Anthropology News October 2003 A C A D E M I C A F F A I R S

Linking Culture and Biology via Student Narratives on Racism MAITHEW RICHARD VAIDOSTA STATE u

It was the start of fifth grade. I was going to have my friends come spend the night with me. Mamma asked me who I wanted to spend the night, and I told her Amber. She told me that my daddy would not allow that. 1 didn’t understand. I asked mamma why. She told me that Amber was black and that daddy would not go for that at all. I was so disheartened. I knew it would break Amber‘s heart when she found out. I told mamma that 1 didn’t feel daddy was being fair; that it didn’t matter to me the color of Amber’s skin.

This is how “Maria’s” story begins. Every semes- ter I ask students in my introductory anthropol- ogy classes to recall their earliest experience of racism. That is, to recall the moment from child- hood when they first re;ilizcd that Americans cat- egorize people 011 the basis of skin color. Their recollections take the form of short narratives that offer an abundance o f insight into the ~ul- ture of the region in which I work (often referred to as “the Deep South”). This is useful to me as an instructor, for it sensitizes nit to the significant cultural models that dwell in the minds of my students, and with this knowledge I can chart an appropriate pedagogical course for my classes.

Linking Sub-Fields One strategy involves using the narratives to pro- vide a link between the cultural and biological sections of my four-field introductory course. Having elicited the narratives in the cultural por- tion of the course (an extra credit option), i re- turn to them whexrmalcing the transition to the biological portion. I begin classes in this section by reading one or two of the narratives so as to keep the focus on the contradictions surrounding the issue of race. I, of course, take the position that “race” is a cultural construct, but that racism

is very real indeed. The narratives afford me a sin- gular opportunity to make this initially puzzling distinction to my anthropological novices. Hav- ing studied social constructionism in the first part of the course, students are primed to see that racial categories are specious once they begin learning about natural selection, human varia- tion and the relationship between the sun’s radi- ation and melanin. Connecting the dots may begin by pointing out that the inhabitants of tropical areas are invaridbly darker-Ainncd thm those who live outside the tropics, an illustration of both the spuriousness of racial boundaries and of the certain logic of natural \election; or with data shonmg that peoplt. ot oiic race can be genetically more similar to ~wople of another race than they are to individuals o f their own race (for example, in temv ot body size or form, blood type, facial features or hair form). Each point acjvancc5 thc contention that different popula- tions are not earily classifiable into discrete groups that can be defined in terms of the pres- ence or absence of particular biological traits. In sum, we come to the conclusion that the ewnces implied by racial nomenclature are unreliable and ultimately baseless. Nonetheless, xi the nar- ratives show, the racial myths-and practices persist I might mention here tlidt many of Georgia’s university-aged student 5 have had little exposure to evolutioriary theory, many having received their primary and secondary education in pnvate (read: Christian) schools where, of m r s e , the teaching of creationism prevails.

At this juncture, I also bring linguistics into the discussion, pointing out that language categories provide people the means for making racial dis- tinctions in the first place. I want my students to recognize the connections between language and mind, and between mind and behavior that are at least implicit, if not explicit, in their narratives.

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This [teaching strategy] provides a powerful lesson in deconstruction, whereby many students are able to see the liberating possibilities of social science, perhaps for the first time in their lives.

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I point out that by “lumping” or “splitting” phe- nomena-in this case skin pigmentation-lan- page users determine how many variants of a type they will perceive. Thus our language allows us to categorize and, beyond that, to attach cul- tural meanings to the categories. l explain further that it is precisely because we are informed in cir- cumscribed fashion that we (re)act in predictable ways. After all, meanings are motivating, as the psychological anthropologists remind us. The addition of this social-psychological angle helps unify and clarify much of the complexity that attaches to race for my students. Their often poig- nant narratives, like the one above and those that follow, highlight all of the issues, and demon- strate precisely what sorts of meanings are made and how they play out. Suddenly, and perhaps for the first time in many of my students’ lives, the laws of nature seem less imposing than the inventiveness of the human mind.

