Human identity

Human Identity

Latisha Amaker ​​

9/21/2016

In the film Race: “The power of illusion” episode 1  microbiologist Pillar Ossorio commented “ There as much or more diversity and genetic differences within any racial group as there is between people of different racial groups”. In the film we noticed the relationship between race as a sociological concept by the demonstration that was given when the students.  There are no genetic markers that define race.  By taking a genetic sample to find similarities and differences it was shown that mitochondrion DNA shows similarities and differences between the group and individuals.  Genetically we aren’t really different from one another according to (page 2 in Race & racisms a Critical approach by Tonya Maria Golash- Boza) She states “ although we know that there is physical difference between people it is not enough to say that we belong in different racial groups. Scientist have tried to find a biological compound to determine what race was by examining the human body. (Skulls, face structure, feet, hands eyes in different races to compare if any similarities were found of the human race such as but yet this was not enough. 

For many years society has used the physical appearance to define what is race, and what makes people different?   We know that race is not based on biological difference between one another but a way to view people on an individual level. We categorize people in a class of race based off their cultural, physical abilities, body shapes, etc as mention in “Race and Racism race is categories can also be associated with their ancestors, decent and phenotypes with cultural and moral attributes.  We know that race is what concepts are used to define race?  Comparing phenotypes skin tones, facial structure, eye shapes, hair textures, body shapes and characteristics traits are some and still some of the ways people use to differentiate racial groups.  

In a New York Times article 9/6/2016 “Race and Racial identity are social constructs” By Angela Onwauachi – Willie “Race is not biological. It is a social construct. There is no gene or cluster of genes common to all blacks or all whites. Were race “real” in the genetic sense, racial classifications for individuals would remain constant across boundaries” She mentions a person that can be classified as one race in the United States can be looked differently in another part of the world. An example of this is when we were in class and Professor Lewis- McCoy mentioned that he was a white male. Because our theory on what a white male should look like base on what society has made us to believe strongly show that races has not been define. To be fair we can generally state because there is not scientific difference race is a social concept which allows us to continue to categorize people into groups which is used today generation for government purposes, employment schools land housing living. 

The Huffing Post posted an article 2/9/2016 “What Scientists Mean When They Say ‘Race’ Is Not Genetic” – Michael Yudell he also discussed why the genetic factors were irrelevant when it came to race similar to  Angela  Onwauachi – Willie. It was only a way to distinguish the difference in people.  In the 1930 and 40’s when interracial relationship were forbidden. There was no way to measure race except from what people saw. What seems to be white was white, what looks to be black/ Negro was Negro same with Native Americans.

I identify myself as mixed. My mother is Puerto Rican and my dad is African American. I enjoy the cultural difference between the two however I do believe that anyone who is of a Hispanic background is also and can be considered Black.  I enjoy the food the music of both backgrounds however growing up I find it to all be the same.  The instruments used in music to the food that we eat, is all the same it’s just the spices that are used that makes it taste different. Consider the spices as genes we all have different genes but are still biologically the same in some way. Even growing up and meeting many people from across the world and experiencing different cultures some of our stories are  the same yet the cultural difference is what really makes us different. 

Works Cited

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/race-is-not-biological_us_56b8db83e4b04f9b57da89ed

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/06/16/how-fluid-is-racial-identity/race-and-racial-identity-are-social-constructs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8MS6zubIaQ&list=PLt6nX4f8WjdWgeomQQ3oLzVH5EoahlcQBanya Maria Golash-Boza

Race & racisms a Critical approach by Tonya Maria Golash- Boza

Race: What is it?

We live in a society where race is an important factor of identification for ourselves as well as how we identify others. Everybody learns some combination, some version, of the rules of racial classification, and of their own racial identity, often without obvious teaching or conscious inculcation. Race becomes 'common sense' - a way of comprehending, explaining, and acting in the world (Omi & Winant 1994).

