Anthropology Homework Help PLease?

Question

I know this is a lot but whoever has the time can ya'll help me out?? heres my essay topic my teacher gave me.

Go to http://www.pbs.org/race/002_SortingPeople/002_00-home.htm

take the " Sorting Test" How many people did you sucessfully classify? Take the Quiz in the "Human Diversity" link. Explore the rest of the site as you would stroll through a museum, Taking in the Various exhibits on the same topic. After this consider the comment " There's less-and more- to race than meets the eye". What does this mean to you? What was the most revealing, surprising and or controversial idea presented to you in this website

I dont know how to even start this essay..how should i organized this?? please any help would be wonderful

thank you so much for doing this

Answer 1

I took a quick look at the pbs page and took the quiz.  It seems to me that some of the questions are pretty specific (how old are modern humans, eg.) but that there's a general theme involved.  (1)  Genetic mutation causes differences in human pops.  (2)  Pops differ from one another but the closer they are, the more alike.  (3)  They spread around and mix up.  (4)  What we call "race" is really a matter of definition based on society.   (Hallie Berry's "black" but her parents were one white and one black, so she's genetically half and half, eg.  So is Barak Obama.)  You might organize your paper along these lines.  Make sure you distinguish between biology (race and genetics) and culture ("race" as a common word we use to classify people).  Scientifically, race is genetically determined.  Culture is learned behavior.  To mix up the two is to make a BIG mistake.  The n***s tried to exterminate "the Jewish race", even if individuals identified as "Jews" (biology) had converted to Christianity (culture).  Use the term "social construction of race" if you can handle it.   Moral:  "Race" makes a big difference in the way we see and treat each other.  It's not very important to biology.