Cross-Cultural Comparisons In class we compare other multiracial societies to the US. We discuss the so-called “one drop rule” (wherein one drop of black bloc KI i I I one’s ances- try confers hlnrkncs), ;tnd IVC lcarn that other groups of ~ ~ . o p l r s dimmi marc or less variation with regard to skin color, a fact that is reflected in the h ~ y i I g e categories they employ in naming social categories. This point is rather easily made since we have a large contingent of Belizean ex- change students on campus who can kadily attest to the particular way that their own society con- structs race. In fact, as Anne Stitherland notes in her book, The Mukin‘y otBrlizr (1 998, p 79), Beliz- eans distinguish myriad racial categories beyond black and white: “mulatos” [mixed) are distin- guished from ”morenos” (dark), and “pardos” (brown) are distinguished from “claros” (light). And it does not end there; Belizeans, like other Caribbean peoples, make even finer distinctions (such as “moreno daro,” or light brown) in order to represent intermediate gradients of skin color.

Understanding Racism Bringing it all together-the myths and the con- tradictions-are the students’ narratives. 1 have .collected nearly 200 at this point, which 1 am using to investigate cultural models of race (fol- lowing A Cognitive Theov of Cultural Meaning by Claudia Strauss and Naomi Quinn, 1997); spe- cifically, how cultural models form during child- hood; how they vary from one individual to the next; and how they change. Despite the impres- sion that many people get when they think of Southern culture, I contend that racial attitudes, like culture itself, are neither homogeneous nor unchanging (the psychological data contained in the narratives helps me to argue this). Many of the issues raised here and above are evident in the following pair of narratives, the first by “Walter,” an African-American non-traditional student in his forties who writes about growing up in the 195Os, and by “David,” a white male in his twen- ties, whose narrative is more contemporary. First, Walter:

A C A D E M I C A F F A I R S October 2003 Anthropology News

My most vivid memory of discrimination goes back to when I was six years old. I was very sick and my mother took me to see a doctor. We amved before the start of business to ensure that I could be examined first thing that morning. We had to enter through the back dtmr and wait in a small room. I could see down the hallway where the white patients were in a large room with books, magazines and comfortable chairs. Five o’clock in the afternoon arrived and we were still there. The doctor was leaving and told us it was closing time. We would have to return the fol- lowing day. The look of hurt in my mother’s eyes was more painful than the sickness I was feeling. My mother had nursed and raised this doctor when he was a child. Needless to say, she did not take me back to that office.

David’s formative memory of racism is as follows:

The earliest memory I have of racism occurred &hen I was seven years old-the day that I was baptized at First Baptist Church. I brought home newfound friends, and while playing on my parents’ front lawn, Clem, another boy I played with during the week, walked up. One of my new friends told us that he was not allowed to play with “niggers.” We huddled to- gether and decided to run off this “nigger” by throw- ing rocks at him and calling him names. I cried myself to sleep that night, remembering how Clem looked at me. I tried to apologize later, but he would never speak to me again, and out of all the children there that day, his name is the only one I remember. Later, in the fourth grade, I was chosen to be the father in, [as in W a s ] Was the Night wore Chris.ibnas school play. The girl who was to play my wife was a colored girl named Tiffany, a good friend. My father was infuriated when he heard that his son would have a colored wife. The only way to stay in the play was to tell him a lie: that Tiffany had dropped out of the play, and that I now had a white wife. He pun- ished me after the play and ridiculed me for months for being a “nigger lover.”

Changing Rmepthm Such narratives of my students’ formative experi- ences of racism draw extra attention to the inter- play of biology and sociology. This provides a powerful lesson in deconstruction, whereby many students are able to see the liberating possibilities of social science, perhaps for the first time in their lives. Whereas, for example, they once perceived otherness in terms of race (with at least some of that concept‘s most negative connotations, namely, the notions of primitiveness or sub-intel- ligence), they now perceive others more relative- ly; that is, as members of just another ethnic group-something to which nearly everyone in America can relate. While learning that melanin is variable and vital to survival, the notion of eth- nicity supersedes race as a more logical explana- tion of cultural variation.

Matthew Richard is u c~ilhrrul unthrupulugist at Vuldosta Stute University who has shrclied mudeniizutiori iri Ruts- wuiiu arid ruc-e arid cthtiicity in Geurgiu, thc Czech Repitblic m i t i Rdize.