But what does race mean? Many people can say that race has to do with genetics but that simply isn’t true. In the film “Race: The Power of an Illusion”, a group of students from different races conduct an experiment in which they examine their mitochondrial DNA. Their expectations were that their genes would be similar to the people of the same race as them, and most different from the people of a much different race. In the results, however, it was found that even those of the same race had fewer similarities than two people of different races. This experiment helped prove that race is not a biological structure, rather a societal one.

In the founding of America, the opposite theory was implemented in society. Omi and Winant argue that the concept of race developed gradually and was created to justify and explain inequality that is characteristic of European colonization. The expropriation of property, the denial of political rights, the introduction of slavery and other forms of coercive labor, well as outright extermination, all presupposed a worldview which distinguished European – children of God, human beings, etc. – from "others"

Scientists developed systems to classify human beings in order to justify racial inequalities (Golash-Boza, 2014). These systems were biased and favored the white race, justifying their dominance. Some of the systems that were used were craniometry, a study used to prove that Europeans had larger brains than other races. This theory was later disproven after unconscious bias was found in the study (Gould 1996).  These studies favoring the superiority of whites contributed to the inequalities of race in America through a variety of laws such as the 1924 Racial Integrity Act and the Jim Crow Laws of the 1960s. The idea that whites were “better” than others created systematic racism that still exists to this day.

The influx of immigrants from all over the world into America has created a greater complexity of how race is perceived in America. Where do Asians, Middle Eastern, Latinos fit in society? As a Hispanic, I have always had trouble identifying myself racially. Hispanic is an ethnicity, not a race, because we are a mixture of different races. For example, my ethnic group is called Mestizo, which are people mixed of white European and indigenous people. It can be difficult when asked for my race in documentation because I find that I don’t fit into the standard boxes of White, Black, Asian/Pacific Islander. Because of the color of my skin, I can sometimes pass as white, therefore some of my experiences in America have been different than those of darker skin Latinos. However, I still find that I completely identify with Latinos because of the culture in which I was raised. I am very proud of being Colombian, and I am proud of being racially mixed. I would like to understand more of my background, though, since European colonization wiped out a lot of my ancestral roots.

Los cuadros del mestizaje del Virrey Amat 

Works Cited

1.                    Omi, Michael; Winant, Howard (1986), Racial Formation in the United States from the 1960s to the 1990s, 2^nd ed. New York. Routledge.

2.                    Golash-Boza, Tanya. 2014, Race and Racisms: A Critical Approach, 23-24. Oxford University Press.

3.                    Gould, Stephen Jay. 1996. The Mismeasure of Man, 106. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Links

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kimberly-cooper/a-look-into-race-as-a-soc_b_6787574.html

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/05/what-we-mean-when-we-say-race-is-a-social-construct/275872/

Social Illusion

Karen Del Carpio                                                                                                         Sep. 21, 2016

Social Illusion of Race

Today many people think that human groups can be divided easily by distinct races. It is not a surprise that throughout history many scientists have done numerous studies on humans in order to classify the different populations based on their racial traits. As we have studied, race is a concept based on the attempt to categories the observable differences between racial groups. Microbiologist Pilar Ossorio explained in “Race: The Power of an Illusion, Episode 1” that there is no biological explanation that links race and genetics, and that there is more genetic variation within people of the same ethnic group than there is between various ethnic groups. Also in the article “Race: Biological Reality or Social Construct? By Andreasen, we see the same idea of a greater genetic variation within racial groups as it is between multiple racial groups. This evidence is based on the theory that traces our ancient origin back to Africa that states that through evolution we all carry old and new genetic variations that are vital for our survival.

I am from South America. Where I grew up the majority of families were mestizos. These families were either of Spanish or other European descent. In my case my grandfather was from Jewish Sephardic origin. Church was a big component of my identity. I always considered myself as racially mixed. I was never conscious about race differentiation until I got to New York. Here it was hard for me not to see the social cliques among different racial groups. The concept of racial identity for me is based on the different culture contexts. The article “Theories of Culture in Racist Discourse” (pg.93) explains that different countries have different ways of perceiving race and that societies have incorporated new forms of racism after WWII. These forms of racial notion emphasize race as a culture product rather than biological.

