In the modern context, Race refers to a group of people who share the same physical characteristics such as skin tone, hair texture, and facial features. Racism is the systematic practice of denying people access to rights, representation, or resources based on racial differences.Principally due to the fact that the USA has been open to immigration since its beginning, The USA today is a melting cauldron of a wide variety of races, nationalities and ethnic identities, and amongst the industrialized nations, it is distinguished by the size and diversity of its racial and ethnic populations; and current trends promise that these features will endure. The U. S.
population is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse which is the reflection of the twin factors of immigration and ageing US population (Himes 2001) .While about 81% of the population was white in 2000, that figure is projected to fall to 72% by year 2050(Cicero 2000 ) Increases will be most dramatic for Asians and for persons in the “other races” category (which includes American Indians and Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, and individuals who identify with two or more races). Between 2000 and 2050, the number of Asians is expected to increase by 22. million, an increase of 213%, while the number in the “all other races” (which includes persons who identify with two or more races) category will increase by 15.
3 million, or 217%(census report 2004). The increasing diversity in the demographic profile brings with it the attendant problems of racial tensions, mutual suspicion (due to ignorance) and the existence of prevalent beliefs of other races and adjustments at the personal and community level.The AAA has identified this future aspect of the racial issue and it has taken certain initiatives to mitigate the problem. Thesis The focus of this paper will be restricted to the issue of Race from the American perspective and will deliberate on the popular notions of Race in America, the initiatives of the AAA and the likely impact the AAA initiative may have on popular cultural notions about race, and its overall effectiveness as a public education tool.Popular Notions of Race The popular notion of race is based upon differences of skin color, physica,linguistic, nationalistic and religious characteristics. Attempts to classify humans were initiated as early as in the 17th century by scientists; however, it was Johann Friedrich Bluemenbach who first divided humanity according to skin color.
His postulates had a profound and lasting influence in shaping the racial perceptions of generations of Americans and the effect manifests itself in the existing popular notions regarding various races.During the 19th and early 20th century, certain people with racist interests like Joseph Arthur Gobineau and Houston Stewart Chamberlain started attributing cultural and psychological values to race in order to propagate the apparent superiority of their own kind of culture or nationality. This same approach complicated the integration movement in the United States (Gates 93-121) and underlay the former segregation policies of the Republic of South Africa.To arrive at an accurate classification of humans based on the distinct physiological characters is likely to be futile due to a heterogeneous world population which is a result of coexistence of races through conquests, invasions, migrations, and mass deportations have.
However, by restricting the parameters to such aspects like skin pigmentation, color and form of hair, shape of head, stature, and form of nose, (Bluemenbach 1865), most anthropologists agree on the existence of three relatively distinct groups: the Caucasoid, the Mongoloid, and the Negroid(Benedict 2,3,89-98).Humans of the Caucasoid group are mainly to be found in Europe, N Africa, and the Middle East to N India, and are characterized as pale reddish white to olive brown in skin color, of medium to tall stature, with a long or broad head form. The hair is light blond to dark brown in color, of a fine texture, and straight or wavy. The color of the eyes is light blue to dark brown and the nose bridge is usually high. The Mongoloid race includes inhabitants of E Asia and the indigenous sections of the Americas are described as saffron to yellow or reddish brown in skin color, of medium stature, with a broad head form.The hair is dark, straight, and coarse; body hair is sparse.
The eyes are black to dark brown. The epicanthic fold, imparting an almond shape to the eye, is common, and the nose bridge is usually low or medium. The Negroid race is characterized by brown to brown-black skin, usually a long head form, varying stature, and thick, everted lips. The hair is dark and coarse, usually kinky. The eyes are dark, the nose bridge low, and the nostrils broad. To the Negroid race belong the peoples of Africa south of the Sahara, the Pygmy groups of Indonesia, and the inhabitants of New Guinea and Melanesia.
Historical research has shown that the idea of "race" has always carried more meanings than mere physical differences; indeed, physical variations in the human species have no meaning except the social ones that humans put on them. Today scholars in many fields argue that "race" as it is understood in the United States of America was a social mechanism invented during the 18th century to refer to those populations brought together in colonial America: the English and other European settlers, the conquered Indian peoples, and those peoples of Africa brought in to provide slave labor.The concept of Race as accepted in the modern times had been modeled on the ancient theory of the Great Chain of Being(love joy 1976), which postulated natural categories on a hierarchy established by God or nature. Hence race was a mode of classification linked specifically to identify colonized people and thereby provided a sense of legitimacy to the growing ideology of inequality devised to rationalize European attitudes and treatment of their colonies.During the 19th century, the ideology was used as a pretext to retain the system of slavery and to magnify the differences among Europeans, Africans, and Indians.
This enabled the colonial powers to establish a rigid hierarchy of socially exclusive categories and bolstered unequal rank and status differences, with the rationalization that the inequality was natural or God-given. The distinct and different physiological features of African-Americans and Indians became markers or symbols of their status differences.During the initial period of the construction of the American society, the European-American leaders evolved a set of cultural/behavioral characteristics identifying each race, wherein superior traits were attributed to Europeans and negative and inferior ones to blacks and Indians. Similarly, arbitrary and fictitious beliefs regarding the different cultures were deliberated and propagated and permitted to be institutionalized and deeply embedded in American thought(Smedley 1998).
