"Does race really exisit?" need help with my paper?

Question

I have to write a few paged paper for my Cultural Anthropology class. The subject is "Does race really exist?" and I was looking for some good books that I can include for my paper. Can anyone recommend me something that would be RELEVANT to the subject? Thanks.

Answer 1

I have started calling everyone earthlens. This could answer some of the complications.

Answer 2

any good physical anthropology general text will have a section about this with some references.  If you have access to a library system or google scholar, type keywords race and anthropology  and you will pull up a  fair amount.  And no race doesn't exist biologically.  Race basically means supspecies.  This would suggest that there would be abrupt genetic variation between different populations (traits would co-vary).  What we actually see is a clinal distribution (think of a topographic map with the lines representing % of some trait) that is very different for different traits (traits do not co-vary).

Answer 3

It looks like you already have some good answers and suggestions. As the poster said a good physical/biological anthropology book is a great starting point for further resources. However I'll also give you a little advice. As this is for an anthropology class I think you might want to drop the AAA's (anthroplogists, not the car club) statement on  race which (I'm paraphrasing so go look it up) says that race really only exists as a cultural construct and not much else. You can find it on their website.

This is a fascinating discussion though with evidence going both ways however and you will need to find some references on JSTOR etc to back yourself up if you want the best grade.

Consider this, genetically there is greater diversity across the same "race" than there usually is between "races." Races are "gradient" and their defintion varies greatly based on classifications. Look up the racial classifications used in Brazil for instance. (Their are several articels on this but I don't remember publishing details). On the other hand how do we explain the FDA recently approving a drug for treatment of disease in the African American community stating that tests showed it was not significantly effective in other groups in the clinical trial?

Finally, I know you said to leave out our opinions, but I think race as a cultural construct has played a much bigger role in cultures/society then any biological difference, real or imagined.

The others seemed to answer your question, but I hope I gave you enough ideas to flesh out your paper and choose your direction. Good luck.

Answer 4

Race certainly exists in the public consciousness. We speak in terms of race, try to categorize people in terms of race, etc. Race is real to people, and it has implications (such as racism).

But from a scientific standpoint, race doesn't exist. The strategies used for categorizing people into races are not scientifically valid, and this has been established for at least a century now. Race classification is a bad system that explains things in a very superficial manner, which is enough for most people in an average situation. When you look deeper, the flaws in the system became very obvious, and you begin to see how our casual use of race in everyday discourse does us all a great disservice.

Here, have some books...

Pretty much any textbook on anthro is going to cover this

"Debating Race" by Michael Eric Dyson

"Race: The Reality of Human Differences" by Vincent Sarich and Frank Miele

...and that was just a quick search of Amazon.

As someone below pointed out, if you have access to JSTOR, check out some of the articles there.

Answer 5

The only race there is is the human race. Race is used to keep us divided socially, economically and politically. The human race is divided into cultures of humans.

Answer 6

Are you talking about race or racism?

Answer 7

yes. race does exist. there is but one true race, and it is called human.

Answer 8

You must know about evolution and natural selection to get a clear picture about race. Natural selection is the result of favourable variation in a population.  Individuals endowed with the favourable variation will inevitably have an advantage  over others  and a greater percentage of such individuals survive  and create off springs.  Gradually the frequency of this variation  increases.  In the long run, the desirable variation which was rare on its first appearance will turn to be a  trait by which  a population is specially marked.  Eventually contrasts between populations isolated ecologically or geographically ever widen due to continuous mutations and selection process so that mating is no longer possible between them and are apt to be christened separately.  Thus new species are formed  over years and very randomly.

Evolutionary changes can be seen in all living organisms, leading first to the formation of sub-groups within the species and then to  the formation of species with reproductive isolation.

The sub-groups in man are known as races.  However, human beings are the only species which has intentionally misused racial differences for violence.  Today, the leveling up of geographical barriers due to advanced and speedy transportation methods has paved the way for increased interbreeding between races.