ANTH 102 1nd Edition Lecture 19 Outline of Last Lecture RaceI. Folk Taxonomiesa. DefinitionII. Anthropological Classifications of Human VariationIII. Early Attempts at Classificationa. Linneaus (1707-1778) b. Blumenbach (1752-1840) IV. Concept of Human Racesa. Do human “races” really exist?V. Race and Social IssuesVI. Race and Intelligencea. Case studyi. JapanVII. Concluding remarksOutline of Current Lecture Ethnicity and RaceI. Ethnic Groups and Ethnicitya. Ethnic groupb. Ethnicityc. Ethnic Feelingsd. Statusi. Ascribed statusii. Achieved statuse. Status shiftingII. Human Biological Diversity and the Race Concepta. Historically, scientists approached the study of human biology in two waysi. Racial classificationii. Explanatory approachb. Races are not biologically distinctIII. Explaining skin colora. Skin color is a complex biological trait influenced by several genesi. MelaninThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.b. Researchers on this topici. Loomisii. Jablonski and ChaplinIV. The AAA Race ProjectV. Race and EthnicityVI. Hypodescent: Race in the USAa. Rule of descentb. HypodescentVII. Race in the Censusa. USAb. CanadaCurrent LectureEthnicity and RaceI. Ethnic Groups and Ethnicitya. Ethnic groupi. Group whose members share certain beliefs, values, habits, customs, and norms because of their common backgroundb. Ethnicityi. Identification with, and feeling part of, an ethnic group and exclusion from certain other groups because of this affiliationc. Ethnic Feelingsi. Ethnic feelings and associated behaviors vary in intensity within ethnic groups and countries and over timeii. Cultural differences may be associated with ethnicity, class, region or religiond. Statusi. Positions people occupy in societyii. Ascribed status1. Little or no choice about occupying the status giveniii. Achieved status1. Through choices, actions, efforts, talents or accomplishments, andmay be positive or negativeiv. Idea: money whitens, raises statuse. Status shiftingi. Some statuses, particularly ascribed ones, can be mutually exclusiveii. Some are contextual1. Situational negotiation of social identitya. Ex. moving to a new placeiii. In many societies, ascribed status associated with position in the sociopolitical hierarchy1. Inferior power and less secure access to resources than majority groupsII. Human Biological Diversity and the Race Concepta. Historically, scientists approached the study of human biology in two waysi. Racial classification1. Attempt to assign humans to discrete categories (purportedly) based on common ancestry2. Biological race would be a geographically isolated subdivision of a species in theory3. Now largely rejected4. Phenotypic traitsa. Use organism’s evident traits-anatomy and physiologyb. Overly simplistic classification compatible with political useof race during the colonial periodc. Kept white Europeans separate from African, Asian, and Native American subjectsii. Explanatory approachb. Races are not biologically distincti. “Color based” race labels are not accurateii. Many populations don’t fit neatly into any one of the three “great races”iii. No single trait can be used as basis for racial classificationiv. Phenotypic similarities, differences don’t necessarily have genetic basisIII. Explaining skin colora. Traditional racial classification assumes biological characteristics are determined by heredity and are stableb. Role of natural selection in producing variation in skin color offers explanatory approach to human biological diversityc. Skin color is a complex biological trait influenced by several genesi. Melanin1. Natural sunscreen produced by skin cells responsible for pigmentation2. By screening out UV radiation from sun, melanin offers protection against a variety of problems including sunburn and skin cancerd. Before the 16th century very dark-skinned populations lived in the tropicsi. Belt extending about 23d north and south of the equatorii. Outside the tropics skin color tends to be lighteriii. Melanin confers a selective advantage on darker-skinned people living in the tropicse. Researchers on this topici. Loomis1. Role of UV radiation in stimulating vitamin Dii. Jablonski and Chaplin1. Explain geographic distribution of skin color involved effects of UV on folate, used to manufacture folic acida. Protects against all UV hazardsb. Provides an adequate supply of vitamin DIV. The AAA Race Projecta. Key component: Award-winning public education program titled “RACE are we sodifferent?”b. Traveling museum exhibitc. Highlights race as human inventiond. Culture, not biologye. Race and racism are embedded institutions in everyday lifef. www.understandingrace.orgV. Race and Ethnicitya. Race is a cultural category rather than a biological realityb. Only cultural constructions of race are possiblec. US culture does not draw a very clear line between ethnicity and racei. “Hispanic” is an ethnic category that cuts across racial contrasts like “white” and “black”ii. Better to use ethnic group than raceVI. Hypodescent: Race in the USAa. In US culture, racial identity is acquired at birthb. Rule of descenti. Assigns social identity on the basis of ancestryc. Hypodescenti. Automatically places children of mixed marriages into the group of their minority parentd. Divides United States society into groups unequal in their access to wealth, power, and prestigeVII. Race in the Censusa. US Census Bureau gathering data by race since 1790i. The Constitution specified that a slave counted as 3/5 of a white personii. Attempts to add a “multiracial” category to the Census opposed by the NAACP and National Council of La Razab. Canada census asks about “visible minorities”i. Persons other than Aboriginal peoples who are non-Caucasian in race or nonwhite in colorii. Canada’s visible minority population increasing