Angela James in her article “Making Sense of Race and Biological Classification” explains how people identify physical traits as part of their definition of race. “While race is a dynamic phenomenon rooted in political struggle, it is commonly considered a fixed characteristic of human populations; ..people routinely look to the human body for evidence about racial identity; while it is a biological fiction, it is nonetheless a social fact” (pg. 236). I believe that there exists a longing for social identity. We are constantly looking for affirmation among theories and logical explanation for our own doubts. Classifying people based on their physical traits and abilities is just another attempt to conform to social construct of race.

We can agree that racial stereotypes have been used as a medium to preserve hegemony. The techniques used by scientists today resemble methods used by scientists such as Linnaeus, who through classification of biological structures he attempted to attach imaginary components to his analysis, using this as a base upon which to formulate his theories. Racial differences, class status, socioeconomic conditions are some of the many tools used by the white supremacy to preserve social inequality.

Image by Myne Whitman on her blog {link to http://www.romancemeetslife.com/2015/03/meet-black-and-white-twins-everyone-can.html}

Image by Geledés Instituto da Mulher Negra

http://www.geledes.org.br/plano-de-aula-preconceitos/#gs.7bdopok

References

Andreasen, R.O., (2000). Race: Biological Reality or Social Construct? Philosophy of Science Association,2, 653-666.

James, A. (2001). Making Sense of Race and Racial Classification. Race and Society, 4(2), 235-247.

Durrhem, K., Dixon, J., (2000) Theories of Culture in Racist Discourse. Race and Society, 3(2), 93-339.

Abraham Arriaga

Intelligence

The division of human beings can be taken back to European’s attempt to justify slavery using science to explain racial differences. Scientists aimed to classify human beings and attribute them traits in a process known as taxonomy. European scholars such like Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray attached intelligence capacity in races that were soon to be widely accepted in whitened America. Pilar Ossorio’s RACE: The Power Of An Illusion, uses mtDNA testing to distinguish any clear biological similarities within races and ultimately discovered that there is nothing embedded within our genes that distinguishes race. Although slavery has ended and biological differences in races have been discredited, there continues to be a clear belief in the distinction of races in our society, such like in the testing of intelligence.

Race as a scientific concept originally was created to form a hierarchy based on phenotypic differences and was credible based on biology. Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray’s The Bell Curve use biology in order to prove white superiority by claiming “intelligence is quantifiable … [by measuring] IQ through intelligence testing”(Golash-Boza, 43). Herrnstein and Murray come to this conclusion that, “the average white person tests higher than about 84 percent of the population of blacks” (Herrnstein and Murray, 269). Using the theory of the bell curve, they divide races into categories.“We may call them "ethnic groups" instead of races … nonetheless [ethnic groups] differ ... intellectually on the average” (297). They make a claim based on data that completely disregards the disadvantages the black community have had for generations.

Biology could be considered as the seed of racial division and the beginning of racial formation. Race as a sociological concept could be better understood through the influence of racial projects at institutions and at an individual level. It is clear that professors in college campuses have attributed prejudice beliefs when in a study of African American students by Daniel Solorzano “...faculty maintained low expectations” and “...seemed to instill a sense of self-doubt” in African American students (Daniel Solorzano 66). Although The Bell Curve’s ideas of biological intelligence has been discredited, it is clear that the belief continues to remain engraved in our educational systems. These racial projects clearly affect the public when assumptions are made of scholarships being in sports:  “...a lot of people don't accept the fact that … I got a scholarship for academics ... not in sports” (67).

Pilar Ossorio’s film showed students testing mtDNA testing and we were able to disprove theories of DNA similarities within race. Through his findings he was able to find that, “There’s as much or more diversity and genetic difference within any racial group as there is between people of different racial groups”. Ossorio’s film ultimately shuns the belief that traits like intelligence are attributable to races through biology.