Environmental problems are human problems!

Please recycle this publication.

JESSICA WINECAR COHN~LL U

Would you like to help your students better understand the Middle East and Islam from an anthropological perspective? Do you already spe- cialize in these areas but find it difficult to teach these topics effectively in the current climate? Now is your chance to register for the Middle East Section (ME)-sponsored workshop “Classroom Strategies for Teaching about the Middle East/ North Africa and Islam,” to be held at the Chica- go AAA Annual Meeting.

Current political tensions and a pronounced media focus on the Arab and Islamic worlds have made teaching about the Middle Fast and Islam especially crucial. Yet facilitating productive class- room discussions about the region can be difficult. The workshop will enable specialists and non- specialists to discuss classroom strategies and to appraise and integrate materials for teaching about the region and its diaspora from an anthropolog- ical perspective.

Discussing the Middle East in Class Results of an informal survey conducted by MES members last year suggest that anthropologists of all regional specializations would like to incorpo- rate more and better materials and discussions about the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Islam in their courses. This is excellent news, because students will now have a better chance of gaining an anthropologically informed under- standing of current events and their historical roots. They will also be better able to see links between the Middle East and other world regions.

Unfortunately, at a time when they are most needed, there is currently a dearth of anthropo- logical courses that attend to Middle East issues or that examine the social lives of Middle Eastern peoples in all their contemporary complexity. It is crucial that anthropologists integrate the latest anthropological scholarship on Arabs and Mus- lims in classes about regions other than the Middle East, and in a broad range of topical class- es on themes such as globalization, urbanization, popular culture and mass media, legal studies, race and political economy. Students should be able to see Arabs and Muslims as members of changing societies that are closely connected with the rest of the world.

Although many anthropologists want to pro- vide students with the anthropological tools to go beyond the pervasive stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims, the MES survey also indicated that faculty are often hesitant or unsure about how to deal with heightened tensions and hardened views in the classroom, particularly issues of patriotism, gender violence and the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict. Classroom challenges are com- pounded by recent attempts to silence free dis- cussion on college campuses, the most notorious of which is the Campus Watch website and project. Junior faculty reported being particularly con-

on the Middle

cerned that their careers could be compromised by what some have called a new McCarthyism.

The workshop will address all these issues, and provide teachers with the knowledge, tools, and confidence to create an effective pedagogical space in which students can learn the anthropo- logical skills and critical perspectives they need to engage with the world around them.

The Workshop The teaching workshop will consist of presenta- tions by anthropologists of the Middle East on what they have found to be the most useful, en- gaging, and important topics related to the MENA region and Islam for the classroom setting. They will discuss the key challenges they have con- fronted in teaching these topics and their suc- cessful methods for dealing with them, including pedagogical strategies and teaching materials. A packet of useful classroom materials, including syllabi, bibliographies and other information sources, exercise ideas, discussion and paper t o p ics, will be provided to attendees. The last third of the session will be devoted to an open discussion among the presenters and attendees. The work- shop will be held Fri, Nov 21 from 12:15-1:30 pm. FJ

Draft Statement on Contingent Faculty Issued The American Association of University Professors issued a draft policy, Contingent Appointments and the Academic Profession, which makes new recommendations for increasing the proportion of faculty appointments that are on the tenure line, and improving job security and due process protections for those with contingent appoint- ments.

The proportion of tenure-line appointments may be increased in two ways: changing the sta- tus of faculty members currently holding non- tenure-track appointments by offering tenure-eli- gible reappointments, and creating new tenure- line appointments filled through open searches. In both cases, a transition to a higher proportion of tenured faculty should be accomplished pri- marily through attrition, retirements, and, where appropriate, “grandfathering” of currently con- tingent faculty into tenured positions.

The draft policy recommends that when con- tingent faculty appointments are used, they should include the full range of faculty responsi- bilities; comparable compensation for compara- ble work; assurance of continuing employment after a reasonable opportunity for successive re- views; inclusion in institutional governance structures; and appointment and review process- es that involve faculty peers and follow accepted academic due process.

The draft is available for comment at www. aaup.org/statements/SpchState/contingent. h tm . FJ

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