The concept of race has been modified over time as people change their perspective of the world. Determining the boundaries of human ‘races’ has proven to be challenging, and there have been inconsistencies in defining these racial boundaries (James, 2016). Genetic variation arises from hereditary traits and environmental factors acting on populations. Humans are very visual individuals and consequently, classify things based on what they perceive. When different groups of people came into contact with each other through exploration and colonization, the concept of race and the latter, racism emerged. (Stuchtey, Osmann, Willenberg, & Paulmann, 2011). In this analysis I will look at the construction of race and racism and determine if race has
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Much of the biological variation is seen within populations rather than between them, since matings between members of different groups tends to diminish variation between groups. Human populations have been isolated from each other but gene flow still takes place. As a result you get little divergence and limited reproductive barriers. Biological differences are due to a combination of hereditary factors and natural and social environments (Fuentes, 2012). Populations living in different areas of the world exhibit obvious phenotypic differences. Some of which are heritable and others are influenced by nutrition and environmental factors. Saying this, there is no cluster of genes similar in all black people or all white people (American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 1998). Generally speaking, if race were real in the biological sense, then racial classifications for individuals would remain constant. Yet today, a person categorized as white in Brazil, may be classed as black in America or coloured in Africa. There are no set boundaries to define race biologically (Maillard, 2016). Du Bois stated the idea of ‘white’ or ‘black’ simply cannot be used as discrete groups, because they ignore the scope of human diversity (Gannon & Live Science, …show more content…
The study of genomes in different parts of the world has shown that there is no single genetic difference between an African individual and a European individual. In biological terms we are all one race (subspecies). And while race is real, it’s only real as sets of socially constructed beliefs. Ultimately, race is not a valid way to classify people because differences between populations are not significantly biologically determined. (Maillard, 2016 ; Anti-Defamation League,
Much of the biological variation is seen within populations rather than between them, since matings between members of different groups tends to diminish variation between groups. Human populations have been isolated from each other but gene flow still takes place. As a result you get little divergence and limited reproductive barriers. Biological differences are due to a combination of hereditary factors and natural and social environments (Fuentes, 2012). Populations living in different areas of the world exhibit obvious phenotypic differences. Some of which are heritable and others are influenced by nutrition and environmental factors. Saying this, there is no cluster of genes similar in all black people or all white people (American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 1998). Generally speaking, if race were real in the biological sense, then racial classifications for individuals would remain constant. Yet today, a person categorized as white in Brazil, may be classed as black in America or coloured in Africa. There are no set boundaries to define race biologically (Maillard, 2016). Du Bois stated the idea of ‘white’ or ‘black’ simply cannot be used as discrete groups, because they ignore the scope of human diversity (Gannon & Live Science, …show more content…
The study of genomes in different parts of the world has shown that there is no single genetic difference between an African individual and a European individual. In biological terms we are all one race (subspecies). And while race is real, it’s only real as sets of socially constructed beliefs. Ultimately, race is not a valid way to classify people because differences between populations are not significantly biologically determined. (Maillard, 2016 ; Anti-Defamation League,