INTERCONNECTION the Compelling Myth of Race and Racial Differen
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10/28/15 KNES 287 Sport and American Society: Module 2 Topic D “Race, Ethnicity, and Moving from CLASS to Sporting Difference” RACE/ETHNICITY, hopefully you will see the: David L. Andrews Physical Cultural Studies Program INTERCONNECTION Department of Kinesiology Theme 1: “race [ethnicity] is the modality in The Compelling Myth of which class is lived” Race and Racial Difference Source: Hall, S., Critcher, C., Jefferson, T., Clarke, J., & Roberts, B. (1979). Policing the crisis: Mugging, the state, and the law and order (p. 394). London: Macmillan. The Seeming Naturalness of Substantive (Racial) Physiological Difference We routinely understand our experience, and ourselves in “racial” as opposed to cultural/ethnic terms. As if we are the natural and essential embodiments of a particular racial group, rather than being the products of specific social-cultural-historic forces. 1 10/28/15 RACE: Racial Ty pol ogy : Carolis Linnaeus (1734) European (Homo sapiens europaeus) A CULTURALLY CONSTRUCTED concept: White, serious, strong Asiatic The classification of people into particular (Homo sapiens asiaticus) Yellow, melancholy, greedy GROUPINGS through the CONNECTION of American specific SOCIAL, PHYSICAL, and (Homo sapiens americanus) Red, ill-tempered, subjugated PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS to African superficial markers of PHENOTYPICAL (Homo sapiens afer) Black, impassive, lazy DIFFERENCE. Non-Geographically Defined (Homo sapiens monstrosus) Racial Typologies II: J.F. Blumenbach (1795) The establishment of notions of race and racial difference centres on the establishment of a RACIAL HIERARCHY in which a dominant Caucasian “racial” grouping sought to secure its position of authority (no great surprise to find out Mongolian which “racial” grouping Carolis Linnaeus belonged to). Malay American This is achieved by DEMONIZING other Ethiopian groupings as being INFERIOR, DEVIANT, and/or THREATENING to the majority population. Racial Typologies III: Carleton Coon (1962) Homo Erectus As crude as these RACIAL TYPOLOGIES are, they have had a huge impact on popular perceptions and experiences of RACE and RACIAL DIFFERENCE. Many people believe that human beings are sub-divided into distinct SUB-SPECIES or RACES. Caucasoid Mongoloid Australoid Capoid Congoid However, this type of RACIAL TYPING has been conclusively REJECTED by recent advances made in GENETIC SCIENCE. 2 10/28/15 See Video Clip 1 The PHENOTYPES (such as skin colour, hair texture, facial structure) through which the so-called races have been classified are actually superficial and relatively recent adaptations to local I will not ask a question on this video, it is here for environmental conditions. your education/interest should you have time! Source: http://www.pbs.org/race/ How about genes? "Race has no genetic or scientific basis" Doesn’t the Human Genome Project identify Craig Venter (2000) off Celera Genomics, a races as distinct GENOTYPES? company sequencing and analyzing human DNA. From the Scientists Mouths… •The human genome contains 3164.7 million “People are too closely chemical nucleotide bases (A, C, T, and G). •The average gene consists of 3000 bases, but sizes vary greatly, with the largest known human related--and have mixed gene being dystrophin at 2.4 million bases. •The total number of genes is estimated at 30,000 to too much throughout 35,000—much lower than previous estimates of 80,000 to 140,000 that had been based on history--to differ in extrapolations from gene-rich areas as opposed to a composite of gene-rich and gene-poor areas. fundamental ways.” •Almost all (99.9%) nucleotide bases are exactly the same in all people. Olson, S. (2001, April). The genetic archaeology of race. The Atlantic http://www.ornl.gov/TechResources/Human_Genome/home.html Monthly, http :// ww w. theatl an tic. co m/i ssu es/ 2001/ 04/ o lso n -p1.htm 3 10/28/15 The Genetic Impossibility of Distinct Human “Races” Africa AFRICA AFRICA 100,000 year s ago Europe 40,000 EUROPE EUROPE year s ago AFRICA Asia 60,000 ASIA ASIA EUROPE year s ago ASIA North America NORTH NORTH 15-35,000 AMERICA AMERICA NORTH AMERICA year s ago South SOUTH AMERICA America SOUTH SOUTH 15-35,000 AMERICA AMERICA year s ago AUSTRALASIA Australasia 50-60,000 AUSTRALASIA AUSTRALASIA year s ago Common Continental Relative Isolation 1500 onwar ds: Futur e: D ilution Genetic Or igins Spread Up to 1500: Incr eased of S uper ficial Superfical Inter action - Phenotypical Phenotypical Racial Differences? Adaptation Mythologising Using Brasil 2014 and Rio 2016 To D enounce R ace and Race Differences According to Yale University geneticist, Kenneth K. Kidd: “Race is an artificial construct that cannot be defined by any existing biological