic and phenotypic variation between individuals. All contemporary humans are members of the same polytypic species, Homo sapiens.

Intelligence Genetic and environmental factors contribute to intelligence. IQ scores change during a person’s lifetime; average IQ scores of different populations overlap. Complex cognitive abilities, however measured, are influenced by many genes and are thus polygenic . Individual abilities result from complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors. No convincing evidence exists that populations vary in their cognitive abilities, regardless of what some popular books suggest.

What is Race? We all know what “race” means… or do we? Take a moment to quietly think about how you define “race”. Write down a list of what you associate with “race” as a concept. Discuss in class.

What is Race? The term race has been used to refer to everything from a presumed biological unit (“White”) an ethnic and/or religious group (“Jewish”) a regional origin (“South Asian”) and a nationality (“Irish”).

Biological Race From a biological standpoint, race is defined as “a division of a species that differs from other divisions by the frequency with which certain hereditary traits appear among its members.” This means races- if biologically valid- are actually different subspecies of human.

Biological Race A geographically-based approach attempts to associate certain traits with certain populations in certain areas. This approach dominated during the 19th to mid-20th centuries. Some, such as the “Creativity Movement” (World Church of the Creator), continue to use this construct of race. (http://videos.howstuffworks.com/tlc/29968-understanding-world-church-of-the-creator-video.htm)

Problems with the Biological Race Concept But human variation is a continuum because of constant mixing (GF!) through time. If they were a biological reality, there would be an agreement on geographic races. To challenge this approach further, human populations are unusually closely related genetically.

Map of Races of the World, 1922

Map of Races of the World, 1922 In this map that Australian Aboriginals and southern Indians were lumped with Sub-Saharan Africans because of similar skin, eye, and hair color alone.

A Nine-Race Geographical Taxonomy Notice Saudi Arabia, the Levant (incl. Israel), and N. Africa.

Problems with the Biological Race Concept Based on superficial traits, especially skin, hair, and facial structure, many use European/White/Caucasoid African/Black/Negroid Asian/Yellow/Mongoloid Because these traits are continuous, there has never been agreement on the number of races.

Problems with the Biological Race Concept The idea of races is based on trying to divide the continuum into some arbitrary number of discrete units. There are no naturally occurring discrete groups. Skin color occurs in a continuum. Where one decides to separate white from brown from black is purely arbitrary.

Problems with the Biological Race Concept Biologically, there is one human subspecies: Homo sapiens sapiens. Scientific data show only 10% of total human variation exists between any two ‘racial’ populations. 90% exists within any given ‘racial’ population. In other words, there is much more variation within than between populations!

Problems with the Biological Race Concept Skin color, the basis of most racial taxonomies, is atypical. There is more variation in skin color between than within regions, and many traits are identifiable to region. But, as demonstrated by the Indian, Aboriginal, and African example, this is because of NS and tells us nothing about common ancestry.

Cultural Construction of Race Race is a culturally constructed category, based on perceived physical differences. The so-called three ‘great races’ (Caucasoid, Negroid, and Mongoloid) reflect European colonial politics rather than human biological diversity.

Cultural Construction of Race All racial categories reflect nationalism or other socio-cultural concerns (the ‘Jewish race’, the ‘Irish race’, the ‘Aryan race’ etc.).

Cultural Construction of Race Scientists have found no sufficient biological differences to support the idea of race as a biological reality. No one race is significantly different from any other in terms of biology, genetically-hardwired behavior, or intelligence.

Cultural Construction of Race Race implies hereditary differences between peoples and is used to justify social stratification. Race becomes a social reality with enormous impact on the circumstances of peoples’ lives.

Cultural Construction of Race Norton & Sommers 2011 Matthews 2013 20/20 videos Gravlee 2009 Cantwell & Wall 2001 NPR 2012

American Anthropological Association There is greater genetic variation within racial groups than between them. Physical variations are distributed gradually and have no meaning other than the social ones attributed to them. Historically, racial categories have been used to divide, rank, and control populations. Romani Slave poster, Bucharest, Romania 1856

Genetic Ancestry & Cultural Identity One aspect of Physical Anthro is to address questions of both genetic ancestry and culturally constructed identity. Many assume their biological ancestry directly corresponds to their cultural ancestry- often in terms of socially constructed ideas of ethnicity, race, and/or religion.

