Racism: The Artificial Category of Race THESIS: Scientists and other intellectuals recognize the modern concept of "race" as an artificial category that developed over the past five centuries due to encounters with non-European people. Even though people still attempt to organize humans into categories according to their race, these categories have been shown to have no scientific basis. The term "race" is a modern concept. It's definition has adopted radically new meaning over the past few centuries. Currently, the term is used to characterize differences among human groups. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the term "race" in 1512 is "a group or class of persons, animals, or things, having some common feature or features." Today, Oxford's definition is quite different: "a local geographic or global human population distinguished by genetically transmitted characteristics and/or any of the major biological definitions of man distinguished by physically evident features, for example, Caucasian, Negroid, and Mongoloid." This definition is a result of regular interaction with non-European people. The Europeans began to explore other lands, thus creating the idea that some people are different than them and should not be under the same category as them. The constant interaction with groups of people who’s lifestyles were very different led Europeans to believe that they were a different "kind" of people. Scientists worked on and created many different ways to classify the different people they found. This unrefined method of categorization was the origin of a new culture-oriented taxonomic system for human beings. The system is based on the "Great Chain of Being," which is a way of classifying things according to... ... middle of paper ... ...ces of Man. New York: The Macmillian Company and Their Distribution, 1925. Holli, Melvin G. "Race, Ethnicity and Urbanization: Selected Essays." Journal of American Ethnic History 16 (1996): 110-125. Myers, Norma. Reconstructing the Black Past: Blacks in Britain 1780-1830. Portland: Frank Cass Press, 1996. Philip, David. Race and Ethnicity. Lansdowne: Citadel Press, 1980. "Race." Oxford English Dictionary. First ed. 1928. "Race." Webster's New World Dictionary. Third ed. 1988. Smedley, Audrey. Race in North America: Origin and Evolution of a Worldview. Boulder: Westview Press, 1999. Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989. Tobias, Phillip. "The Meaning of Race." Race and Social Difference. Baxtor, Paul, Basil Sansom ed. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd., 1972. 19-43.
Takaki, R. T. (1993). A different mirror: A history of multicultural America. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.
Wise, T. (2012). Dear white America: Letter to a new minority. San Francisco, CA: City
The Book of Ruth demonstrates how the worth of a woman is less significant than a man. In essence, the Book of Ruth illustrates how these group of women found themselves in a predicament but use their intelligence to initially get what they want. In addition, the Book Of Ruth depicts these female characters as strong-willed, especially, the main character Ruth, and that is not found often in the Bible. Moreover, the Book of Ruth provides insight on how a woman’s worth is threatened if they fail to have a male provider.
Schaefer, R. (Ed.). (2012). Racial and ethnic groups. (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
"Harlem was like a great magnet for the Negro intellectual, pulling him from everywhere. Or perhaps the magnet was New York, but once in New York, he had to live in Harlem"(Hughes, The Big Sea 1940). When one is describing a “fresh and brilliant portrait of African American art and culture in the 1920s (Rampersad 1994),” the Harlem Renaissance would be the most precise postulation. The Harlem Renaissance proved to America that African Americans also have specialized talents and should also be able to exhibit their gifts. The Harlem Renaissance also obtained the notoriety expeditiously that participants of this movement needed to modify America’s perspective of black environments. To sum up, the Harlem Renaissance “New Negro Movement” was a cultural movement that celebrated black life and culture. This movement assisted in gaining a new significance and vigorous race relation in the United States; it awakened black communities all over the world-- especially Harlem to utilize their gifts and talents and make the best of it.
Race, in the common understanding, draws upon differences not only of skin color and physical attributes but also of language, nationality, and religion. Race categories are often used as ethnic intensifiers, with the aim of justifying the exploitation of one group by another. Race is an idea that has become so fixed in American society that there is no room for open-mindedness when challenging the idea of racial categories. Over the years there has been a drastic change with the way the term "race" is used by scientists. Essentially, there is a major difference between the biological and sociological views of race.
4. Wachtel, Paul L. Race in the Mind of America: Breaking the Vicious Circle between Blacks and Whites. New York: Routledge, 1999.
The concept of race is an ancient construction through which a single society models all of mankind around the ideal man. This idealism evolved from prejudice and ignorance of another culture and the inability to view another human as equal. The establishment of race and racism can be seen from as early as the Middle Ages through the present. The social construction of racism and the feeling of superiority to people of other ethnicities, have been distinguishably present in European societies as well as America throughout the last several centuries.
The two terms are often misconstrued as if they have identical meaning. The term ‘race’ is based on the thought of biological and physical differences. According to Robb, “the concept of ‘race’ included any… groups of people which held them to display inherent, heritable, persistent or predictive characteristics, and which thus had a biological or quasi-biological basis” (1995:1). In the study of race, particularly during the late part of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, groups of people were classified on the basis of different phenotypical characteristics determined by physical attributes such as skin pigmentation, cranial capacity and hair type or colour (Miles, 1993:59). Hannaford (1996) refutes the idea that race is a biological concept, “We assume that the racial and ethnic diversity we see all around us has always existed as a historical, social, and biological fact that needs no further interrogation” (p3).
Spann, Billie Roberts, Ph.D. The Role of Women in the Church. Copyright 2010, by UmoJa Community Development Corporation, PO Box 67171, Baltimore, MD 21215-7257
The "New Negro," the Black writers in 1920/30, tried to get out of the dominant white assimilation and practice their own tradition and identity in autonomous and active attitude. In virtue of their activities, the Harlem Renaissance became the time of sprouting the blackness. It offered the life of the black as the criterion to judge how well the democracy practices in America and to weigh the measure of the dream of America. Their vitality and artistic spirit, and dreams were so impressive that the Harlem of the 1920s has never been eluded out from the memory of American (Helbling 2).
Of all of the issues that effect the planet Earth from a Global Change standpoint, one of the most visible and highly publicized is the issue of rainforest destruction. The loss of this emerald on the planet's crown will end life as we know it, if something is not done...
In today’s society, children are viewed as precious cherubs with glowing auras of innocence and youthfulness enveloping them. We idolize them as beacons of hope and love. Seeing them in pain is something that we as human beings should not ignore. Therefore, the poem “The Little Boy with His Hands Up” came as a shock to me. The lack of humanity towards children during the Holocaust is painstakingly eye-opening to the deterioration of human life. Knowing this, Abraham Sutzkever delineates a fine line between the value of human life and how easy it was to overlook it in the midst of the Holocaust. Yala Korwin’s “The Little Boy with His Hands Up” depicts the grotesque horrors of the Holocaust with themes of violent manipulation and psychological
Kroeger, Catherine, and Mary Evans. The IVP Women's Bible Commentary. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2002. 146-53. Print.
“In every sense, a standing rain forest supplies more economic wealth than if it were cleared … yet deforestation continues at an alarming rate.” (Tropical Rain Forest Coalition, 1996). Rain Forests have played a significant role in shaping modern biology. The destruction of the rain forests will determine the fate of all species humans plants and animals. Many people do not understand the long- term consequences of losing the earth’s rain forests. They have provided all living beings with many natural resources and medicines. Their complete destruction will affect all living conditions due to the influence they have on the climate around the world. Traditionally though, there are three major causes of the destruction to the rain forests: logging, farming and ranching.