The Importance Of Race

There are hereditary differences amongst human beings. We know this to be true in modern hominins, as well as in ancient hominids. Trading networks along the Nile and shores of the Mediterranean between 3150 BC and 476 AD depended largely on social contacts. Those contacts were determined by similarities, as well as, differences in culture and language – skin color was not a factor (Jabronski 27). During the Middle Ages long-distance travel became more common, as such, people who were not normally in contact with one another began to form new connections. They were often surprised by one another’s differences. European travelers were hardly egalitarian in their attitudes towards the darker pigmented skin of the “others” they came across. By 1735 Carl Linnaeus introduced Systema Naturae, in which, he separated humans into four classifications by skin color and continent (Jabronski 27). By vocalizing these separations based upon physical traits, in combination with folklore, Linnaeus created the intellectual basis for racism as we know it; it allowed for the variations to be considered scientific instead of just personal prejudices. By the 1970s American geneticist R.C. Lewontin began testing the concept of race by studying genetic variations worldwide. He found that race only accounted for five to ten percent of the overall genetic diversity. Proving that on a genetic level, race had no taxonomic significance on our species (Larsen 123,124). In 1775 German anatomist Johann Blumenbach published a thesis on the differences of race at the University of Gottingen. Blumenbach used his research to begin developing a biological taxonomy of human races, concluding that were basically five categories of people: Mongoloids, Malays, Ethiopian...

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...r simply shows an adaptation to the environment, not a basis by which to classify a population upon. He also notes that the distribution of a particular trait, such as sickle-cell anemia, it has a different pattern of geographical variation depending upon whether or not the trait aided in survivability. The gradient of the distribution is a cline, and the clines are completely independent of one another, these are not traits defining race. “There are no races, there are only clines,” Dr. Brace asserts (Does race). Because the term “race” has no intelligible biological meaning, Dr. Brace suggests using geographical labels to designate groups of people, i.e. “Western European” or “Southeast Asian”, which can be used as means of identification but carry no additional baggage. He also discusses the influence America has had on the perpetuation of the concept of “race”.