Question!

� Is a person’s race obvious?

� What about their ethnicity, is that also obvious?

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Meet Bele and Lokai

Source: Star Trek, “Let that be Your Last Battlefield,”

Episode 90. First Aired August 1969.M. Ellis

What Race is these Children?

To which Ethnic Group do they Belong?

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Race as a Social Construct

M. Ellis

What is “race”?

When most people use the word race they mean:

� In popular discourse, racial groups are viewed as physically distinguishable populations that share a common geographically based ancestrycommon geographically based ancestry

M. Ellis

What is “race”?

When most people use the word race they mean:

• a division of mankind possessing traits that are transmissible by descent

• a distinct human “type” , with characteristics that are by and • a distinct human “type” , with characteristics that are by and large unique to that group. For eg., Caucasian race or African race

• a set of phenotypic properties, such as skin colour and hair appearance

• people belonging to the same “stock”

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What does it Mean when we Say that

Race is a “Social Construct”

� “race” is social and not biological in nature

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To Answer that Question First we must

understand what a social Construct is:

� a social construct (or social construction) is a concept or practice that is the creation of a particular group.

� such a concept is universally admitted or accepted, but is not an objective reality

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Race Is Social

� there is nothing biologically real about race

� there is nothing that we (societies) have identified as race that exists apart from our collective agreement, acceptance, and imposition of its existence.

� In other words race exists “because we say so!”

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What Scientists Have Found:

• Dr. Craig Venter, an American Biologist, and geneticist Dr. Francis Collins of the (U.S.A) National Institute of Health announced in 2000 that their examination of the data from the genome mapping, led them to conclude that there is 1-3% genetic difference between human beings.

• Therefore, they concluded, the types of variations do not warrant calling each other different races.

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What Scientists Have Found:

• Venter said:

"Race is a social concept. It's not a scientific one. There are no bright lines (that would stand out), if we could compare all the sequenced genomes of everyone on the planet...When we try to apply science to try to sort out planet...When we try to apply science to try to sort out these social differences, it all falls apart”

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What Scientists Have Found:

� Anthropologist Katya Gibel Mevorach said:

race is "a metonym,“ [a figure of speech]

"a human invention whose criteria for differentiation are neither universal nor fixed but have always been used to neither universal nor fixed but have always been used to manage difference.”

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The Social Constructivist View:

• The Concept of “races” is simply a cultural intervention reflecting specific attitudes and beliefs that were imposed on different populations in the wake of western European conquests beginning in the 15th century (Columbus etc)

The concept was designed to justify the conquest and • The concept was designed to justify the conquest and displacement of Amerindians, as well as the enslavement of Africans, who looked different from Europeans, to satisfy European imperial ambitions.

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Race is Real!

Even Among Scientists

Yet...

� In a 2007 study of academics (biologists and anthropologists) Ann Morning found that “advances in anthropologists) Ann Morning found that “advances in genetic knowledge seem to have done little to dismiss scientists' belief in racial biology, or to bring academics to a consensus regarding the nature of race.”

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Race is Real!

Even Among Scientists

� In a 2007 Nobel laureate James Watson angered many, including many in the scientific community, when he told a UK newspaper that it was a delusion to believe that "equal powers of reason" were shared across racial groups. He said powers of reason" were shared across racial groups. He said that while there was a natural desire that all human beings should be equal, "people who have to deal with black employees find this not true".

See the newspaper article “Fury at DNA pioneer's theory: Africans are less intelligent than Westerners”, The Independent, Wednesday, 17 October 2007.

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Ethnicity

� Ethnicity refers to the identification of a group based on a perceived cultural distinctiveness that makes the group into a “people.”

� This distinctiveness is believed to be expressed in language, music, values, art, styles, literature, family life, language, music, values, art, styles, literature, family life, religion, ritual, food, naming, public life, and material culture.

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Ethnicity

• This cultural comprehensiveness—a unique set of cultural characteristics perceived as expressing themselves in ‘commonly unique’ ways across the socio-cultural life of a population—characterizes the concept of ethnicity.

• It revolves around not just a “population,” a numerical • It revolves around not just a “population,” a numerical entity, but a “people,” a comprehensively unique cultural entity.

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Ethnicity

• Whereas race refers to the perceived unique common physical and biogenetic characteristics of a population, ethnicity refers to comprehensive unique cultural characteristics.

• These cultural characteristics might include language/ dialect, religion, customs and history

• There is a biological element also, when ethnicity is used in contemporary language. It is believed that you can see a persons ethnicity eg hair colour. It is believed that a person’s ethnicity is physically obvious

• In the late 20th century and at the turn of the 21st century, “Irish” was considered an ethnic label, while “white” was a racial one.

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Questions

� How does/can race affect a person’s education?

� What about Ethnicity, how does/can ethnicity affect a person’s education?

What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of ethnically-� What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of ethnically-based schools?

� What can teachers do to minimise prejudice in the Education system?

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Figure 16: Illustration of Black Children at Play in J. O. Cutteridge,

Nelson’s West Indian Reader, Book I (London: Thomas Nelson and Son,

1926) 17.

The above was a black and white

charcoal drawing that offended some

Afro-West Indians, who compared it to

the more respectful illustration of

Indian and European children in the Indian and European children in the

same reader

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Figure 17: Illustration of an Indian Girl in J. O. Cutteridge, Nelson’s West

Indian Reader, Book I (London: Thomas

Nelson and Son, 1926) 37. Some Afro-

West Indians complained that it was a

more respectful portrayal than the

illustration of black children which

appeared in the same book.

The above, was a coloured lithograph

whereas the illustration of the black whereas the illustration of the black

children was black and white sketch, the

physical features also seem more

realistic.

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Figure 18: A European Child appearing in the Nelson's West

Indian Reader, Book I (London:

Thomas Nelson and Son, 1926) 56.

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Sources

Ann Morning, “Everyone Knows It's a Social Construct, Contemporary Science and the Nature of Race.” Sociological Focus. Volume: 40. Issue: 4. (2007): 436+

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