Biological Diversity & Race
Introduction
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Humans display great physical and cultural variation
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Such variation is a product of evolutionary (cultural and biological) forces
Understanding our similarities & difference is an important part of
anthropology
Biology and Race
Races: In biology, the same as subspecies.
– Subspecies: physically distinguishable populations w/i a species.
– species.
Many scientists claim there are no biological races within the human
– Why?
Criteria for species to be subdivided into sub-species
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Some degree of population isolation w/ limited gene flow;
environments different enough to promote adaptive selection in different directions;
genetic variation between the populations.
Reasons why human species cannot be subdivided into subspecies:
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Clinal distribution of polymorphisms
Distribution of traits are discordant
Human mobility and culture
Minimal genetic variation
Clinal distribution of polymorphisms
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Cline: geographic continuum in the variation of a trait
Polymorphism: variations in phenotypic traits that are the result of genetic variation
Human polymorphisms are distributed as clines
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Therefore, one cannot use polymorphisms to divide human populations into distinct
groups
e.g. Human Skin Colour Distribution
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Skin colour is the result of several pigments, particularly melanin.
Function of melanin is to absorb ultraviolet radiation
UV varies w/ latitude
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Sunlight strikes the earth more directly at the equator
Adaptive advantage of skin colour
Nina Jablonski on Skin Colour
Distribution of Traits are Discordant
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Racial classification of humans presents problems of concordance
w/ humans our variable traits are discordant
Discordant - the expression of one traits does not predict a particular expression of
another.
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Race by digestion (lactase)
Race by blood type (A,B,AB, O)
Race by tongue-curling
Human mobility & culture
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Population isolation & limited gene flow lead to evolution of a subspecies.
Not possible w/ humans because:
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We haven’t been around long enough or isolated enough to evolve into
separate subspecies
culture is our main adaptive mechanism
Genetic Similarity
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Most variation is within, not between ‘races’
Of the small amount of genetic variation, 85% exists within any local population
Physical appearance has little to do with the ways people vary genetically.
Culture and Race
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Race: a social category used to classify or account for human diversity
Racial classifications are common cross-culturally
European racial categories developed in 1500s
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Encountered people culturally & physically different
Cultural difference explained in terms of biology
Classifications of Human Races
Racism
Racism: “a doctrine of superiority by which one group justifies the dehumanization
of others based on their distinctive physical characteristics” (Haviland p.138)
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Race justified social inequalities as natural.
Race may no longer be a valid biological concept, but racism is still real
Dimensions of Racism
 Individual, cultural and institutional racism
Institutional Racism in Canada: The Pre-emption Ordinance
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Government policies have created unfair advantages for European Canadians in
the past;
This has resulted in substantial wealth gaps b/t European Canadians & First
Nations people of Canada.
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E.g. the abolishment of ‘Indian’ pre-emption (1860s)
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This has been compounded by cultural understanding of wealth disparities.