I identify as a Mexican American and see myself as a born and raised American with a Mexican background. In the United States it is confusing to say what my race is because what I claim to be my race is known as an ethnicity in the Census Bureau. I do not identify with the categories that are given and have a hard time narrowing it down because I am not white nor am I black. Race is simply something we observe phenotypically that has been attributed throughout history in order to distribute resources and to have losers and winners.

References

Daniel Solorzano; Miguel Ceja; Tara Yosso https://lesacreduprintemps19.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/the-bell-curve.pdf

Golash-Boza, Tanya Maria. (2015). Race & racisms : a critical approach. New York :Oxford University Press,  

Richard J. Herrnstein, Charles Murray

http://www.unco.edu/cebs/diversity/pdfs/crtmicroaggressions.pdf

REVISION: RACE: A Superficial Game

Rosita Lema                                                                                                            September 20, 2016  

    Race: A Superficial Game.  

 

       http://www.africanholocaust.net/images/egyptian_race_ethnic.jpg 

 For more than two hundred years race has classified humans into distinct groups based on physical traits, ancestry, and genetics. Legal scholar Pilar Ossorio opposes the idea of race due to the lack of any real scientific basis. For Pilar Ossorio “There’s as much or more diversity and genetic difference within any racial group as there is between people of different racial groups.” In essence there are no real genetic markers that can explicitly define one race from another.  However for centuries society has used the idea of race as the biological reason for the establishment of an unjust social hierarchy. Ultimately as a sociological concept, race has promoted the classification of different races and the existence of inequalities amongst them. 

In Idea of Race in Science: Great Britain, 1800-1960, Stepan states that "the history of racial science is a history of a series of accommodations of the sciences to the demands of deeply held convictions about 'the naturalness' of the inequalities between human races". Racial science has been used throughout time as means of caterogarizing human races and unfairly classifying them as inferior. This distinct classification as Golash-Boza explains in Race & Racism: A critical approach has paved way "to notions of white or European superiority that became concretized during the colonization of the Americas." As Golash-Boza further explains the unfair racial categorization has been created as a means to justify "mass genocide and brutal exploitation". As a result these racial categorizations and sociological concepts have brought lifelong inferior social positions for many different ethnic groups. 
Born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Clyde Ross understood at an early age the misfortune and adversity he would have to endure as an African American. Growing up in the south he quickly learned the oppression and inferiority he was subjugated to because of his racial identity. And when efforts to fight back for an equal treatment were made the constant lynching of Black man by white man embedded into him and others like him the fear and superiority the white man had over him. The brutal exploitation of constant lynching became an informal system of enforcement of white supremacy. A political suppression that lynched around 3,959 black men from 1877 to 1950.  However, Clyde Ross never gave up and headed north in search for a better life. After years of hard work and saving he was able to buy his family a house in Chicago. However, his racial identity and the misfortune attached to it prevented him from receiving an equal housing mortgage contract and an  unbiased treatment. A fight for racial equality which Clyde Ross is still struggling with today in Chicago as his story is unfolded by Barbara Brotman in http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-contract-buyers-league-20150724-story.html.

http://shrbeta.brack.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/15.0212.lynching.jpg                

As a young Latin American women born in the United States I have cherished the opportunities of being part of two different cultures and knowing two different languages. However, race and the attached misconceptions to Latinos has followed me throughout my entire life. Growing up in a predominantly Latino and Black community I remember being able to see the exterior differences between me and my childhood friends but not think much of it. As I grew older I became aware that these exterior differences were in fact determinants of the way others would perceive and treat one another. For the most part my racial identity has been a key contributing factor for who I am today. As a direct result of my race I have been given some opportunities while blindly robbed from other even greater opportunities. Most importantly my racial identity determined the type and level of education I should receive at an early age. As a Latina student I was immediately classified as a "newcomer" and placed in "English as a Second Language" class. Although I was born in the United States my racial identity classified me as a "new comer" and prevented me from receiving the same type of education as other students. By the third year of schooling I had successfully passed all the English language assessments and was ready to be moved into regular classes. However, I was not placed into regular English speaking classes and the main contributing factor for this was my external attributes and my racial identity.  

