ANTH151 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Hypodescent, Sunscreen, Insecticide
1 Jun 2018
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Human diversity and ‘race’
• Does the concept fit the evidence?
• How did our racial classification system arise?
• How do other systems classify individuals?
Andrew Fraser on race:
• ‘Race realist’
o Looks like Richard Lynn book – looks at differences in IQ averages
• Differences in group IQ averages
o Scores range from China (105), Europe (100), sub-Saharan Africa (67)
to Aborigines (62)
o San Bushmen (54) average mental age of 8 years old
• Is this even plausible?
o The average sub-Saharan Africa or Aboriginal Australian legally
‘retarded’? Could mental 8 year olds survive in the Kalahari Desert?
The Flynn Effect:
• Is IQ scores measure of innate intelligence?
• Flyn effect → IQ score increases
• Dutch recruits – gained 7+ points per decade 1952 to 1982
• Spain – gained +6 points per decade; Kenya - gained +26 points in 14 years
• Retake test (taking it twice) – gaining +5-6 points
• Gap between mainstream and minority decreases over time
• What are the tests testing? Intelligence or test-taking skill?
o Test-taking skill
How do we understand diversity?
• We have to make sure:
o Our instrument is capturing something real
o Measuring what we think it measures
o Still does not explain where the differences comes from
o Often, most plausible explanation is NOT that differences are inborn,
genetic and unchangeable
• Example: rising girls’ math scores in US and Asia; crime statistics
Human diversity (Origins of human genetic diversity):
• Human genetic diversity = 2 unrelated people likely differ on 2 million alleles
• Only a small amount of variation is between ‘races’ (Lewontin estimated 6-
10%)
• Most variation is within groups (‘race theorists’ admit 67% shared) e.g.
consider the overlap between heights of different ‘races’
• A small number of traits vary together = skin colour, hair form, nose shape
and a few proteins (like Rh blood type)
o No clear boundaries between variations of these co-varying traits
o Independent assortment = genes do not get transmitted as unit
• Small percentage of non-functional DNA clusters along ‘racial’ lines, but
markers are chosen specifically because of their distribution
o In other words, the definition is circular (alleles picked because they
vary along ‘racial’ lines so cannot prove ‘race’ exists)
o Differences are breaking down with migration as we would expect
• Genetic distance
o The ‘most parsimonious’ genealogical tree for 5 populations of
mtDNA
o Note: only those with a black bar are mtDNA types found in a single
region
• How related?
o Cavalli-Sforza’s data suggests humans could be grouped into two
groups:
▪ Africans
▪ Everyone else
o Or three races:
▪ Africans
▪ Australian-New Guineans
▪ Everyone else
o Four groups:
▪ Africans
▪ Australian-New Guineans
▪ Southeast Asians
▪ Everyone else
o Five groups:
▪ Africans
▪ Australian New Guineans
▪ Southeast Asians
▪ Americo-North Asians
▪ Indio-Euro-North Africans
o More?
▪ Some advocates now suggest that there are eight distinct
genetic lines of humans
▪ Does not coincide with popular notions of race, nor are the
groups similar
Concepts of ‘race’
• Racial essentialism
o Each race has a specific set of traits
o Races are distinct from each other
o Even though mixing may occur, pure racial types may be identified
• Population approach
o Races have a range of traits, some overlap, the majority of members of
a race are distinctive from each other
o ‘Race’ is a population, meaning that there is not ‘pure racial type’
o We can talk about ‘race’ because genetic pools in groups are
distinctive
• Social race
o Race is not a biological reality except that it is a social concept causing
behaviours, institutions and patterns that have biological effects
o ‘Race’ is a biology-shaping concept, not a reflection of prior biological
reality, but may fix upon biological traits
• Patterns of genetic diversity?
o Massive African genetic variation (vast majority)
o What could explain this pattern?
▪ Homo sapiens sapiens 40,000 BP – they were the ones
generating genetic variation → a ‘founder effect’
• Why so little variation?
o ‘african race’ genetically is a paraphyletic category (genetically, it
includes others)
o Humans have hallmark of small species that multiplied quickly
▪ No reputable biologist argues that variance sufficient for sub-
species
o Less genetic diversity among humans than among chimpanzees
• Race as a biological term
o An isolated sub-species?
▪ Can reproduce with individuals from other subspecies of the
same species
▪ Does not because of its geographic isolation?
o Human populations vary but there are no sharp breaks between
populations
▪ Even racist regimes and slavery cannot prevent mixing
How do humans vary?
• Individual traits ‘clining’
o Skin colour variations – within all groups, variation
o Groups overlap – not definitive (no clear breaks) e.g. African, Fijian
and South Asian
• Example: incisor shape or A blood type
Race and human diversity
• ‘Race’ inaccurate way to describe human biological diversity
o Diversity greater than 3, 5 or 7 races
o Traits vary independently
o Difference varies gradually along clines, without discrete boundaries
• Because it is possible to distinguish ‘races’ doesn’t mean it’s correct
o We could say language differences were obvious so they are ‘innate’
• Point not ‘political correctness’, accuracy
So why do we believe in race or is race even coherent?
• Western racial thought
o Carolus Linnaeus (1707-78), ‘father of modern taxonomy’ proposed
four taxa of H. sapiens
▪ Americanus, Asiaticus, Africanus and Europeanus
o Also proposed H. anthropomorpha – troglodytes, satyrs, hydras and
phoenix
o Subsequent debates between unilinealists and polygenists
▪ Debate, in part, over biblical story of creation
o ‘Caucasian’ coined by Christoph Meiners but popularized by Johann
Friedrich Blumenbach
▪ Meiners ‘lightness, beauty, handsome…ancient Germans’
o Distorted measures of face, nose, head shape and skin colour followed
Document Summary
Is this even plausible: the average sub-saharan africa or aboriginal australian legally. Human diversity (origins of human genetic diversity): human genetic diversity = 2 unrelated people likely differ on 2 million alleles, only a small amount of variation is between races" (lewontin estimated 6- Indio-euro-north africans: more, some advocates now suggest that there are eight distinct genetic lines of humans, does not coincide with popular notions of race, nor are the groups similar. Individual traits clining": skin colour variations within all groups, variation, groups overlap not definitive (no clear breaks) e. g. african, fijian and south asian, example: incisor shape or a blood type. Friedrich blumenbach: meiners lightness, beauty, handsome ancient germans", distorted measures of face, nose, head shape and skin colour followed, samuel george morton packed skulls to determine cranial capacity. Science of race: the new scientific genetics of race", based on small populations assumed to be pure racial types (often nigeria,