Ethnic Groups Categories of people who see themselves as sharing an ethnic identity that differentiates them from other groups based on language, religion, geography, history, ancestry, and/or physical traits. Ethnic identity - The sense of self one experiences as a member of an ethnic group. Ethnic boundaries - Perceived cultural attributes by which ethnic groups distinguish themselves.

Ethnicity vs. Race Race refers to perceptions of physical differences. Ethnicity refers to perceptions of cultural differences. Ethnicity can transform into race when cultural differences become assumed biological differences. Hutu and Tutsi in Rwanda

Genetic Ancestry & Cultural Identity Ethnic and national identities are often legitimized by myths that portray cultural and biological ancestry as the same thing. These myths typically Portray the dominant ethnic group as “pure” and homogenous and others as “impure,” less valid, or less human. Downplay or dismiss GF in the past (We are the “pure” people).

Genetic Ancestry & Cultural Identity This means that in most cases, a group’s past is constructed or reconstructed. This mythic past of ethnic purity is appropriated in order to legitimize ethnic and other identities. Such uses of the past often involve beliefs in political, cultural, and sometimes genetic superiority.

Genetic Ancestry & Cultural Identity This is especially the case during periods of cultural change and society is under stress. Relational ethnogenesis: conflated real and perceived differences from other groups. This occurs when groups are in conflict and during nation-building/nationalism (colonialism, Nazis, Napoleon, etc.).

The most extreme case of nationalist ethnogenesis…

Genetic Ancestry of African- Americans An analysis of allele frequencies from Africans, Europeans, and African Americans shows that there were different degrees of GF of varying degrees in different regions of the U.S.

Genetic Ancestry of African- Americans (Fig. 15.6)

Genetic Ancestry of African- Americans This illustrates how many genetically diverse people can identify with one culturally constructed group, in this case African American.

Is President Obama “Black”? ”’Obama's mother is of white U.S. stock. His father is a black Kenyan,’ Stanley Crouch recently sniffed in a New York Daily News column entitled ‘What Obama Isn't: Black Like Me’.” (Time 02/1/07)

Is President Obama “Black”? ”’Black, in our political and social vocabulary, means those descended from West African slaves,’ wrote Debra Dickerson on the liberal website Salon.” (Time 02/1/07)

Is President Obama “Black”? The fact that members of the African-American community have opposing views of this- despite themselves having mixed genetic ancestry mostly likely- demonstrates the cultural- and not biological- reality of race. However, due to the rule of hypodescent, most Whites consider him “Black”.

What Does It Mean to Be Jewish? According to Jewish tradition, being ethnically Jewish follows an unbroken matrilineal descent (passed on by the mother). Typically the mother must be ethnically Jewish or converted for her children to be considered Jewish. This means an emic perception of being a distinct genetic population.

What Does It Mean to Be Jewish? Recent genetic studies of Mizrahi, Sephardi, Ashkenazi, and Ethiopian Jews have found that all but the Ethiopian populations do cluster together. The Mizrahi are from the Near East, while the Sephardi are from Spain, and the Ashkenazi are from Eastern and Central Europe.

What Does It Mean to Be Jewish? This means Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews share a Levantine Semitic origin. However, there is ethnic conflict between the two Jewish groups. For example, in 2010 there were demonstrations by Sephardi Jews who wanted to keep public schools segregated between Sephardi and Ashkenazi in Israel.

What Does It Mean to Be Jewish? While non-Ethiopian Jews do plot closely, the genetic data also indicate that the Ashkenazi plot closer to Eastern Europeans. This suggests significant GF with non-Jewish populations despite the strong tradition of endogamy. It is also unlikely that this resulted only from conversion.

What Does It Mean to Be Jewish? The Ethiopian Jews speak Ge’ez, a South Semitic language. However, data from genetic studies show they mostly descended from indigenous Ethiopians, not Jews from the Levant. This suggests their ancestors adopted a Jewish ethnicity and religion. Their form of Judaism also shows indigenous Ethiopian elements (syncretism).

What Does It Mean to Be Jewish?