Race can be categorized culturally, religiously or even linguistically, but we are going to classify race by genetics. Genes can define the human population by phenotypes like skin colour or hair texture, but it can also determine the ancestry of an individual. Specifically, tiny variations, or polymorphisms in the DNA sequence occurring at different frequencies can be used to study the degree of relatedness among groups (Bamshad and Olson, 2003). These differences between groups arise from Alu transposable elements which are short pieces of DNA that have real no function in the genome, but inserting itself randomly on chromosomes. Alus are known to be useful DNA markers because not only is each insertion a unique event, but it passes from one person to another for generations. For that reason, when two people have the same Alu sequence, they should have a common ancestor. This experiment allows us to see whether race can be defined by a genetic entity, alu elements. DNA swabbed from our cheek cells are extracted, purified using Qiagen QIAmp DNA kit, amplified through PCR, dig...
Of course there are many beautiful and dynamic fish that reside in the waters of Hawaii, but none are as captivating as the Humuhumumunukunukuapua'a (Rhinecanthus rectangulus ). This reef trigger-fish is the official state fish of Hawaii because of its abundance in the shallow waters of the coast. Humuhumumunukunukuapua'a means “nose like a pig” because of the shape of its nose due to the formation of its teeth and because it makes a “snorting” sound when abruptly taken from the water and when swimming away from predators. The locals of Hawaii usually call this fish humuhumu (hoo-moo-hoo-moo) in lieu of having to pronounce its full name for conversation purposes. In other parts of the world this shallow water fish is also known as the Picasso and rectangle fish because of the colors and patterns on its body. Since the humuhumu prefer waters with degrees from seventy-five to eighty degrees Fahrenheit they are found and indigenous to the “Indo-Pacific: Hawaiian islands, Red Sea south to East London, South Africa and east through Indonesia to the Marquesan Islands, north to southern Japan, south to Lord Howe Island.”(Oceanlink.com).According to ask a Marine Scientist:Osteichthyes , they are in the class of the “Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)”,the order of the ”Tetraodontiformes (Puffers and filefishes)”,a member of the ”Balistidae” family(Oceanlink.com), and its biome of preference is the coastal strand.
Recitations of historic attempts initiated to biologically define differences in race and ethnicity culminated in the “Revised UNESCO Statement on Race” in 1995. The realization that ethnicity and race represent a culmination in more areas of commonality than in areas of differences, manifesting in th...
Race, which is another characteristic of demographic data, is a modern occurrence. It is being questioned and more than likely not a valid determinant. Our textbook in chapter five states, “racial identity or race consciousness is both controversial and pervasive. When early explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries came across people who were different from them a debate began which groups were “human” and which were “animal” (pg. 191).
The meaning, significance, and definition of race have been debated for centuries. Historical race concepts have varied across time and cultures, creating scientific, social, and political controversy. Of course, today’s definition varies from the scientific racism of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that justified slavery and later, Jim Crow laws in the early twentieth. It is also different from the genetic inferiority argument that was present at the wake of the civil rights movement. However, despite the constantly shifting concepts, there seems to be one constant that has provided a foundation for ideas towards race: race is a matter of visually observable attributes such as skin color, facial features, and other self-evident visual cues.
Race can be sternly characterized as the distinction in individuals based on physical features like the
Yudell, M. (2011) A short history of the race concept. Race and the Genetic Revolution:
Why is it impossible to use biological characteristics to sort people into consistent races? Review some of the concepts such as “non-concordance” and “within-group vs. between group variation.”
Through research of DNA samples, scientists have been able to declare that race is not biologically constructed due to the similarities between human genes. Nevertheless, in reality, people still emphasized on biological aspects such as skin color, or hair texture to categorize others into different races. This in turn, denied the true identity of race, which it is culturally constructed. Ethnicity, by definition is also culturally constructed, therefore it greatly resemble race. There is no real clear line to distinct the two.
In the past, races were identified by the imposition of discrete boundaries upon continuous and often discordant biological variation. The concept of race is therefore a historical construct and not one that provides either valid classification or an explanatory process. Popular everyday awareness of race is transmitted from generation to generation through cultural learning. Attributing race to an individual or a population amounts to applying a social and cultural label that lacks scientific consensus and supporting data. While anthropologists continue to study how and why humans vary biologically, it is apparent that human populations differ from one another much less than do populations in other species because we use our cultural, rather than our physical differences to aid us in adapting to various environments.
Appiah claims that race does not exist. He uses scientific methods to prove that individuals from different groups of people have no greater genetic differences between them than the genetic differences in individuals from the same group of people. He writes: "…human genetic variability between the populations of Africa or Europe or Asia is not much greater than within those populations…" With This he is trying to demonstrate that if there is no biological difference between populations, except for those differences due to the habitat in which a certain population has lived for many years. Therefore he proves that there is no accurate meaning of the word race.
“Differentiated races are fixed either by nature or God. You cannot escape your racial classification (Weidman, 2006).” This is the fifth basic belief of ideology and instantly establishes a basis on why race has survived in the twentieth century. There will always be scientists, philosophers, doctors and historians examining the origins and the continuation of race. By examining their research we are able understand this color line and how it has impacted the twentieth century.
The length of your formal essays (minimum 750 words combined) should be no fewer than the following number of words TOTAL: 250 words for essay #1; 500 words for essay #2 . Your essays should be structured like an essay for an academic class. It will be evaluated both on your content and ideas as well as on writing conventions such as thesis, supporting evidence, organization, style, and mechanics. Submit BOTH essays in ONE attached document.
The idea of ‘race’ is a problematic concept in various academic fields. In the discipline of Anthropology, the definition of this term carries much controversy. The concept of race that many people hold is in a sense, a social construct that changes amongst different cultures, one could look at different cultures to see racial definition as a cultural phenomenon in action (Kottak, 2000:139). King supports this idea that races are not established by a set of natural forces, rather they are products of human perception, “Both what constitutes a race and how one recognises a racial difference are culturally determined” (1981:156). Cashmore provides a brief definition of race as “a group of persons connected by common origin” (1988:235). However, Cashmore goes on to argue that the terminology of race has been used to reflect changes in the understanding of physical and cultural differences (1988:235). Cornell and Hartman argue the characteristics that constitute a definition for the concept of race are complex. The authors claim that race can be categorised in social and physical terms. Race is a “human group defined by itself or others as distinct by virtue of perceived common physical...
The biological understanding of race in the United States is that people from different places have different genetics and genes in their body, accounting for different traits in each people. These people could be grouped together by their biological traits because their similarities in genes would make them look alike. People wanted to believe that there actually were true biological differences between people. Race in the past and present (somewhat) has been categorized based on continental origin, skin color, nose structures, and hair type. To define a person’s race, someone could ask questions like: “what type of hair do they have, curly or straight? Is their skin dark or light? Are their eyes blue, brown, or black?” Based off of these
Marks, John. "RacismEugenics, and the Burdens of History." personal.uncc,edu. Ix International Congress of Human Genetics, 20 Aug 1996. Web. 31 Jan 2014.