RaceANP 489

Marissa Marinello, Mariah Hall, Dejonia Mitchell

Applying Anthropology ch. 8- racial determinism:

- there are genetically based inequalities between social groups

- how does race become biology

- the logic of race is based on three mistakes:

- race = human biological variation

- biology = genetics

- race is a myth

How Race Becomes Biology- Does race exist?

- a natural biological division

- a socio-cultural phenomenon that has force in peoples lives

- Race as a social/cultural construction

- Two senses in which race becomes biology:

- the sociocultural reality of race and racism has biological consequences for racially defined

groups

- epidemiological evidence for racial inequalities in health reinforces public understanding of

race as biology

How Race Becomes Biology- Critique of race: three ways

- Race and Health

- racial-genetic determinism persists because of the uncritical use of race in biomedical

sciences and public health

- race is widely used in articles but it is seldom defined

- race as a proxy for unspecified factors (environmental, behavioral, genetic)

Race and Human Genetic Variation- just because humans can be divided into five clusters does not mean the are

naturally divided

- genetic difference is strongly associated with geographic distance between

populations

- genetic variation within a certain group

- the race concept is inadequate for describing the complex structure of human

genetic variation

Biology and Genetics How race becomes biology

- reductionism and genetic determinism play a role in our understanding of race

and biology

- “the idea that it is dangerous to discuss biological differences among racially defined

groups makes sense only if we implicitly reduce biology to genetics and ignore the

causal influence of external environmental factors on human biology”

- embodiment:

- “a concept referring to how we literally incorporate, biologically, the material and

social world in which we live, from conception to death; a corollary is that no aspect of

our biology can be understood absent knowledge of history and individual and societal

ways of living”

- descendants of immigrants embodied the new american environment

- plasticity as a central construct in human biology

Biology and Genetics- many effects of racism on health

- unfair treatment/discrimination leads to higher levels of stress

- institutionalized racism contributes to racial disparities in health

- constraints on opportunities

- creates pathogenic social contexts

- time has an effect on race

- social disadvantage may be passed from generation to generation

- toxic effects of exposure to racism in one’s lifetime include a higher risk of

hypertension and other conditions and can impact the health of the next

generation

Race is not a Myth - “No race” anthropology

- no biological races of humankind

- no discussion of race in anthropology

- conceptualization of race as a cultural construct needs to be refined

- cannot be a whole dismissal of human biological diversity

- race as a cultural construct needs to become a starting point for empirical research

rather than an end point in the dismissal of race

- how race becomes biology:

- systemic racism becomes embodied in the biology of racialized groups and individuals

- embodied inequalities reinforce a racialized understanding of human biology

- critique of race needs to be refined:

- to clarify why recent genetic findings do not warrant a return to racial thinking

- promote a more complex, biocultural view of human bio

- revise the conceptualization of race so that it becomes more than a mantra

Race in Historical Archaeology - ethnic markers:

- specific artifacts that could be associated with certain peoples or “ethnic peoplehoods.”

- Associating race with ethnicity

- failure to address race and racism

- Is it possible to differentiate between ethnic, racial, and class designations when

looking at material artifacts?

- Is race only attached to people of color?

- African Americans and the Irish

Understanding Race- Chronicle of race history

- includes detailed description of critical events

- looks from the time gained a more intense meaning until

modern days and the different ways that race has been

used as an excuse to oppress People of Color

- Shows the change in definitions surrounding

whiteness (i.e. the Irish, Eastern European

immigrants)

- Details traditional views on race as a

difference biologically between so-called

races

- Uses genetics to show biological patterns

and variance between and in races

- “Asians and Europeans possess almost the same

set of variations. Most variations found in Asians

and Europeans are also found in Africans.”

Race and Human Variation

Ignorance About Race is Killing US - Old racist stereotypes and false-truths still passed as facts within white America

- Black men rape white women in disproportionate numbers

- 65% of people arrested for “forcible rape” are white men and make up 70% of those arrested

for crimes, but Black people are imprisoned 6x more

- Racist portrayals of masculinity in tv, science, music, and video games

- How are these myths used as excuses for modern day prejudice and hate?

- How to counter it?

Review of Henry Louis Gates’s Extended Family- Faces of America looks at genetic testing to

identify celebrities ‘racial makeup’ using

genetic indicators that suggest race

- looks at race from a biological standpoint

and identifies histories without any

significant social context for viewers

- race is deeply affected and influenced by

social norms and contexts

How Grave Robbers and Medical Students Helped Dehumanize 19th Century Blacks and the poor -

Class thoughts on the article

Our Thoughts on Medical schools dehumanizing Blacks and the PoorWhy were African American bodies favored over others?

If Medicine is advancing due to the dissection of bodies why do people of color and

poverty see it as a treat?

If the work of these student is advancing medicine why are people very outraged?

Would it make more sense to use white bodies then black bodies for white health

advancements?

What issues in the African American community today is affected by the practices of

the 19th century dissections?

Questions?????

The R-Word

Class Thoughts???

Our Thoughts on the R-Word● Should the NAACP change their name?

● Does the name suggest racism?

● What is the definition of Race?

● Race is a group of people thought to share certain distinctive physical

characteristics, such as skin color and structural features.

● what make a person racist?

● Can you turn being racist on and off?

● Are their Blacks who are racist?

Questions????

Anthropology and Racial Politics