Comments on: A College Class Lists the Races http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/04/14/a-college-class-lists-the-races/ Human Animals at the Crossroads of Culture, Science, Religion and Media Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:20:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Purple http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/04/14/a-college-class-lists-the-races/#comment-17733 Purple Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:59:10 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/04/14/a-college-class-lists-the-races/#comment-17733 There is only one human "race." There are, however, many different ethnic groups. =] There is only one human “race.” There are, however, many different ethnic groups. =]

]]> By: projektleiterin http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/04/14/a-college-class-lists-the-races/#comment-17698 projektleiterin Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:03:16 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/04/14/a-college-class-lists-the-races/#comment-17698 Even if the genetic differences between the races are not enough to support the use of the term "race", genetic and cultural selection have created certain differences and it might still be useful to keep them in mind. I once read somewhere that Asians for example metabolize drugs differently, meaning, they would need lower doses. That's kind of useful to know, I guess. Or the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_flush_reaction" rel="nofollow">flush reaction</a> that some Asians experience after drinking alcohol. Something else: I once complained to the editor of an academic journal that had published a really stupid article about Asians. He said that my complaint that it was racist was not justified, because race is just a social construct and has no place in science. I didn't find him very logical. I assume that even very smart people, he was a professor in Cambridge, are not really able to be aware of the privileges they experience due the tone of their skin. They don't really care about "race" and what it means because it doesn't affect their life. Even if the genetic differences between the races are not enough to support the use of the term “race”, genetic and cultural selection have created certain differences and it might still be useful to keep them in mind. I once read somewhere that Asians for example metabolize drugs differently, meaning, they would need lower doses. That’s kind of useful to know, I guess. Or the flush reaction that some Asians experience after drinking alcohol.

Something else: I once complained to the editor of an academic journal that had published a really stupid article about Asians. He said that my complaint that it was racist was not justified, because race is just a social construct and has no place in science. I didn’t find him very logical. I assume that even very smart people, he was a professor in Cambridge, are not really able to be aware of the privileges they experience due the tone of their skin. They don’t really care about “race” and what it means because it doesn’t affect their life.

]]> By: Erika Price http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/04/14/a-college-class-lists-the-races/#comment-17694 Erika Price Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:12:34 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/04/14/a-college-class-lists-the-races/#comment-17694 Erich: You're right. Race doesn't have the vast meaning we assign to it, and it truly doesn't even exist outside of a funny little concept we created. But the same people who came up with this disturbing list of races <i>use</i> race as cultural shorthand on a regular basis. They apparently divide the world around them into these miserably confused groups. To those people, as phony as the race concept is, it is real and has a palpable impact on the way they relate to others. They see Europeans under a pin-point of specificity, but lump other continents of people all together! How disturbing! Projekt: I've heard a somewhat similar confusion between Arab/Middle Easterners and Indian/Bengali/East Asian people countless times. The worse part isn't the confusion of the "races", but in failing to see such different cultures as separate and distinctive. Erich: You’re right. Race doesn’t have the vast meaning we assign to it, and it truly doesn’t even exist outside of a funny little concept we created. But the same people who came up with this disturbing list of races use race as cultural shorthand on a regular basis. They apparently divide the world around them into these miserably confused groups. To those people, as phony as the race concept is, it is real and has a palpable impact on the way they relate to others. They see Europeans under a pin-point of specificity, but lump other continents of people all together! How disturbing!

Projekt: I’ve heard a somewhat similar confusion between Arab/Middle Easterners and Indian/Bengali/East Asian people countless times. The worse part isn’t the confusion of the “races”, but in failing to see such different cultures as separate and distinctive.

]]> By: Erich Vieth http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/04/14/a-college-class-lists-the-races/#comment-17678 Erich Vieth Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:49:40 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/04/14/a-college-class-lists-the-races/#comment-17678 I'd like to use this post as an excuse to publish a link to a previous post that (to me) downplays the purported meaning of "race": <a href="http://dangerousintersection.org/2007/09/24/you-are-african%E2%80%94whoever-you-are/" rel="nofollow">"You are African, whoever you are." </a> I’d like to use this post as an excuse to publish a link to a previous post that (to me) downplays the purported meaning of “race”: “You are African, whoever you are.”

]]> By: projektleiterin http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/04/14/a-college-class-lists-the-races/#comment-17675 projektleiterin Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:21:24 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/04/14/a-college-class-lists-the-races/#comment-17675 I once met this guy in a backpacker hostel in Egypt. I wasn't really friends with him or anything, but he, I, and another girl happened to be sitting on the roof top together at the same time one day. They were talking about literature (I think he even had a degree in literature) and their preferences . I was a bit peeved, because I felt left out when they were doing this intellectual thing about American literature, especially him ("I like Steinbeck best, more than Hemingway, blabla.") Anyway, I'm not sure if he managed to impress her, but he certainly did not impress me when he asked us, "So, what is the difference between Arabs and Muslims? Is there a difference?" Given that he had just told us that he had recently been traveling around the Middle East for a couple of months this question struck me as quite stupid. Coming from someone with a college degree in literature it seemed even weirder. I once met this guy in a backpacker hostel in Egypt. I wasn’t really friends with him or anything, but he, I, and another girl happened to be sitting on the roof top together at the same time one day. They were talking about literature (I think he even had a degree in literature) and their preferences . I was a bit peeved, because I felt left out when they were doing this intellectual thing about American literature, especially him (”I like Steinbeck best, more than Hemingway, blabla.”) Anyway, I’m not sure if he managed to impress her, but he certainly did not impress me when he asked us, “So, what is the difference between Arabs and Muslims? Is there a difference?” Given that he had just told us that he had recently been traveling around the Middle East for a couple of months this question struck me as quite stupid. Coming from someone with a college degree in literature it seemed even weirder.

]]> By: Ben http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/04/14/a-college-class-lists-the-races/#comment-17672 Ben Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:10:21 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/04/14/a-college-class-lists-the-races/#comment-17672 I took a class called "Asian American Studies". It wasn't like I was especially interested in it beforehand, just filling credit hours, but I ended up enjoying it. We learned about how there are so many different countries and cultures lumped under the term "asian". The course explored the vastly different cultures and how their emmigrants fared in America in the past (and present). Asian countries such as India, Japan, China, Indonesia, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Philippines, to name a few. (i forget if Russians were included as "asian" in the discussions) I took a class called “Asian American Studies”. It wasn’t like I was especially interested in it beforehand, just filling credit hours, but I ended up enjoying it. We learned about how there are so many different countries and cultures lumped under the term “asian”. The course explored the vastly different cultures and how their emmigrants fared in America in the past (and present). Asian countries such as India, Japan, China, Indonesia, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Philippines, to name a few. (i forget if Russians were included as “asian” in the discussions)

]]> By: Erich Vieth http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/04/14/a-college-class-lists-the-races/#comment-17662 Erich Vieth Tue, 15 Apr 2008 05:01:02 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/04/14/a-college-class-lists-the-races/#comment-17662 Erika: Don’t forget to add these races to your list: Lilliputians Cartesians Vegetarians <a href="http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/04/08/getting-jabbed-with-a-hypodermic-needle-sometimes-makes-my-body-faint/ " rel="nofollow">Trypanophobians </a> Violinists Sumarians Rastafarians Big-endians People with Big Ears Liechtensteinians Erika: Don’t forget to add these races to your list:

Lilliputians
Cartesians
Vegetarians
Trypanophobians
Violinists
Sumarians
Rastafarians
Big-endians
People with Big Ears
Liechtensteinians

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