Anthropology

Good afternoon everyone, I would like to first start off by thanking Human Rights Watch for allowing me the pleasure to explain the concept of race and the many attributes surrounding it. Many times we use race as a social construct in order to define a person or a particular group. Race has been a topic that keeps changing and pro-creating.   Through the years society has what to believe. One main issue society likes to structure our thoughts on is race. Many times what we believe to be true about race is structured by society in order to keep or favor a particular group. Some great examples of race being structured are in articles such as To Rescue National Dignity, The Everyday Wounds of Color, Color As A Symbol Of Social Status, Life Without Fathers or Husbands, The Black Diaspora in Costa Rica and the Mountain People. In these articles many views of certain races show how race is constructed based on politics or nationalism. These claims that society makes about race isn’t accurate. Many times there are even claims that one can tell a race by the appearance or characteristics. First off, this shows how race is more of an illusion and has no true value except for how we personify a group based on culture or beliefs. These cultures or beliefs are dictated to us by society and by a beneficiary group of people. 

In articles such as Life Without Fathers or Husbands and The Mountain People one can see how certain groups construct a culture in where the norms that society has dictated to us has been abolished. Both articles described a different world in where fellow anthropologists were able to experience a different structured culture. In the article Life Without Fathers, Clifford Geertz describes a tribe called the Na. The Na tribe do not believe in marriages which means there is no husband or father figure. For centuries, the tribe resisted to conform into what Han Society accepted as morally right. China was finally able to enforce the idea of a nuclear family into the tribe by using laws and military officials. They continued to control the tribe by implementing Han ideas and values in school systems. This shows how much control a single society can have over the other and shows how beliefs and ideas can be enforced. In the article Mountain People, Colin M. Turnbul describes a tribe called Ik in where survival is more important than morals or emotions. Any sort of emotion such as love and friendship isn’t necessary in order to survive. The Ik tribe was a very poverty stricken tribe and considered food the only means of survival. As the anthropologist spent more time with them he started to grow accustomed to their beliefs. The anthropologist even started to think love is self-oriented and is used only for the gain for oneself. The fact that the anthropologist started having certain similar views shows that ideas can be constructed and can change a person’s views. This can be the same case with how people view racial ideologies.

As some scholars have tried to argue race as being a true coherent identity there has been research done in the biological structure of it. In the films The Family Living Tree and On Becoming Human, the films discusses research on our genetics and in what we consider to be physical features as race is actually a phenotype set by climate change. The conclusion is we are all biologically the same and most of us share the same ancestors. The film On becoming human help to construct the fact that human origin may well come from fossils that might be similar to monkeys. We are basing race on no actual substantial evidence. People are making these racial formations based on politics.

A great example of race being a social reconstruction based on politics are in the articles To Rescue National Dignity, and The Black Diaspora In Costa Rica.  In the article To rescue national dignity writer describes the different infrastructures of races in Ecuador. Ecuador consisted of these social structures based on categories in order to decide which race was superior to the other. In Ecuador white was considered upper which according to them was attainable with constant mixing. This idea of whites being superior didn’t make sense and the constant idea of mixing. The idea of mixing sounds like more of a chance in fitting the ideal look society expects. At the time, many of these prominent Ecuadorian figures identified themselves as whites.  The Black Diaspora in Costa Rica is another great example for race being involved in politics. Since there were many blacks migrating to Costa Rica, United Fruit companies started to offer blacks more jobs than Hispanics. The United Fruit Company knew that the same views of the black race being inferior would be able to suppress easier into hard labor. Although blacks were many times economically in better state than the Hispanics, Hispanics continued to conserve the idea that Blacks are inferior. This caused many Blacks to continue to rely on the United Fruit Company. The United Fruit Company was able to set divide and conquer between to groups they consider inferior by making it seem like favoritism.

Two great articles that show the contradictions between the ideas of race is in the Everyday Wounds of Color and Color as a Symbol of Social Status. In both articles they relate social status to color skin. In the Everyday Wounds of Color article informs on how the lighter skin you were the more respect was shown. Also, hair seemed to be a big issue on how beauty was valued by how straight or soft it was. The article spoke about how many social medias enforced this idea of white women being an honor. They also talked about the different kinds of race which differentiated in definition depending on the person. This shows an inconsistency in the idea of race. This also proves race as an illusion more than a real identity.

These racial structures that society continues to promote have even been carried over by settlers known as colonizers. When it comes to race there is one aspect of it we fail to acknowledge which are the colonizer. In the article the colonizer and the colonized, were able to read on how colonialism is spread by the colonizer gaining profit such as lower taxes, and labor work at cheap prices.  The article describes how the colonizer is able to take advantage and succeed by putting his laws to legitimize his actions in this new establishment. Many times, the colonizer inputs the idea of race and builds a social class where the colonizers are the upper-class.  This shows how race is sometimes used as a way of gaining power or sustaining power.

The question now is how we deal with this social issue of race. As society continues to change so do some certain aspects of human rights yet the ideas of inferiority and superiority seems to still flourish. People continue to identify with certain race and continue to believe in certain stereotypes. When in actuality we are all the same biologically.  A film that describes race as nothing more of idea is called a class divided.  The film is centered on an experiment where someone of higher power such as a teacher tells her students that a certain physical feature such as blue eyes is somehow superior. She uses statements and incoherent examples to show the class why blue eyes are more superior. The statements she makes are basically another form of stereotyping and using it to reinforce the idea that blue eyes are somehow better then brown eyes. The students start to truly believe her and this shows how gullible people can really be. She tried the same experiment with adults and had the same outcome.

            Race is something we’ve made and accepted without knowing the real facts. People believe blindly and fail to realize we are exactly the same not one person better than the other. As society continues to promote this idea of race we continue to let upper class or certain groups feel superior.  Instead, race shouldn’t be the definition of who we are rather it should be persona that should define us. As we continue to suppress certain races we are also suppressing ourselves. As we continue digging a hole, the privileged race such as whites just continue to pour in the dirt. Thank you for giving me your time and I hope I was able to clarify some of the misconception made on race.