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08 Human Population Genetics Module : 20 Concept of Race Paper No. : 08 Human Population Genetics Module : 20 Concept of Race Development Team Prof. Anup Kumar Kapoor Principal Investigator Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi Paper Coordinator Prof. Gautam K. Kshatriya Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi Content Writer Ms. Shalini Singh and Prof. GK Kshatriya Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi Content Reviewer Prof. A.Paparao Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh 1 Human Population Genetics Anthropology Concept of Race Description of Module Subject Name Anthropology Paper Name 08 Human Population Genetics Module Name/Title Concept of Race Module Id 20 2 Human Population Genetics Anthropology Concept of Race Learning objectives: a. It aims to understand the social and biological concept of Race. b. It aims to understand the various physical and biological criteria of racial classification c. It aims to understand the primary races of man with a greater emphasis on the racial elements present in Indian Population. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction I. Overview II. Definition III. Biological concept IV. Social concept 2. Criteria of Race 2.1 Physical Criteria of Race I. Skin colour II. Hair III. Stature IV. Head form V. Face form VI. Nose form VII. Eye VIII. Ears IX. Lips X. Finger, Palm and Sole prints 2.2 Biological Criteria of Race I. Blood group II. Colour blindness III. Response to Drugs IV. Growth 3. Primary races of Man 4. Classification of Human Races I. Risley II. Haddon III. Hutton IV. Guha 3 Human Population Genetics Anthropology Concept of Race 5. Summary Introduction In a lay man’s language race refers to the classification of human being’s, ancestry, its origins and ethnicity. The concept of race has varied across the whole world and has also been subjected to controversy for social, biological and political reasons. Race brings out differences between skin colour, language, nationality and religion. Various disciplines at different time span had tried to classify the races of the world. The term race is used as an eminent classificatory tool in understanding human differences and diversity. Human differences can be studied by knowing the genetic differences, which in turn helps in understanding human evolution, development and disease. Application of the term race in various senses is used to connote a group of having certain well defined or marked characters in common. The characters or notions at which differences should be laid differ from one individual’s opinion to another. Just for example, all fair skinned people cannot be grouped under White race. The concept of race can be understood in two different landscapes i.e. biological and social. The concept of race provides a frame where all the individuals can be arranged systematically. Definition Hooton has defined race as a great division of mankind where the members individually vary and are characterised by combinations of morphological and metrical features which are non adaptive and are derived from a common descent. He further divided races into Primary and Secondary. Primary races resulted due to early geographical differentiation and genetic isolation. It resulted by mutation, selection, migration and drift. Secondary races came into existence due to hybridisation among the primary races. Ashley Montagu defined race as populations differing with other in frequency of some genes having a capability to exchange across boundaries with other populations of different species. S.Washburn(1962) proposed that the number of races will depend on the purpose of classification and thought that we should require people who propose a classification of races to state in the first place why they wish to divide the human species. According to the one drop rule , a sociological and legal principle of racial classification that was historically prominent in the United States stating that any person having one ancestor of sub-Saharan- African ancestry is considered to be black or Negro. This concept evolved over the course of the 19th century and became codified into law in the 20th century. Malcomson, (2001) propounded a book named One Drop of Blood- The American misadventure of Race. In this book he concluded about race which is . not a fixed, concrete, natural attribute . the institutionalisation of physical appearance 4 Human Population Genetics Anthropology Concept of Race . socially or culturally and historically constructed . Categories defined and assigned significance by the society . social meaning which has been legally constructed . shaped by those in power In anthropological sense we can define race as a population characterized by same frequency of physical traits or characters appearing or disappearing in course of time by means of cultural and geographical isolation. The biological or anthropological concept illustrates all men belonging to a single species, Homo sapiens, which include vivid populations and groups differing with each other in relative commonness of hereditary characters. Each of the population belonging to the species Homo sapiens may be regarded as race. The framework of systematically arranging the populations should not be confused in merging certain groups like national, geographical, religious and cultural groups with racial group or ethnic group. Indians, Germans and Americans do not form a race likewise Dravidians or Aryans are the linguistic group. A race type or concept is fairly in our mind where assumptions are based on the consequent isolation and inbreeding of a group of people acquiring a number of similar traits with a group of people with different trait. The concept of race is surrounded by many problems in human society like superiority and inferiority. Different scholars divided mankind into higher and lower categories which led to formation of racial prejudice. The socially constructed definition of race affected the mankind in availing facilities like health, education, power, prestige and discrimination on the grounds of eating, visiting to places, speaking and barring them from anything they wanted to do of their wish. Criteria of race In order to classify the vivid people of the world into various groups or races a large number of external and internal physical characteristics are used, and is not restricted to only one particular trait. Due to an advancement of science, human genetics have unfolded many mysteries regarding the existence of man. It showed the presence of a recessive genes in our body the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics didn’t tally. Almost all the criteria of classification of race except blood groups are phenotypic in nature. The other criterias for racial classification like skin colour, hair colour, nose form, stature, etc are influenced and are subjected to change in the environment and food habit. Sarkar (1965) stated the various points to be kept in mind before studying the various races. 1. The racial classification should not be based on a single trait. 2. While studying the racial classification more emphasis should be given in studying the racial criteria. 3. In order to avoid inaccuracy during, more people should be studied. 4. The various features of racial classification depended on the age and sex of the individual, therefore a comparison between individuals of same age and sex should be carried out. 5 Human Population Genetics Anthropology Concept of Race There are seven basic phenotypic criteria’s to be undertaken while studying race. These are 1. Skin colour 2. Hair 3. Stature 4. Head form 5. Face form 6. Nose form 7. Eye 8. Finger and Palm prints Skin Colour: The colour of the skin is an eminent character that attracts one’s interest and is also placed as the first criteria for racial classification by some authorities the pigmentation of the skin is due to the presence of various granules in the deeper layer of epidermis and frequency among the presence of these granules is leads to different skin colour among people. Like for example, the Tasmanians residing in the temperate areas have darker skin whereas the Americans Indians living in tropical areas possess dark skin colour.The people of the world can be classified into three groups on the basis of skin colour. 1. Leucoderms or white skinned people: Europeans, Western Asiatics, North Africans, Polynesians etc. come under this group. They vary from pinkish white in the north to tawny white or light brown in the south. 2. Xanthoderms or Yellow skinned people: The best example in this criteria is that of Asiatic Mongoloids, Armenoids, Hottentotos and Bushmen. These exhibit a yellowish tinge in the colour of their skin. 3. Melanoderms or Black skinned people: the Negros, negroids, Papuans, Melanesians, Pre Dravidians and Australians are the best example of this group. They are usually a dark chocolate brown, but are really black in colour in Africa. The technique called spectrophotometry has been made the basis of an objective and accurate measurement of the colour of the human skin. these colometric values can be computed from the spectrophotometric curves and analysis of the obtained wavelength gives the identification of the substances that give rise to skin colour. Skin is composed of two main layers , the outer cuticle and the true skin. The epidermis varies in thickness in different parts of the body including palms of the hand and soles of the feet and has no blood supply. The outer most stratum of the epidermis called the horny stratum is transparent and scaly. The detailed information regarding the inheritance of the skin colour in human has still been a mystery. There are no evidences for a particular gene responsible for the occurrence of different skin colour. 6 Human Population Genetics Anthropology Concept of Race Skin color is a function of melanin production in the dermis layer of the skin and is highly adaptive in nature. Due to its large adaptive in nature it cannot be placed as strong criteria for classification. Hair After skin colour hair defines as the next important characteristic feature for racial classification.
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