Anyway, the AAA has this website set up to explain race and human variation, which is quite good:
RACE Are We So Different?
We expect people to look different. And why not? Like a fingerprint, each person is unique. Every person represents a one-of-a-kind, combination of their parents’, grandparents’ and family’s ancestry. And every person experiences life somewhat differently than others.
Differences… they’re a cause for joy and sorrow. We celebrate differences in personal identity, family background, country and language. At the same time, differences among people have been the basis for discrimination and oppression.
Yet, are we so different? Current science tells us we share a common ancestry and the differences among people we see are natural variations, results of migration, marriage and adaptation to different environments. How does this fit with the idea of race?
Looking through the eyes of history, science and lived experience, the RACE Project explains differences among people and reveals the reality – and unreality – of race. The story of race is complex and may challenge how we think about race and human variation, about the differences and similarities among people.
If you're interested, take a look! It has a lot of information on biological terms (which are useful to understand anyways), plus stuff on the history of "race" in the US and so on. At least then you will be able to explain to your friends about why race is a "social construct"!
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6 comments:
Is race any more or less real than the state? Are any cultural constructs 'real'?
Do anthropologists study non-reality? As opposed to, say, geologists?
As Bill Hicks said, "Life is just a dream. We're all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively through imagination... Here's Tom with the weather!"
Yeah, well this was a follow-up question, "Is animal taxonomy a social construct?" Which, yes, it is... but in a different sense than race.
I'd say that State is also real and unreal in a different sense too! Category mistake!!!
Does using State instead of state indicate that you accept the state's own prose about itself?
If I were of that persuasion I'd put one of those winking faces down now, but I can't bring myself to do it.
Isn't procrastination brilliant?
I thought the caps was fashionable? Doesn't it show that you are "in the know"??
Oh no, I've been hopelessly misled...
haha don't be too misled M. Berthin ... I like Matt's quote.
I would add that anthropologists study cultural-constructing, which is more or less "real". However, cultural constructs are rather non-real.
Real is an elevator word (hacking)... ;)
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