2-1 Discussion: The Issue of Race
The scientific idea of race and the culturally produced concept of race are both used in biological
anthropology. (Welsch and others, 2020) According to Welsch et al. (2020), the scientific
definition of race is "referring to a population, or group of populations, within a species that has
measurable, defining biological characteristics." "Which cultural ideologies and dynamics are
linked with morphological traits" (things like skin color, body form, or cranial structure) to
produce an artificial, "biologized" category is how race is characterized as a cultural construct
(Welsch et al., 2020). Due to the genetic similarity of all humans, it is challenging to divide
people into races using biological traits. Any of us are 99.9% genetically related to all other
humans, according to our textbook, Anthropology: Asking Questions About Human Origins,
Diversity, and Culture. There actually is just one race, the human race, as I discovered through
Nina Jablonski's TED Talk and the given text readings.
References:
Nina Jablonski: Skin Color Is an Illusion | TED Talk. Accessed March 9, 2023.
https://www.ted.com/talks/nina_jablonski_skin_color_is_an_illusion.
Welsch, R. L., Vivanco, L. A., & Fuentes, A. (2021). Anthropology: Asking Questions About
Human Origins, Diversity, and Culture. Oxford University Press.
