Year: 2020
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: The three questions: The problem of racial thinkingThe three questions that framed the discussions of the Effects of Race Project in 2017 were, "What do you not like about race and racial thinking?"Why?"And "How would you fix it?"What we dislike most about race is its enduring and tenacious nature.This is despite the fact that it has been discredited by many scholars and constituencies and shown to be not useful.Race is an historical contingency, not a state of nature.Anthropologists see the commonality of humankind and a legacy of widely shared cultural and physical traits that outweigh any differences that may exist.The tenacity of race has made it possible for racism, its handmaiden, to grow and endure.Race has so co-opted our consciousness and language that it has made any attempt to deal with the effects of racism very difficult.The addictiveness of racial thinking thwarts all attempts to unite humanity into a common cause.Philosophers are divided in their attitudes, with some preferring to split and others preferring to unite, but logically both attitudes can be defended.
Source: African Sun Media eBooks
Authors: George Chaplin, Nina G. Jablonski
Language: English
Topic: Race, Genetics, and Society
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W3008280146