Question! - Webnode
Transcript of Question! - Webnode
Question!
� Is a person’s race obvious?
� What about their ethnicity, is that also obvious?
M. Ellis
Meet Bele and Lokai
Source: Star Trek, “Let that be Your Last Battlefield,”
Episode 90. First Aired August 1969.M. Ellis
What is “race”?
When most people use the word race they mean:
� In popular discourse, racial groups are viewed as physically distinguishable populations that share a common geographically based ancestrycommon geographically based ancestry
M. Ellis
What is “race”?
When most people use the word race they mean:
• a division of mankind possessing traits that are transmissible by descent
• a distinct human “type” , with characteristics that are by and • a distinct human “type” , with characteristics that are by and large unique to that group. For eg., Caucasian race or African race
• a set of phenotypic properties, such as skin colour and hair appearance
• people belonging to the same “stock”
M. Ellis
What does it Mean when we Say that
Race is a “Social Construct”
� “race” is social and not biological in nature
M. Ellis
To Answer that Question First we must
understand what a social Construct is:
� a social construct (or social construction) is a concept or practice that is the creation of a particular group.
� such a concept is universally admitted or accepted, but is not an objective reality
M. Ellis
Race Is Social
� there is nothing biologically real about race
� there is nothing that we (societies) have identified as race that exists apart from our collective agreement, acceptance, and imposition of its existence.
� In other words race exists “because we say so!”
M. Ellis
What Scientists Have Found:
• Dr. Craig Venter, an American Biologist, and geneticist Dr. Francis Collins of the (U.S.A) National Institute of Health announced in 2000 that their examination of the data from the genome mapping, led them to conclude that there is 1-3% genetic difference between human beings.
• Therefore, they concluded, the types of variations do not warrant calling each other different races.
M. Ellis
What Scientists Have Found:
• Venter said:
"Race is a social concept. It's not a scientific one. There are no bright lines (that would stand out), if we could compare all the sequenced genomes of everyone on the planet...When we try to apply science to try to sort out planet...When we try to apply science to try to sort out these social differences, it all falls apart”
M. Ellis
What Scientists Have Found:
� Anthropologist Katya Gibel Mevorach said:
race is "a metonym,“ [a figure of speech]
"a human invention whose criteria for differentiation are neither universal nor fixed but have always been used to neither universal nor fixed but have always been used to manage difference.”
M. Ellis
The Social Constructivist View:
• The Concept of “races” is simply a cultural intervention reflecting specific attitudes and beliefs that were imposed on different populations in the wake of western European conquests beginning in the 15th century (Columbus etc)
The concept was designed to justify the conquest and • The concept was designed to justify the conquest and displacement of Amerindians, as well as the enslavement of Africans, who looked different from Europeans, to satisfy European imperial ambitions.
M. Ellis
Race is Real!
Even Among Scientists
Yet...
� In a 2007 study of academics (biologists and anthropologists) Ann Morning found that “advances in anthropologists) Ann Morning found that “advances in genetic knowledge seem to have done little to dismiss scientists' belief in racial biology, or to bring academics to a consensus regarding the nature of race.”
M. Ellis
Race is Real!
Even Among Scientists
� In a 2007 Nobel laureate James Watson angered many, including many in the scientific community, when he told a UK newspaper that it was a delusion to believe that "equal powers of reason" were shared across racial groups. He said powers of reason" were shared across racial groups. He said that while there was a natural desire that all human beings should be equal, "people who have to deal with black employees find this not true".
See the newspaper article “Fury at DNA pioneer's theory: Africans are less intelligent than Westerners”, The Independent, Wednesday, 17 October 2007.
M. Ellis
Ethnicity
� Ethnicity refers to the identification of a group based on a perceived cultural distinctiveness that makes the group into a “people.”
� This distinctiveness is believed to be expressed in language, music, values, art, styles, literature, family life, language, music, values, art, styles, literature, family life, religion, ritual, food, naming, public life, and material culture.
M. Ellis
Ethnicity
• This cultural comprehensiveness—a unique set of cultural characteristics perceived as expressing themselves in ‘commonly unique’ ways across the socio-cultural life of a population—characterizes the concept of ethnicity.
• It revolves around not just a “population,” a numerical • It revolves around not just a “population,” a numerical entity, but a “people,” a comprehensively unique cultural entity.
M. Ellis
Ethnicity
• Whereas race refers to the perceived unique common physical and biogenetic characteristics of a population, ethnicity refers to comprehensive unique cultural characteristics.
• These cultural characteristics might include language/ dialect, religion, customs and history
• There is a biological element also, when ethnicity is used in contemporary language. It is believed that you can see a persons ethnicity eg hair colour. It is believed that a person’s ethnicity is physically obvious
• In the late 20th century and at the turn of the 21st century, “Irish” was considered an ethnic label, while “white” was a racial one.
M. Ellis
Questions
� How does/can race affect a person’s education?
� What about Ethnicity, how does/can ethnicity affect a person’s education?
What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of ethnically-� What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of ethnically-based schools?
� What can teachers do to minimise prejudice in the Education system?
M. Ellis
Figure 16: Illustration of Black Children at Play in J. O. Cutteridge,
Nelson’s West Indian Reader, Book I (London: Thomas Nelson and Son,
1926) 17.
The above was a black and white
charcoal drawing that offended some
Afro-West Indians, who compared it to
the more respectful illustration of
Indian and European children in the Indian and European children in the
same reader
M. Ellis
Figure 17: Illustration of an Indian Girl in J. O. Cutteridge, Nelson’s West
Indian Reader, Book I (London: Thomas
Nelson and Son, 1926) 37. Some Afro-
West Indians complained that it was a
more respectful portrayal than the
illustration of black children which
appeared in the same book.
The above, was a coloured lithograph
whereas the illustration of the black whereas the illustration of the black
children was black and white sketch, the
physical features also seem more
realistic.
M. Ellis
Figure 18: A European Child appearing in the Nelson's West
Indian Reader, Book I (London:
Thomas Nelson and Son, 1926) 56.
M. Ellis