Comments on: The Concept of Race

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 03:07:51 +0000

I know this will be an unpopular, politically incorrect question… but it’s an honest question. If there is an obvious difference in genetic/racial characteristics, why can’t we ask the question relating to a corresponding predisposition? I know… it could lead to sterotypical racial statements. But… what if it’s the truth ? Is everyone afraid of the truth? I’m Irish. Is my smartass sense of humor somehow related to my genetic past? Why can’t white guys dance? Why are asians so damn good at math and music? Is anyone courageous enough to tell the truth?

By: Tasha Spawn

Tasha Spawn — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:39:13 +0000

I am not implying in the least that race was invented by Europeans. I am, however, implying that the CONCEPT of race in the American sociocultural sense was invented by the European religious “conquests” and overall confusion of what Native Americans were. I do not want it to seem that I thought that the color of skin was first noticed then but a certain unique emphasis was put on it at the point of the “discovery” of America by Europeans. I largely discuss the concept of race in America and not the simplified notion of just “race”. If I were to discuss race as a whole and across cultures instead of the concept of the idea in America, it would be a book and not just a blog. I respectfully appreciate your critiques!

By: Doug Stephen

Doug Stephen — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:43:02 +0000

This article almost seems to argue that Race was invented by Europeans.

By: Amys Welt » Blog Archive » Lesenswert: The Concept of Race

Amys Welt » Blog Archive » Lesenswert: The Concept of Race — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:41:50 +0000

[...] The Concept of Race The main concern of the Europeans was religion and how people of different colors fit into that [...]

By: Wednesday Rojak #33 | SEAArch - The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog

Wednesday Rojak #33 | SEAArch - The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:16:51 +0000

[...] Race is still quite a sensitive issue in Malaysia, for anyone familiar with the local politics. So it’s rather timely that Anthrpology.net has a short primer on The Concept of Race [...]

By: Luis

Luis — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:36:03 +0000

I also don’t think it’s so clear. The concept of race is old, though it was diffuse and more often than not used as synonim of ethnicity, something that was done by some even as late as the 19th century.

Ancient Mediterraneans obviously knew of black people but didn’t think of them apparently as different from other exotic “races”, like, say, Germans or Indians. It was not the quasi-biological concept of today, not so much finished in any case.

Racism also arose from or at least within religious discrimination. When Europeans first looked for moral justifications of slavery of exotic peoples, being a “heathen” was usually the more common pretext. In fact the English of Cromwell enslaved under that pretext hundreds of thousands of Irish Catholics (http://www.kavanaghfamily.com/articles/2003/20030618jfc.htm). And this is just surely one example among many. Only with time would the religious pretext become a racial one.

I think the modern concept of race is born of a mixture of scientific mentality and colonialism that would soon become racism. It did not appear out of the blue when Colombus landed in Quisiqueya (modern Hispaniola). In fact Colombus was surely very familiar with the existence of Black people with whom he must had contact or at least heard of when he was in Portugal (and there is a theory that claims that he was personally involved in the early slave trade in West Africa).

The conception of race is truly in the eyes of the beholder.

I certainly agree with this largely. It is mainly a social construct. There is some biological base but it’s very limited.

By: TerryT

TerryT — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:42:36 +0000

“All the history books that I have read suggest that race was first recognized when the Europeans came over to America and saw the Native Americans”. I presume you mean the idea that one race can be superior to another. Obviously even Herodotus recognised there were different races.

The best history books I have read agree with the bit, “was first recognized when the Europeans came over to America” but claim it was because Americans (and Europeans who provided the transport) felt obliged to justify their kidnapping of another group of people to work the intensive farming methods they were developing there.

The idea that races can be placed along a hierarchy of intelligence, say, is completely ridiculous anyway. Even if the average intelligence (however we might be able to measure that in any meaningful way) of one race is higher than in another there will be many people in the so-called inferior race who will be more intelligent than many people in the so-called superior one.

As you say the idea is simply to, “create a social hierarchy that is visible or easily identified”.