The scientific discourses during the early 19 th century also began to reflect the public consciousness about human differences. This line of thought was stretched to its extreme limits when it was stated that Africans, Indians, and Europeans were separate species, with Africans at the lowest end of the ladder, taxonomically in close proximity to apes (AAA1998). Scientific Opinion All the above mentioned groups can be further sub-divided in to smaller groups. A race may be defined in genetic terms as having a set of frequencies distinct from that of other races in terms of genes and heredity (Jacobs 1974).However, the genes responsible for the hereditary differences between humans are extremely few when compared with the vast number of genes common to all human beings regardless of the race to which they belong.
The fact that there exists as much variation in the genetic composition between members of any given race, as there is between different races; led physical anthropologists to the conclusion that the concept of race is ultimately unscientific and racial categories are arbitrary designations (Armelagos and Alan 1998).The concept of race is a cultural invention, a culturally and historically specific way of thinking about, categorizing, and treating human beings (Mukhopadhyay and Moses 1997) Thus it can be deduced that defining Race on the basis of national, religious, geographic, linguistic, or ethnic groups or equating the biological characteristics with the mental faculties of a particular race is inappropriate (Bennet 1983). To begin with, all forms of human groups belong to the Homo sapiens species and are mutually fertile. The process of mutation, selection, and adaptational changes in human populations led to the creation of races (Obe 1984).
The nature of genetic variation in human beings indicates there has been a common evolution for all races and that racial differentiation occurred relatively late in the history of Homo sapiens. Initiatives of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) Alarmed by the fact, that in the USA, both the scholars and general public were accustomed to viewing human races as natural and separate divisions within the human species based on physiological parameters, despite abundant scientific evidence to the contrary, the AAA decided to initiate certain measures to enlighten the general public, the scholars and the government.Genetic evidence indicates that 94% of physical variations exist within the concerned sub groups while scientific evidence suggests geographical racial groupings differ from one another by 6%, implying that there is greater variation within "racial" groups than between them. Throughout history whenever different groups have come into contact, they have interbred.The continued sharing of genetic materials has maintained all of humankind as a single species; that human populations are not unambiguous, clearly demarcated, biologically distinct groups. Despite the overwhelming scientific evidence contradicting the widely prevalent belief that links intelligence with racial identity, public discussions and perception continue to propagate the existing beliefs.
The existing beliefs imply that intelligence is biologically determined by race has been repeatedly challenged by scientists; nevertheless these ideas continue to be advanced. The AAA is of the opinion that retaining such values and discussions serves to distract public and scholarly attention from and diminish support for the collective challenge to ensure equal opportunities for all people, regardless of ethnicity or phenotypic variation. The AAA had tabled resolutions against racism in 1961, 1969, 1971, and 1972 addressing this concern.The AAA enunciated in the resolution that since all humans belong to the Homo sapiens species and as there exists scientific evidence to prove differentiating species into biologically defined races as a way of explaining variation in intelligence or any other traits is inaccurate; the academy, political leaders and communities should strive to ensure equal opportunity for securing a harmonious quality of life for all people without being distracted or misled by mistaken claims of racially determined intelligence(AAA 1994).
Impact of AAA’s Initiative While assessing the likely impact of the AAA initiatives, it is necessary to keep in mind the fact that they are taking on the onerous task of wiping out generations of misconceptions and institutionalized prejudices. By coming out vociferously against the prevalent beliefs on the different aspects of race, the AAA helps to focus attention of the educated and intellectual sections of the society.The changes will take place, but it will take quite sometime for the misconceptions to be completely eliminated from the American Society. Educators It must be understood that while the concept of race is a biological fiction, it is a social reality in the sense that it determines the way a person perceives who he is, how he is treated, how he treats others, and his access to resources and rights. First, it is important to understand that, while races are biological fictions, they are social realities.
The most important fallout of the AAA initiative is for the educators who realize that race, racial classifications, racial stratification, and other forms of racism, including racial ideology, are part of our culture, which has been created rather than being part of our biology. This means that we have the ability to change the system, to transform it, and even to totally eradicate it. Educators, in their role as transmitters of official culture, are particularly well poised to be active change agents in such a transformation.For educators, this means helping students to recognize and understand socioeconomic stratification, who benefits and who is harmed by racial discrimination, and how we as individuals and institutional agents can act to dismantle ideologies, institutions, and practices that harm young people.
The government and the Community The AAA’s initiative is a special effort to disseminate understandings about race and human variation to the broader public.The consistent and logical presentation of the pitfalls of adhering to the outdated views of race to the government and the population by the AAA compels a reassessment of the ingrained and at times indoctrinated beliefs pertaining to race and related aspects. These efforts will assist in promoting significant progress towards the integration of anthropological concepts, methods, and issues into community college and adult education as a means of increasing public understanding of anthropology (AAA 1998).Conclusion The tragedy in the United States has been that the policies and practices stemming from this worldview succeeded all too well in constructing unequal populations among Europeans, Native Americans, and peoples of African descent. Given what we know about the capacity of normal humans to achieve and function within any culture, we conclude that present-day inequalities between so-called "racial" groups are not consequences of their biological inheritance but products of historical and contemporary social, economic, educational, and political circumstances.
If the facts are presented to the present generation consistently and logically, there is no reason why the change in matters pertaining to perceptions on Race does not occur. The timeframe for this change to take place has to be realistic and will require sustained efforts not only by the AAA, but by the Government, the educators, the student community, NGOs and right thinking people.