data” Source: Shane, S. (1999, April 4). Genetics research increasingly finds "race" a null concept: Similarities in humans outweigh all differences, The Baltimore Sun. “WE R NO RACE” See Video Clip 2 Theme 2: “Denying the scientific existence of race does not deny the existence of race as a social construct, and does not deny the very real impacts of racism. Ethnicity and the Social Instead, it seeks an alternative way to combat Consequences of the racism by deconstructing the foundations that Race Myth support racist claims – the assumption of difference. ” Source: Herbert, S. (2012, August 14). As it enters the sporting spotlight, Brazil calls on the world to rethink race. The Guar dian. 4 10/28/15 Far from being natural and biologically derived, ETHNICITY It is perhaps better to refers to a series of LEARNED, refer to ETHNIC GROUPS EXPERIENCED, and PERFORMED or ETHNICITIES as behaviors. opposed to racial groups Whereas RACE is a BIOLOGICAL or races. construct, ETHNICITY is a CULTURAL construct. Rather than linked by supposed The ethnic dimensions of sport culture leads to the establishment of very different bodily conventions/expectations for different biological traits, ethnic groups share ethnic groupings. common: Body Body - geography Shape Meanings Body - histories Size - practices ETHNIC BODY Body - experiences Images PERFORMANCE - values Body - identities Practices Body Body Identities Often derived from their experience of Style race based privilege or discrimination. Ethnic Differences/Ethnic Identities are oftentimes The Sporting Performance of Gen eri c Euro pean Ameri can (W hi te) Eth ni ci ty EXPRESSED/PERFORMED through particular SPORT and PHYSICAL CULTURE PRACTICES. Polka: Polish A merican Et hnicit y Bocce Ball: It alian-American Et hnicit y Football: Cricket: American Samoan Elite/Suburban/“Country Club” Sports Sout h A sian A merican Et hnicit y Et hnicit y 5 10/28/15 Thinking Through an Ethnic (as Opposed to Racial) Lens “Race may not be biological, but it is still a powerful social idea with real consequences for people's lives.” Source: http://www.pbs.org/race/ U.S. Population by Race – 2010 Real Median Household Income by Race and Hispanic Origin of Householder: 1967 to 2011 $35,192 American Indian and A laska N atives www.census.gov/Kaiser Family Foundation Median for nation: $50,502 www.census.gov Poverty Rates by Race and Hispanic Origin: 1959 to 2011 Median for nation: 14.3% Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/poverty-in-america-2012- 9?op=1#ixzz2O7xDZBU9 American Indian and A laska N atives 27% 2011 Poverty Rate: Family of 4 Living on Less than $22,350 www.census.gov 6 10/28/15 SAT Scores by Race/Ethnicity Percentage of US Men 18-64 Incarcerated by Race Percentage of Incarceration Population Rates per Number Incarcerated Incarcerated 100,000 White (non- 1.1% 678 693,800 Hispanic) Black 7.9% 4,347 841,000 Hispanic 2.7% 1,775 442,00 http://nces.ed.gov/ www.hrw.org Ethnicity as Collective and Creative Response Theme 3: Most ethnic groups in the United States have distinctive cultures and values created Native American partly as a collective response to: (Indigenous) 1. Common experiences of (often RACE- Ethnicity and Sport: BASED) privilege or discrimination 2. The social-class status/position resulting The Experience and from #1 Embodiment of Institutionalized Separation Initially patronised as being quaint oddities, the Native American population was later viewed as an impediment to the advancement of “European” civilization. It was the perceived “manifest destiny” of the European American people US expansion westward, which justified the oftentimes violent “Indian Removal” to lands west of the Mississippi. While at the time viewed as a necessary act for the development of the nation, this is now considered to be an act of GENOCIDE. Late 19th and Early 20th Century Images of Native Americans 7 10/28/15 Hence, as a justification for the subsequent genocide, the Racial Ty pol ogy : Carolis Linnaeus (1734) racial stereotype of the “bloodthirsty savage” soon became a compelling racial mythology. European (Homo sapiens europaeus) “He is ignoble—base and treacherous, and hateful in every way. Not even White, serious, strong imminent death can startle him into a spasm of virtue. The ruling trait of all savages is a greedy and consuming selfishness, and in our Noble Red Man it Asisatic is found in its amplest development. His heart is a cesspool of falsehood, of (Homo sapiens asiaticus) treachery, and of low and devilish instincts ... The scum of the earth!” Yellow, melancholy, greedy (Mark Twain, 1870, Th e Nob l e Red Man) American (Homo sapiens americanus) “The Indian [was thought] as less than human and worthy only of Red, ill-tempered, subjugated extermination. We did shoot down defenseless men, and women and African children at places like Camp