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Race
Class Anth 203
Type Lecture
Created time @April 25, 2023 4:20 PM
Last edited time @April 25, 2023 4:20 PM
Multipart
What is Race?
↯ Biologists use the concept of race to refer to a geographically and hence
reproductively isolated population of a species. Human populations, however, have
never been reproductively isolated long enough to have developed into biological races.
Because the most obvious difference between people other than sex is skin colour, it is
usually skin colour that is the primary basis of classifying people into groups called
races.
Phenotype- Observable physical characteristics such as sink
colour, eye colour and shape, hair texture, nose shape and so on.
Race 1
, Phenotypic traits, like skin colouring, exist because they are adaptive. Classification of
humans into races depends solely on the evaluation of the phenotype and it is arbitrary.
Skin colour is a function of the amount of the pigment melanin produced in a lower
layer of the skin. People with dark skin have more of the pigment than people with light
skin.
Melanin is produced in organelles called melanocytes, and ultraviolet radiation
causes them to produce more melanin, causing the skin to darken. Melanin absorbs
and disperses the radiation and is thought to protect the skin from radiation damage
and thus reduce the risk of skin cancer. Dark skin however interferes where vitamin
D is produced meaning that people with dark skin in higher latitudes where there is
less ultraviolet radiation are at a disadvantage compared to people with light skin.
Vitamin D is already rare in nature but it is necessary for proper bone growth.
Northern populations, with little sunlight, require minimal pigmentation to
produce Vitamin D.
Tropical populations require darker skin as protection from too much
ultraviolet radiation and too much Vitamin D.
Dark-skinned people are maladapted to northern areas.
Lighter-skinned people are maladapted to tropical areas.
Basing race on skin colour also leaves open the question of how to classify the
increasing number of multiracial people.
Most people would say that Tiger Woods is African American or black. Yet, from his
mother’s side Tiger Woods is one-quarter Chinese and one-quarter Thai, and from
his father’s side he is one-quarter African American, one-eighth Native American,
and one-eighth Dutch. He refers to himself as “Cablinasian”: “Ca” for Caucasian, “bl”
for black, “in” for American Indian, and the rest Asian.
Similarly, Barack Obama, who is often referred to as America’s first African American
or black president, comes from a mixed racial background. His father is Kenyan
while his mother’s ancestry is English, Scottish, Irish, German, Welsh, Swiss-
German, and French. Technically, one could say he is biracial—half black and half
white. But why is he referred to as just black?
The One-drop rule is a rule in many U.S. States and says that if a person had one
ancestor who was black, typically one great-great-great-great-grandparent, then they
Race 2
Race
Class Anth 203
Type Lecture
Created time @April 25, 2023 4:20 PM
Last edited time @April 25, 2023 4:20 PM
Multipart
What is Race?
↯ Biologists use the concept of race to refer to a geographically and hence
reproductively isolated population of a species. Human populations, however, have
never been reproductively isolated long enough to have developed into biological races.
Because the most obvious difference between people other than sex is skin colour, it is
usually skin colour that is the primary basis of classifying people into groups called
races.
Phenotype- Observable physical characteristics such as sink
colour, eye colour and shape, hair texture, nose shape and so on.
Race 1
, Phenotypic traits, like skin colouring, exist because they are adaptive. Classification of
humans into races depends solely on the evaluation of the phenotype and it is arbitrary.
Skin colour is a function of the amount of the pigment melanin produced in a lower
layer of the skin. People with dark skin have more of the pigment than people with light
skin.
Melanin is produced in organelles called melanocytes, and ultraviolet radiation
causes them to produce more melanin, causing the skin to darken. Melanin absorbs
and disperses the radiation and is thought to protect the skin from radiation damage
and thus reduce the risk of skin cancer. Dark skin however interferes where vitamin
D is produced meaning that people with dark skin in higher latitudes where there is
less ultraviolet radiation are at a disadvantage compared to people with light skin.
Vitamin D is already rare in nature but it is necessary for proper bone growth.
Northern populations, with little sunlight, require minimal pigmentation to
produce Vitamin D.
Tropical populations require darker skin as protection from too much
ultraviolet radiation and too much Vitamin D.
Dark-skinned people are maladapted to northern areas.
Lighter-skinned people are maladapted to tropical areas.
Basing race on skin colour also leaves open the question of how to classify the
increasing number of multiracial people.
Most people would say that Tiger Woods is African American or black. Yet, from his
mother’s side Tiger Woods is one-quarter Chinese and one-quarter Thai, and from
his father’s side he is one-quarter African American, one-eighth Native American,
and one-eighth Dutch. He refers to himself as “Cablinasian”: “Ca” for Caucasian, “bl”
for black, “in” for American Indian, and the rest Asian.
Similarly, Barack Obama, who is often referred to as America’s first African American
or black president, comes from a mixed racial background. His father is Kenyan
while his mother’s ancestry is English, Scottish, Irish, German, Welsh, Swiss-
German, and French. Technically, one could say he is biracial—half black and half
white. But why is he referred to as just black?
The One-drop rule is a rule in many U.S. States and says that if a person had one
ancestor who was black, typically one great-great-great-great-grandparent, then they
Race 2
