Division Of Race Essay

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In the search for the answer about the concept of the division of race in humans, there appears to be no guideline or commonality in the approach to the subject. It is as if the practitioners of the biological sciences can not agree on a single identifying idea on what or how we can recognize our differences and similarities. A well written and understandable definition of the approach of race in biology is found in a small website called Biology Reference, “geographically isolated breeding population that shares certain characteristics in higher frequencies than other populations of that species… not reproductively isolated…” (Biology of Race). This definition is reflective of the past lecture’s in this class. In other words, it is a remembrance …show more content…

In the article, What Is Race, in Fall 2003’s “International Ophthalmology Clinics,” Dr. Roy M. Wilson discusses the subject and the need to form a “better understand of race,” and the inaccurate descriptor for “genetic variations, … and polymorphisms” (Wilson 2003). The confusion of race is in these polymorphisms that tend to be found in genetically isolated or groups of humans with commonality. Wilson uses the example of polymorphisms in the enzymes that enable humans to process drugs, thus impacting the effectiveness of many medications, or drug sensitivity. Yet this is found in relatively small percentages in differing populations, 2.1% of Asian population and 7.2% in white (Wilson 2003). Do these small differences as these require a racial differentiation or a subgroup of a race, or is it just variation and mutation within the human’s march in evolution? Other research, as fond by a fellow groupmate, Jayne O. Ifekwunigwe et. al, presents earlier arguments that there is no such thing as a biological race due to no measurable “human genetic variation,” reinforcing the questioning of the construct of race. While in Yudell et al. claims that “the use of biological concepts of race in human genetics research is …. Problematic at best and harmful at worst,” (Yudell

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