Midterm 1: Race Flashcards
(41 cards)
Race
-way to group and categorize people
-Category of organisms belonging to same species
-genetically distinct groups within the same species typically due to geographical distancing
Phenotype
-Organisms observable/expressed traits
-Blood type, eye color etc
Racial markers
-Aspects of phenotype used to classify people into races
-Common markers of race are observable characteristics
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how many races are there?
-No universally agreed upon number
-Can not agree as to where a race starts and where it ends
Genetic differences
-Most genetic differences (80-90%) is between people belonging to the same race
Human variation
-Continuous and always changing making it so that race cannot be based on things such as skin color (tanning)
when was race formed
-16th-18th century by Europeans
Pre-European colonialism
-People were categorized based on physical and cultural traits
-Greeks Vs barbarians
-This is not the same as race due to there not being the same connotations
-One could change their category
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“Race”
-First meant family or breed
-Through colonization it developed into a systematic category
18th century (17 hundreds)
-Enlightenment and age of reason
-Dual attitudes: Nature either wild or idealized
-Dual attitudes: People non European are childlike
-Myth of noble savage
-Robinson Cruose
-Great chain of being–hierarchy of gods creation
-Superior vs inferior
Monogenesis
-Same adam and eve for all of humans
polygenesis
-Different adam and eve for different groups of people
Carl Linnaeus
-Classification of plants and animals
-Binomial nomenclature
Binomial nomenclature
-7 levels systems: (Variety (optional)) Species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, and kingdom (kingdom is most broad)
Colours
-Americanus = red
-Europeans = white
Asiaticus = yellow
Afer = black
Homo sapiens monstrosus
=Mythical beings
Comte de Buffon
-Popularized the use of the term race for Linnaeuses varieties within a species
-environmental differences are responsible for physical differences
-Believed in single origin for human kind
Darwin
-Abolitionist and monogenist
-Evolution through natural selection
-Alfred Russell Wallace
Steps for natural selection
1) existence of inherited variation in natural populations and species
2) populations tend to increase much faster than available resources
3) struggle for existence occurs between individuals in all pops
4) Natural selection leads to genetic changes in populations, adaptations to different environments and ultimately to the origin of new species
Scientific racism
-19-20th century
-Humans can be divided through biology
-Specific markers of race
-Hierarchy in terms of race due to intelligence, abilities, beauty
-White people on top and black people on the bottom
-Robert Knox and Arthur de Gobineau
-Used darwins ideas
Social darwinism
-19th century
-rejected scientific racism
-Jim crow laws around this time
-Slavery abolished, needed system to keep groups segregated
Boas
-Critiqued racism
-Studied skull size and deemed it an incorrect way to differentiate race
-No connections between race
-His ideas were not accepted at the time
Eugenis
-Social Darwinism leads to eugenics
-Selective breeding
-Francis Galton
-Nazi movement “race hygiene”
Due to nazi that eugenics stopped because people did not want to be affiliated with things the Nazi also did in WW2
UNESCO
-1950
-Homo sapiens as a single race
-No consensus on number of races (3 was typically used)
-No scientific evidence over intelligence between races
-No genetic differences between races
-Challenged scientific racism BUT NOT RACE ITSELF
