Race & Biology: Key Concepts

• This is a guide focusing on readings and documentaries, not on slides or in-class discussions.
• Skip readings not mentioned in the guide and specific years, focus on names mentioned on slides.

Readings

• Anemone Chapter 1: Race, ethnicity, and biogeographical ancestry; Biological variation in Homo sapiens.
• Anemone Chapter 2: The recent origins of race; Race and racial classifications (Linnaeus' classification of humans; biological species concept; skip to Buffon's classification, then skip to Blumenbach's classification).
• Anemone Chapter 3: Know inheritance of acquired characteristics and blending inheritance.
• Rattansi Chapter 4: Eugenics and The Nazis and racial genocide: the ‘Final Solution'.
• Rattansi Chapter 5: Race and sport
• Brown Chapter 5: Human pigmentation: skin color (Melanin, Intra-individual variability in skin color, Is there selective value to differential skin color?, UV radiation and skin color variation, Skin color variation and vitamin d synthesis); Human pigmentation: hair and eye color (Hair color; Adaptive value of head hair color variation).
• Brown Chapter 7: Genetics of sickle cell, Sickle cell and falciparum malaria, Balanced polymorphism.

Documentaries

• Watching documentaries once in class is enough.

The Concept of Race

• Understand the historical definition of race as a system of classifying humanity into separate, distinct, non-overlapping, hierarchical categories.
• Non-overlapping categories were emphasized to claim certain features belonged only to one race and assert racial superiority.
• The concept of race is a flawed way to describe human biological diversity.

Traditional Idea of Race

• The traditional concept of race categorized humanity based on biological and cultural characteristics.
• This concept is factually incorrect, but an understanding of its claims is needed.

Hierarchies

• Hierarchies involve the idea that some races are superior and others are inferior.
• The opposite is the concept of equality between races.
• Both concepts (hierarchies and equality) can exist within biological or social concepts of race.
• The biological concept of race and hierarchies are incorrect; need to understand how the concept of race developed, including its incorrect assumptions.

Race vs. Ethnicity

• Race was developed to explain perceived biological differences, including mental and physical capabilities, between groups of humans.
• Cultural aspects were also included, with some races seen as having superior characteristics, however, race is meant to be about biological differences.
• Ethnicity focuses on culture like language, norms, and values.
• Ethnic groups claim a shared ancestry and are primarily cultural groupings.
• Races include many people, dividing humanity into 3-6 groups, encompassing many ethnic groups.
• There are more ethnic groups than races.

History of Race

• Focus on understanding the century and chronology of events.
• Know when race as a concept developed and why it didn't exist in antiquity.
• People divided themselves into groups based on different factors (language, culture, physical characteristics), not race.
• Race developed in specific historical and political contexts, specifically European colonialism.
• Understand what the word "race" originally meant and how its meaning changed to classify humanity.
• The concept of race was built to include hierarchies, making racism part of racial classification from the start.
• Attempts to make race a value-neutral concept came later.

Key Figures and Developments

• Remember names from the 18th century (1700s) and their racial classifications, the 18th century and its role in intensifying slavery and colonialism.
• Remember names from the 19th century (1800s) and their approaches to race like scientific racism, Darwin, and social Darwinism, and understand the difference between Darwin and social Darwinism.
• Remember names from the 20th century (1900s), particularly those associated with race and intelligence (IQ tests, related publications).

Darwin and the Theory of Evolution

• Understand what evolution claims and doesn't claim, and note that social Darwinism isn't part of Darwin's theory.
• Blending inheritance and the inheritance of the acquired characteristics based on Anemone Chapter 3 should be understood alongside what today's science says about it.

UNESCO 1950 Statement on Race vs. AAPA Statement 1996

• Know the main points and differences between the two statements.
• UNESCO's statement affirms equality but still claims race as a biologically correct concept.
• The AAPA statement corrects this by stating that race is incorrect and doesn't reflect true biological diversity.

Racial Markers

• Understand the primary racial markers historically used: skin color, hair texture, eye shape, and skull shape.
• Hair and eye color were/are also used in racial classification.
• These features are poor classifiers because they appear in all racial groups, traits do not co-vary, and skin shade is a continuous variation.

Biological Variation

• Biological variation is what is currently known about true human biological variation, not the same as race.
• Aspects of genetics like mDNA, Y chromosome, genetic diversity of species, human genetic diversity, sickle cell trait and its malarial connection should be know.
• Hereditism and the role of environment should also be understood.
• Environment includes climate, food, quality of life, and societal factors—anything outside genetics.

mDNA and Y Chromosome Groups

• Importance and differences of mDNA and Y chromosome should be understood.
• Know how each is inherited and used to trace ancestry through time and place via mutations.
• Understand mDNA Eve and Y chromosome Adam (where and when they lived), their partnerships, and that they are not a workable concept of race.

Sickle Cell Trait

• Understand how sickle cell trait developed, why it persisted, its downsides and advantages, inheritance, geographical patterning, and that it isn't racial.

Race as Social Construct

• Understand race as socially constructed in specific historical, political, and cultural circumstances.
• Different groups can have different ideas about how to divide humans into races, and different racial categories exist in different countries.