1. Analysis of Human Variation
Chapter Seventeen

2. Historical Views of Human Variation
Biological determinism - cultural and biological variations are inherited in the same way
Eugenics - "race improvement" through forced sterilization of members of some groups and encouraged reproduction among others

3. Human Taxonomy People tend to classify the world around them
including people
Folk Taxonomies
systems of categorization created in order to organize and understand the world around them
based on cultural traditions and beliefs, usually not on empirical data
generates notions of race
are often used to justify the mistreatment of “others”

4. Clinal Distributions Clinal distribution
a distribution which shows a systematic gradation over space
clines are gradual change in the frequency of a trait in populations dispersed over geographical space
Clinal variation arises in at least two ways:
there is a gradual change in some selective pressure
a particular trait may originate in a specific area and then spread outward through gene flow
both skin color and body size and shape show clinal variation

5. Race Traditional Concept of Race Still a “cultural category”
Since the 1600s, race has been used to refer to culturally-defined groups.
In the mid-1900s race began to take on a biological implication
Still a “cultural category”
Not possible to define races biologically
Inequalities among racial groups are not biological

6. Do Human Races Exist? Races do not exist in a biological sense
However, race does exist in a social sense
Political nature of discussions about race
Race and cultural superiority
In regards to the development of civilization, researchers have pointed out that where civilizations arose had to do with availability of plants capable of domestication and a geography that made the spread of these plants possible

7. Race in the USA Determined at birth
Racially mixed children identified by phenotype
Rule of Descent
Social identity based on ancestry
Hypodescent - mixed children automatically places in the minority group
Native American
One ancestor out of eight
Census
Since 1790
3/5ths rule
6 “ethnicity choices” in 1990
White, Black, Indian, Eskimo, Pacific Islander, Other
Separate question for Hispanic

8. Race in Japan Less diverse than most countries
Portuguese contact in 1542, isolation in 1641
1854 Convention of Kanagawa
Intrinsic racism – racial differences are enough to alter a person's value
Quasi-hypodescent
Racial identity of majority with stigma
Define themselves as opposition to others
Assimilation is discouraged
Burakumin
Cultural minority of 4 million
Physically and genetically identical
Identified by neighborhoods called buraku
Originates from social ranking
Stratified class – call structure with differences in wealth, prestige, and power
Burakumin did “unclean” work

9. Race in Brazil Flexible and less exclusionary Many more racial labels
Slave history like the US
Different type of colonialism
Lacks rule of hypodescent
Many more racial labels
500 reported
Attached to phenotype
Racial labels can be easily changed
Tanning, change in hair or dress, language, etc.
International politics
Claiming of indigenous rights
Pan-African identity in Brazil
Access to resources

10. Human Polymorphisms
Polymorphisms - the occurrence of two or more genetically determined phenotypes in a population
functions to retain variety and promote diversity in a population living in a varied environment
does not extend to continuous traits (height) but to discontinuous traits (earlobe attachment)
no single form has an overall advantage or disadvantage over the other

11. Polymorphisms at the DNA Level
Molecular biologists have recently uncovered DNA variability in various regions of the genome
Microsatellites - sites where DNA segments are repeated
Scattered through the human genome
Each person has a unique arrangement that defines their distinctive “DNA fingerprint”

12. Are We Still Evolving?
Socioeconomic and political concerns have powerful effect on our species today
Anthropologists cannot predict whether humans will eventually become a different species or become extinct