Assignment

A person’s “race” can be an important part of their identity.  “Race” is also one of the categories law enforcement personnel use to identify missing individuals.  Thus, forensic anthropologists try to estimate “race” through its biological proxy – ancestry.  But the debate still rages:  is “race” a biological reality? Is it an exclusively cultural/social identifier? Can it be both? Can skeletal morphology help forensic anthropologists to determine an individual’s “race”? If “race” is a cultural construct, why do anthropologists even try? Does that makes anthropologists “racist”???

Please discuss your opinions of the cultural, biological, anthropological, and/or social validity of the “race” concept.  Do distinct human “races” exist? Should we attempt to identify them via anthropological analysis? Use article as well to help answer