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Reflective Essay, 3 pages (750 words)

Reflective jornal

Reflective Journal: Concept of Race Due: Reflective Journal: Concept of Race Race is considered to be a collection of people who have some similar biological characteristics (Relethford, 1997). Personally, I agree with the notion of race being a division of a particular species that is different from the rest of the divisions by the constancy with which particular hereditary traits are present among its members. These traits include: features of outward appearance that enable us to identify members of a distinct population by observation. Members of the division who are considered to be similar are more likely to be sharing ancestry with one another more than individuals from different divisions. I am also considered to be sharing the same ancestry with the people of my race. I have also come to know that races are mostly linked with a specific geographic area. I am able to relate to this because my friends, me, and people i interact with, are all linked to a specific race depending on the geographic area that we come from. There are three types of race: Negroid, or the black race; Caucasoid, or the white race; and Mongoloid, or people who belong to the yellow race (R. Smedley & B. Smedley, 2012).
I have noted that the race classification concept has proved not to work very well when it comes to humans as compared to other organisms. Reasons for this include: humans inhabit a wide stretch of environments and are constantly traveling to and fro. An example being I am able to travel from Europe to Africa. This makes it very easy for gene flow to occur between me and people in Africa, making it difficult to organize people into distinct groups (R. Smedley & B. Smedley, 2012). By studying Charles Darwins work I am also able to see that race concept has no validity, he also considered classification of human beings into races as a futile exercise. He stated that there are only one human species and for this reason, and there are no reasonable grounds for developing human beings at a lower taxonomic level like race (R. Smedley & B. Smedley, 2012).
Europeans used race as a way of distinguishing and controlling other groups that were not of the same race as them (R. Smedley & B. Smedley, 2012). It is widely known that skin color is majorly used in dividing people into different racial groups. When one has a white skin, they are white, and when one has a dark skin color, they are black. This may not be reliable because an individual from African genes may have a similar skin shade as an individual who is of Asian origin. Someone of Asian origin may also have a similar shade as one who originates from Europe. Features such as hair texture and face shape have also been used in classifying individuals into different race groups. Many individuals cannot be classified into these groups of races when these features are used in categorizing people. For example, although native Australians are usually dark skinned, they are likely to have hair that is curly and light colored. When we are considering ones skin color, native Australians can be labeled as Africans, but when considering their hair type and facial shape they can be labeled as Europeans. Because of the confusion that developed from this, another type of race was created and is known as Australoid. The concept of race also presumes that greater genetic variation is present inter-racially as compared to intra-racial, but this is not true since greater genetic variations are evident intra-racially. 10% genetic variation in human beings is evident between the created races (Gates, 2014).
To sum it up, I believe that race is merely a concept that was created by human beings and did not originate from nature. The concept also does not have any validity because it has no grounds scientifically. The difference between humans is based not only on their genetics but also environmental factors (Gates, 2014). Race does not have any biological or natural grounds, and classifying people into different races because of their distinct physical characteristics is not valid except for the cultural or social importance that is given to them by individuals.
References
Gates, E. N. (2014). The concept of race in natural and social science. Routledge.
Relethford, J. (1997). Fundamentals of biological anthropology. Mayfield Publishing
Company.
Smedley, A., & Smedley, B. D. (2012). Race in North America: Origin and evolution of a
Worldview. Westview Press.

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