Race Manners by Bruce A. Jacobs

Author:Bruce A. Jacobs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcade

Identity

11

Showing Our ID:

What Is Race, Anyway?

am “black,” right?

I am the descendant of certain dark-skinned African peoples whose physical characteristics and range of cultures are generally described as “black,” and I identify with that ancestry and those traditions. Correct?

And someone who is “white” has an analogously concrete relationship with his or her physical ancestry and cultural heritage. Yes? Just as someone who is, say, Asian has such a relationship with his particular physical and cultural identity. Or someone who is Eskimo. Or someone who is Arabic. Or a Pacific Islander. Right?

Well, not exactly.

There are physical characteristics of some “blacks” that I do not share. Same with culture: who is to decide how many of the infinite range of “black” cultural variations one must identify with to be demonstrably “black”? And we can ask the same questions of perceived “white” or “Asian” or “Arabic” or “Eskimo” traits. What is the standard? Can you point with authority to any given human being and identify specifically what makes her a member of her particular “race” or not?

Before you answer, consider that virtually any “black” American has an ancestry of some intermixture between “blacks” and “whites,” and any “white” American has equivalent elements of “black” ancestry somewhere down the line. The intimacy of 400 years of slavery and its aftermath has made certain of that. When you factor in the simultaneous interactions with Native Americans and the flood of immigrants who have come to these shores, our tidy idea of each person’s specific racial identity starts to fall apart entirely.

Then add this to the mix: all humanity originated in Africa. So we are all Africans at some essential level, with whatever further racial implications that carries.

And here’s the blockbuster that blows everything out of the water: researchers now overwhelmingly agree that the very idea of race as a physical entity is scientifically meaningless. Its rules consistently break down when examined on the level of individual human beings. Scientifically speaking, race is a fiction. It does not exist. So when I write this book discussing “black” or “white” or “Arabic” or “Native American” peoples, and when you mention your “black” friend or your “white” or “Asian” coworker, what on earth are we talking about?

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.