Week of February 12, 2012- Focus on Race and Ethnicity

The two research articles assigned for Monday encouraged me to look up a few things, and also inspired me to reread some previous articles from past semesters.

I'll start with an embarrassing and shameful story for me. Last semester in our research class, we were asked to create a questionnaire. The first questions I wanted to ask were about age, gender, race, and ethnicity. Age, simple. Gender, a little more complicated, but still easy. And then race and ethnicity. I had no idea, so I just went to the U.S. Census website and copied what they had. I finished the next 16 questions, printed out 5 copies, and brought them to class.

We exchanged surveys with 3 or 4 other people, and then our professor asked us to comment on what we liked about each others surveys, and what could be changed.

A peer of ours pointed out something that was wrong with my race and ethnicities questions. Instead of really listening (I wasn't, because I can't remember what the problem was... :-/) I got defensive and said something along the lines of, "Well, it's from the US Census, so it must be right." Right after class, I thought about what a jerk I was for not listening, and how I really could of learned something from her if I would have heard her out (and not gotten defensive... how immature).

Then I started reading these articles, and I still didn't know the difference between race and ethnicity. (Was I never taught this? Am I the only 22 year old that doesn't know this?) So I did a quick Google search of "What's the difference between race and ethnicity?" Scrolling down past the Yahoo Answers and WikiAnswers, I found this PBS link. So race is biology, and ethnicity is culture. You are born with your race, but your ethnicity is based upon how you grew up. 

I think maybe I didn't know because my family doesn't have a rich culture (that I'm aware of). Anytime I answer those generic questions it's "white." Both of my mom's parents died before she was 12, and my dad's mom died when he was young as well. I don't have a close relationship with any of my extended family, partly because location barriers, and partly because of my parents' choice.

Not that I want that to be an excuse for my ignorance, but... yeah, I guess it is an excuse.

Then I found this video on the American Anthropological Association's website, mentioned in Coleman's article, (p. 101). (This video ties into many aspects of our readings: Zinn, Social Justice readings 8-13, and even the marriage article.) [I would address the marriage article further, but it didn't really surprise me that interracial couples are more common today than they were 50 years ago. In fact, one of the statistics Taylor et el presents is, "among adults ages 18-32, 93% approve (of interracial marriage)," (p. 5)].

Because race and ethnicity have not dissolved in society, I know I need to be more mindful of how people identify, and LISTEN to them. I'd be curious if any of you would like to share how you identify, so I can get a realistic grasp on these concepts.

The Coleman article also mentions very briefly the adaptive benefits skin color has had during human evolution, (102). I took an Evolutionary Biology course that was very informative, so I wanted to share one research article with you, and also a 3-part documentary that addresses these topics.

Skin Deep discusses skin pigmentation changes and their benefits. I also wanted to link this great NOVA documentary called Becoming Human. It is lengthy, but maybe if you have some down time over the weekend you could see if it interests you at all. This three hour series summarizes a lot of what I learned in my Biology class about human evolution.

Another week of intense reading... can't wait to read what all of you have to say! Hope you have a great weekend.

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