Thursday, May 23, 2013

What is Race

How do we define race? What component of our blood decides our race? Looking at our hair in a microscope, what is different between each race? What does my fingerprint show about my race? What about my skin color?
Race is not biological. You cannot tell what race a person is by looking at any of the above questions. Race is socially constructed. Your race may change depending on what country you are in and who you are with. Someone could be considered "white" in America, while they would be called "Amorenada" in Brazil (meaning tannish). In Brazil, there are well over a hundred different ways to classify someone by skin color. Race is constructed differently by each country and each culture.
When trying to classify people by race, you may use some of the questions previously asked, like skin color. This is not something that you can say this person is dark and that person is light; skin color is a spectrum. When three people are in a line, you can say who is the most dark or the most light, but once you add 10 people to that group, the person who was once considered "dark" may now be in the middle. Race is like a spectrum.

1 comment:

  1. I agree that race is very socially constructed, and that it is a like a spectrum, usually based on skin color.

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