Race and Ethnicity

- Maya and Malachi

 AIM:
.
To analyze race in order to justify it as a product of
culture.
 Objectives:
• To be able to distinguish between race and ethnicity
• To be able to review the historical origins of race
• To be able to identify modern instances of racial categorization
• To be able to analyze nature and culture arguments of race
 Roadmap
-What is race? -Origins of race
-What is ethnicity? -Modern instances of
racial segregation
Objective 2
Objective 1 and 3
Objective 3
-Review quiz -Class debate:
-Summarizing Is race a product of
learning nature or culture?
 Race
• “a
Merriam Webster dictionary definition:
category of humankind that shares
certain distinctive physical traits”
• Is a more narrow distinction
• Usually associated with biology and linked
with physical characteristics
Ethnicity
“large groups of people classed according
to common racial, national, tribal,
religious, linguistic, or cultural origin or
background”
• Is a broader distinction
• Linked with cultural expression and
identification
 Discussion Point

What characteristics do we attribute to race?

 Origins of Race
The term “race”, used No evidence of

infrequently before the English referring European Enlightenment philosophers and

to themselves as naturalists newly categorized the world and
1500s, was used to identify
“white people”
groups of people with a their new beliefs argued that there were
till before this
kinship or group natural laws that governed the world and
time
connection human beings.

1500s Mid-1600s Late 1600s 1700s 1800s

European colonists
The words ”race,” The U.S. outlawed the
“white” to refer to
“white” and “slave” transatlantic slave
themselves became
were used by Europeans trade in 1808
entangled with
in 1500s, brought these 1861: American civil
“race” and “slave” in
words to North America war
American colonies
 Modern Instances
of Racial Categorization
1948 2013

1500s
1948

African Apartheid Black Lives Matter

First influx of First Palestinian

African slaves in exodus
America
 Class Debate

Is Race a Product of
Nature or Culture?
Reshaping race: can race be defined by biology?
Human populations do roughly cluster
Five races theory into geographical regions
Variation within single region
African, Asian, European, Native However, variation between different is large, no uniform identity
American, and Oceanian regions is small.

Presumed genetic
variation in humans
Actual genetic variation in humans
(Five races theory)
Reshaping race: can race be defined by biology?

Kim

2 2
1

Watson Venter
1

“We as a species are estimated to share 99.99% of our DNA with each other. The few
differences that do exist reflect differences in environment and external factors, not core
biology.” – Jared Diamond
 Race: a product of culture

• No “race chromosome” in DNA The social implications of race | Tammy Hodo | TEDxJacksonville

• Constantly changing definitions of race

• The effects of census on people’s identity
• Race used as substitute for other factors
such as ancestry
 “Race is the child of racism, not the father”
Ta-Nehisi Coates
• ‘Representation theory’

• “Race: The Floating Signifier”- words

enhance what would otherwise be based only
on physical attributes

• “Systems of hierarchies”
Stuart Hall
• Outcome of a Eurocentric and colonial
view that justified domination of Anibal Quijano
Europeans
• Included collusion of local elite in forces of capitalism, imperialism
and colonialism, thus strengthening racism.
 Review Quiz
1. In which century was the word ‘race introduced into the English language?
2. Define (at least) one distinction between race and ethnicity.
3. What is the ‘Five Races Theory?’ [bonus: how was it disproved?]
4. Give 2 reasons why race is considered a product of culture.

‘French law (1978) banned collection of race-based data without waiver.’

5. Takeaway question: should more countries exclude race from data collection and
policies?
 Takeaway

Race as we know it today, is a social construct.

 For further
events, feel resources, questions,
free to contact recommendations
the anti-racism and
collective.

Thank you!
 References
• S. (2019, February 27). How Science and Genetics are Reshaping the Race Debate of the 21st Century. Science in the News.

• Diamond, J. (2019, November 12). Race Without Color. Discover Magazine.

• Bhambra, G. (2021, November 10). QUIJANO, Aníbal. GLOBAL SOCIAL THEORY.

• Definition, Ideologies, Constructions, & Facts. (2020, November 23). Encyclopedia Britannica.

• Belkhir, J. A., & Barnett, B. M. (2001). Race, Gender and Class Intersectionality. Race, Gender & Class, 8(3), 157–174.

• Drew, J. (1998). Cultural Composition: Stuart Hall on Ethnicity and the Discursive Turn. JAC, 18(2), 171–196.

• Wikipedia contributors. (2022, February 16). Stuart Hall (cultural theorist). Wikipedia.

• AAA Statement on Race - Connect with AAA. (1998, May 17). American Anthropological Association.

• Historical Foundations of Race. (2014). National Museum of African American History and Culture.