ANTH 1102 1ST Edition Lecture 6 Outline of Last Lecture I Gene Flow II Genetic Drif III IV V Macroevolution Common Misconceptions Human Variation and Adaptation a Adaptation is a major source of human phenotypic variation b Adaptation to Temperature Outline of Current Lecture VI Conceptions of Race VII What determines someone s race in the US VIII How do we know a If race has a biological basis Current Lecture Is Race Real or are Racial Categories Natural or Socio cultural Conceptions of Race A popular model of race Widespread assumption that race is a human biological variation Races as biologically discrete categories Linked to phenotypic traits A social scientist s model of race An ethnicity widely believed to be based in biology and genetics Race is a socio cultural category Race Biological standpoint Ethnicity Socio cultural identity What determines someone s race in the US Self identity These 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 Categorization by others Status ascribed at birth based on parentage race also known as Hypodescent Historical legacy of US society ex Legal Segregation When determining race one isn t comparing similar things Instead race defined by the US standards show linguistic geographic and skin pigmentation differences Asian Asia Hispanic Spanish Black Skin How do we know If race has a biological basis 1 It should be objectively identifiable and based on discrete traits traits you either have or you don t 2 Traits should be concordant characteristics of races should occur together 3 Members of particular races should be genetically similar to one another and should be genetically distinct from members of other races Proving each hypothesis WRONG 1 It should be objectively identifiable and based on discrete traits traits you either have or you don t Examining variation in types of traits among members of a population Two variations Discrete variation where everyone can be categorized into specific groups Continuous variation where everyone is slightly different and cannot be placed into specific groups Racial traits are NOT discrete Such as human skin pigmentation the sepia rainbow Skin tone is a continuous trait because it is problematic to cateorgorize Ex Skin tone can be determined by genes UV radiation cosmetic technology cultural aesthetics etc Thus 1 It should be objectively identifiable and based on discrete traits traits you either have or you don t Next Hypothesis 2 Traits should be concordant characteristics of races should occur together Concordance Two traits linked together Predictable patter Human like variation o Ex Of non concordant traits o Height cannot predict hair color Racial traits are NOT concordant in individuals Phenotypes non concordant with racial categories are extremely common Not concordant geographically but Vary due to historical social environmental factors o Ex Hemoglobin variants and sickle cell diseases o Variants with two traits are coincide Ex Hemoglobin and Skin Pigmentation Racial traits are NOT geographically concordant Clinical distribution o A cline refers to a gradual change in the distribution of a trait across the geographic range of a population or species o Ex Skin color Hair form Thus 2 Traits should be concordant characteristics of races should occur together Last Hypothesis 3 Members of particular races should be genetically similar to one another and should be genetically distinct from members of other races Understanding Human Genetic Variation Richard Lewontin s 3 questions 1 How much variation is observed locally 2 How much variation is observed within a purported racial group 3 How much variation is observed between such groups Lewontin found Racial categories only 6 7 different from one another Local populations differed 7 5 85 of all genetic variation in human species is found within any localized group of people Thus 3 Members of particular races should be genetically similar to one another and should be genetically distinct from members of other races All hypotheses cannot be proven by the basis of biology
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