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| Since
the nineteenth century, people in Western societies (Western Europe and
North America) have romanticized science and put it onto a pedestal.
Science, of course contributed to major technological advancements during
and after the industrial revolution; very impressive. As a result,
many people try to explain various social phenomena through “scientific”
explanations. Here we mean the hard sciences, biology, chemistry
and physics, not the social sciences (which are not as highly respected). |
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| The
use of biology, or misuse as it turns out, applies to our categorising
persons into various “races." |
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| We
must separate what is biological, and what is social in this process. |
..
| Biologically,
we (Homo sapiens sapiens) are animals. As such, we inherit
biological characteristics from our two parents. This includes: hair colour,
hair straightness or curliness, various skin colours, shape of nose, size,
weight, and so on. If we look at a cross section of hair, we see
it can be round, oval or flat. The rounder it is, the straighter
the hair, and the flatter it is the more curly. |
..
| Where
we depart from biology is to invent categories, which we call ”races,”
and put individuals into those categories. Negro, White, Mediterranean,
East Asian, South Asian, are all terms to describe these categories. |
..
..
| In
biology, the usual boundary between different species is the ability or
non ability to mate and produce offspring. All humans belong to one
species; there is a single human race. There are no biological boundaries
between races. |
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| Furthermore,
we are not consistent in using skin colour, nose shape or body shape and
size, in putting different people into one or another category. Sometimes
we use colour, then other times we use hair curliness or nose shape. |
..
| Children
of marriages between people belonging to different races have biological
characteristics of both. |
..
| Variations
in skin colour on a single individual are greater than the variations in
skin colour between the averages of any two races. |
..
| A
forensic anthropologist examining a corpse, using DNA or other evidence,
does not find biological evidence of categories, but degrees of various
biological characteristics that are socially categorised into races. |
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