Thursday, January 31, 2013
Montagu's "Race"
Both readings for today’s class by Locke and Montagu come to the general consensus that the term race is meaningless. While Locke tries to give it a new meaning, Montagu advocates for dropping it completely. At the end of class, Dr. J said that no matter what, we all know what people mean to communicate to us when they refer to races even when not explicitly stated. Montagu writes that race is meaningless and artificial. The term of race seems to be holding us back in some ways. So why do we as a society generally feel the need to maintain a strong grasp around this constructed term? In Montagu’s example of the “race omelet”, it is evident that the assumptions and associations made do not have any basis in nature or the right to be accepted. How does this term that Montagu states was invented for convenience carry so much weight still to this day? These are questions that I have been wondering about more and more over the course of the semester. One possible explanation is that people feel the need to classify in order to better understand their own place. What I mean by this is that by rashly making discriminations based on physical appearances, talents, social status, etc., we as humans attempt to understand our individual role in society. Although it is not always helpful or even healthy to constantly compare, it is a part of human nature. Our preferences become a part of who we are. Historically, when it comes to race, people are hyper sensitive to differences and similarities. But when we have so many alternative ways to compare (occupation, age, hobbies, etc.) why do we feel the need to use race? The stereotypes today are just as relevant now as they were in earlier times. In fact, any example that strays from these fabricated stereotypes is viewed as an anomaly when they could just as easily have been the norm because neither is consistently found in nature.
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I agree that people feel a need to classify to create order in their surroundings. In addition, I would add that part of the reason people do this is because they feel a need to look at themselves as superior to others. I think there is a fairly simple answer for why race is the chosen classification; it is the most visible. I can generally know a person's race at first glance. One could argue that things like facial features, weight, and hair color are also apparent at first glance, but I think we don't classify based on those things because those things can vary among the same family. Even if people don't say this, I kind of think subconsciously they don't discrimite based on eye color because their children could have different eye colors. Skin color and race are much less variable among families.
ReplyDeleteI agree that people have developed a need to classify themselves. Yet, while some of these classifications are based on negative stereotypes, people have still found the need to embrace the idea of race. For example, people of African descent have attempted to alter their name over the years; such as African-American, Afro-American, and Black. With each name also came a movement to influence people to develop pride within their race, instead of hiding from the world or trying to alter themselves. While race may not be a biological entity and many races have their own way of showing "pride", it is still embedded and embraced within the culture of every race on the planet.
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