Being of Latin race I quickly realized I had to work twice as hard in two different languages and that the unfair treatment will always follow me. However, learning two different languages has been a great benefit to me in the long run. By living in an extremely racially diverse city my abilities have helped me gain many different employments and experiences. And so I have come to cherish my own unique racial identity and use it to my advantage.  

Rosita Lema                                                                                                    September 20, 2016  

Race: A Superficial Game.  

 

       http://www.africanholocaust.net/images/egyptian_race_ethnic.jpg 

 For more than two hundred years race has classified humans into distinct groups based on physical traits, ancestry, and genetics. Legal scholar Pilar Ossorio opposes the idea of race due to the lack of any real scientific basis. For Pilar Ossorio “There’s as much or more diversity and genetic difference within any racial group as there is between people of different racial groups.” In essence there are no real genetic markers that can explicitly define one race from another.  However for centuries society has used the idea of race as the biological reason for the establishment of an unjust social hierarchy. Ultimately as a sociological concept, race has promoted the classification of different races and the existence of inequalities amongst them. 

In Idea of Race in Science: Great Britain, 1800-1960, Stepan states that "the history of racial science is a history of a series of accommodations of the sciences to the demands of deeply held convictions about 'the naturalness' of the inequalities between human races. As biological anthropologist Alan Goodman distinctly states that "Biology has become an excuse for the social differences" amongst different races. Furthermore, the distinct classification of different races paved way "to notions of white or European superiority that became concretized during the colonization of the Americas." As Golash-Boza further explains the connections between race and racism being "the belief that races are populations whose physical differences are linked to significant cultural and social differences within a hierarchy." Unfortunately these sociological concepts have brought lifelong inferior social positions for many. As was the case for Clyde Ross who amounted a great deal of losses throughout his life. Growing up in the south he quickly learned the oppression and inferiority he was subjugated to. The constant lynching of Black man embedded into him the fear and superiority the white man had over him. As he searched for a better life Ross moved to the north and bought his family a house in Chicago. However, his crucial racial identity prevented him from receiving an equal housing mortgage contract and unbiased treatment.  

http://shrbeta.brack.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/15.0212.lynching.jpg             

   As a young Latin American women born in the United States I have cherished the opportunities of being part of two different cultures and knowing two different languages. However, race and the attached misconceptions to Latinos has followed me throughout my entire life. Growing up in a predominantly Latino and Black community I remember being able to see the exterior differences between me and my childhood friends but not think much of it. As I grew older I became aware that these exterior differences were in fact determinants of the way others would perceive and treat one another.               For the most part my racial identity has been a key contributing factor for who I am today. As a direct result of my race I have been given some opportunities while blindly robbed from other even greater opportunities. Most importantly my racial identity determined the type and level of education I should receive at an early age. As a Latina student I was immediately classified as a "newcomer" and placed in "English as a Second Language" classes. Although I was born in the United States my racial identity classified me as a "new comer" and prevented me from receiving the same type of education as other students. By the third year of schooling I had successfully passed all the English language assessments and was ready to be moved into regular classes. However, I was not placed into regular English speaking classes and the main contributing factor for this was my external attributes and my racial identity.  

Being of a Latin race I quickly realized I had to work twice as hard in two different languages and that the unfair treatment will always follow me. However, learning two different languages has been a great benefit to me in the long run. By living in an extremely racially diverse city my abilities have helped me gain many different employments and experiences. And so I have come to cherish my own unique racial identity and use it to my advantage.  

  

  

  

References  

Brown, T. N., Williams, D. R., Jackson, J. S., Neighbors, H. W., Torres, M., Sellers, S. L., & Brown, K. T. (2000). “Being black and feeling blue”: the mental health consequences of racial discrimination. Race and Society, 2(2), 117-131. 

Golash-Boza, Tanya Maria. (2015). Race & racisms: A critical approach. New York: Oxford University Press. 

Stepan, N. (1982). Idea of Race in Science: Great Britain, 1800-1960. Springer. 

www.theatlantic.com/projects/reparations/