Introduction to Different Definitions of Race
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/08/01
Maya Bahl is an editor and contributor to The Good Men Project with me. She has an interest and background in forensic anthropology. As it turns out, I hear the term race thrown into conversations in both conservative and progressive circles. At the same time, I wanted to know the more scientific definitions used by modern researchers including those in forensic anthropology. Then I asked Bahl about conducting an educational series. Here we are, part one.
To open this topic, I want to look into the expert opinion on the topic. Bahl opened with a thank you for the opportunity to take part in this educational series, as a fellow writer and editor on The Good Men Project. There exist different sources of a definition for “race” from common usage, sociology, forensic anthropology, and elsewhere.
Bahl stated, “In anthropology, race is seen as the groupings of people by physical or social qualities and sociology sees it as a direct difference in biological traits in a group, but in the end the fact would remain that race at a basic level is the distinguishing of groups of people against an observed pre-conceived standard.”
She continued to talk about the moderately more strict and racist terminology from when the fields of Anthropology and Sociology began with the terms “Caucasoid,” “Negroid,” and “Mongoloid.” Those were the standard categories to classify people based on origin: Europe, Africa, and Asia.
“Since the 1800s on though, the world has thankfully been a lot more tolerant of its classifications — though we still have much work to do on this end!” Bahl stated.
Then I asked about the common definition from within the field of forensic anthropology. She talked about the physical qualities of a group or individual. Those are important and crucial for the proper identification of someone within the field. The common definition of race is much looser and generalized. This can be taken in the wrong way in different scenarios, according to Bahl.
Bahl concluded, “Race and the Biological Construct of Species as ideas dovetails with each other, as both reflect on the assumptions that are set about a group or individual. In my opinion however, the biological construct of species is more assumed, so that there’s an expected outcome without any variance, whereas in race, variations could still be made.”
More to come in the future.
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