Based on what you have learned from readings and the video, how would you explain the concept of race? Make sure that your answer draws on the materials for this week and doesn’t just repeat inaccurate assumptions you may have learned previously.

Discussion: Race, Ethnicity, & Class

The materials for this topic are all about ways that people are marked as socially different from one another, through concepts like race, ethnicity, class, and caste. Nina Jablonski points out that skin coloration comes in a continuum, not in discrete categories, and to an alien we would look like a “sepia rainbow.”

In this week’s materials, you will have learned that common assumptions about race are not backed up by science: we cannot objectively sort people into racial categories based on pre-existing differences in DNA or biology.

Imagine that an alien who wants to study humans comes to Earth and asks you to explain the differences that exist among humans and how those differences have affected you.

Based on what you have learned from readings and the video, how would you explain the concept of race? Make sure that your answer draws on the materials for this week and doesn’t just repeat inaccurate assumptions you may have learned previously.

How has your own society’s concept of race shaped your life? Would your life be different if you were another race?

Use the following only to answer the question and refer back to at least 2 in the post :

Nina Jablonski: Skin color is an illusion (Ted Talk)

Is Race Real? Race is Real, But It’s Not Genetic (Sapiens article)
This reading goes into more detail about why racial categories do not reflect genetic realities.

Rethinking Beauty and Race at Dominican-American Hair Salons (Sapiens article)This article discusses racialized issues around hair among Dominican-American people. As you read it, think about the process of racialization described in the Welsch & Vivanco textbook . How is hair being racialized in this example?

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