Human Geographical Variability and Race

• Human geographical variability is apparent on a continental level, leading to the division of humans into races or ethnic groups.
• Visual differences such as skin color, stature, and hair form are used to distinguish between groups.
• Skin pigmentation varies from very pale in Northern Europe to dark brown in the African Congo or New Guinea.
• Human stature ranges from the Pygmies (four-and-a-half foot) in West Central Africa and Oceania to the Nilotic peoples (six-and-a-half foot) of East Africa.
• Hair form differs from straight and long in Japanese populations to short and spiral in African populations.
• Size and form of the human face and trunk/lower limb proportions also differ significantly across populations.
• Subtle differences like blood group frequencies, protein polymorphisms, and DNA markers exist but require special techniques to identify.

Definition of Race

• Race is defined as a major division of humankind, with members sharing a combination of morphological and metrical traits derived from common ancestors.
• Race represents populations within Homo sapiens that maintain physical and cultural differences via isolating mechanisms.
• Races are populations with differing incidences of certain genes, capable of exchanging genes across boundaries.
• Races are genetically distinct Mendelian populations, not individuals or genotypes differing genetically.
• Traditional morphological races were considered interference of genetic races.
• Human race is defined as a population differing significantly from others in the frequency of one or more genes.
• Race is a partially isolated breeding population arising from geographic isolation.
• Races are populations readily distinguishable on genetic grounds alone.
• Race is a Mendelian population separated by geographical barriers, a breeding isolate distinguished by allele frequency differences.
• Race represents phenotypically similar populations inhabiting a geographic subdivision and differing taxonomically from other populations.
• A subspecies (race) is a genetically differentiated evolutionary lineage due to persistent barriers to genetic exchange with historical continuity.

Early Racial Classifications

• Early scientists aimed to order, name, and classify the Earth's diversity for easier understanding.
• As Europeans explored, naturalists described people who looked and behaved differently.
• Bernier (1684) published the first classification of humans into Europeans, Africans, Asians, and Lapps.
• Linnaeus (1735) classified humans into varieties based on geography, color, humor, posture, and customs: American, European, Asian, and African.
• Blumenbach, the founder of racial classifications, used a large skull collection to empirically investigate differences.
• Blumenbach assumed Homo sapiens originated in one place and spread, with climate and environment shaping races.
• Humans divided into five varieties based on skull shape: Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, American, and Malay.
• Blumenbach coined "Caucasian" for those from the Russia-Georgia mountain range, considering it the ideal skull type.
• Retzius (1842) popularized the cranial index (CI), calculated as (breadth/length) * 100.
• Dolichocephalic: CI of 74.9 or less (long and narrow heads)
• Mesocephalic: CI of 75-79.9 (medium heads)
• Brachycephalic: CI of 80 or more (short, broad, or round heads)
• Cranial index allowed objective study of human variation and group delineation.
• Face angle measurements distinguished between prognathic (jutting) and orthognathic (straight) faces.

Typological Approach

• Emphasis on cranial morphology and anthropometry in the late 19th century supported the typological approach in anthropology during the 20th century.
• Quantitative analysis methods emerged, but the typological paradigm continued to influence the study and classification of human variation.
• Traits used in analyses were considered stable, environmentally non-adaptive, and often indistinguishable from racial stereotypes.
• Coon et al. (1950) classified six human groups using morphological data: Negroid, Mongoloid, White, Australoid, American Indian, and Polynesian.
• Coon's The Origin of Races (1962) proposed modern humans arose from Homo erectus through five separate lines: Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Australoid, Congoid, and Capoid.
• Coon used Darwin's natural selection to explain differences in racial groups' physical characteristics.
• He argued that races reached the Homo sapiens stage at different times, resulting in different levels of civilization.
• His work was highly controversial due to his explanation of multilinear racial development and emphasis on the white race.

Genetic Classification of Races

• Hirschfeld and Hirschfeld (1919) conducted serological tests on soldiers of different nationalities.
• They proposed using blood groups to delineate biochemical races.
• They identified three major racial types as European, Intermediate, and Asio-African.
• ABO blood group data combined with Hirschfeld's racial index suggested six human types.
• Snyder (1926) classified races using ABO blood group frequencies leading to the advocate the use of blood group data as additional criteria for racial classifications
• Boyd (1950) argued against skeletal analysis in racial classifications due to the skeleton's adaptability and polygenic control.
• Boyd advocated genetic classification as more scientifically accurate, with inherited, non-environmentally influenced differences.
• Boyd used "non-adaptive" traits in blood, like ABO, Rh, and MN groups, to classify humans into six races.
• Boyd's analysis initiated change, the core issue remained typological.
• Stewart (1951) observed classifications of serologists were similar those of anthropologists using traditional methods.
• Serologists used existing morphological classifications to select their subjects, then analyzed data to obtain similar classifications.
• Genetics and anatomy should be used together in racial classifications.