The following information is intended to aid the teacher as well as students in providing substance and purpose for the lesson plans.
‘Race’ Versus Ethnicity
Although sometimes used interchangeably, ‘race’ and ethnicity are not the same thing. They are typically misunderstood. ‘Race’ is narrowly thought of as rooted in similar physical or biological attributes while ethnicity is more broadly based on cultural expression and place of origin.
"‘Race' and ethnicity have been and continue to be used as ways to describe human diversity," explains Nina Jablonski, an anthropologist and paleobiologist at The Pennsylvania State University, who is known for her research into the evolution of human skin color. “’Race‘ is understood by most people as a mixture of physical, behavioral and cultural attributes. Ethnicity recognizes differences between people mostly on the basis of language and shared culture."4 This is to say that ethnicity is referred to as something that is acquired while ‘race’ is perceived as biological, inherited. The way in which these terms are defined and loosely used, reveals many flaws that have had and continue to contribute to its social impact. “Both are social constructs used to categorize and characterize seemingly distinct populations.”5
What is Ethnicity?
Ethnicity is defined as “large groups of people classed according to common racial, national, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural origin or background.”6 It is usually connected with identification and cultural expression. Ethnicity is a broader term to categorize groups of people in accordance with their cultural expression or identification by race, nationality, religion, language or origin. “In more recent colonial and immigrant history, the term ethnic falls under the dichotomy of ‘Us’ and ‘Them.’ The ‘Us,’ the majority, are viewed as non-ethnics and the ‘Them,’ new immigrants or minorities, as ethnic. Variations of the term have developed, including ethnic identity, ethnic origin, ethnocentrism, and ethnicism.”6
Ethnic identity refers to an ancestral heritage and ethnocentrism is believing your culture or ancestry is superior to others, resulting in a dislike or hatred of any material, behavioral, or physical characteristics different than your own. Ethnicism is defined as a “movement of protest and resistance on behalf of [ethnics] against oppressive and exploitative outsiders”6
Ethnicity therefore, has been defined in numerous ways including 1. a common proper name, to identify and express the “essence” of the community; 2. a myth of common ancestry that includes the idea of common origin in time and place and that gives an ethnic sense of fictive kinship; 3. shared historical memories, or better, shared memories of a common past or pasts, including heroes, events, and their commemoration; 4. one or more elements of common culture, which need not be specified but normally include religion, customs, and language; 5. a link with a homeland, not necessarily its physical occupation, only by its symbolic attachment to the ancestral land, as with diaspora peoples; and 6. a sense of solidarity on the part of at least some sections of the ethnic’s population.6
On a broader scale, ethnicity has been defined as a level of social stratification or inequality that includes ‘race,’ class kinship, age, estate, caste and gender. “Ethnicity is linked in a dichotic relationship with ‘race.’ It is differentiated from ‘race’ in that racial stratification is associated with birth-ascribed status based on physical and cultural characteristics defined by outside groups. Ethnicity is also ascribed at birth, but the ethnic group normally defines its cultural characteristics itself. Thus, racial categorizations, which are defined by the outsider, are normally laced with inaccuracies and stereotypes, while ethnic classification is normally more accurate of a cultural group because it is defined by the group itself. Yet, ethnic classifications can also be defined and used by outside groups to stereotype an ethnic community in ways that are often oversimplified and that view ethnicity as a static cultural process.
Ethnicity is differentiated from class in that “social class membership and ranking . . . is based on attributes regarded as extrinsic to the people who comprise the class. . . . such as amount of income, occupation, education, consumption patterns, and ‘life-style.’ Thus, an individual’s class is not predetermined at birth; an individual’s accomplishments during his or her life can help an individual to rise or fall in social status within the community.”11 Overall, ethnicity is a product of self and group identity, formed in extrinsic/intrinsic contexts and social interaction and it is not the same as culture. “Ethnicity is in part the symbolic representations of an individual or a group that are produced, reproduced, and transformed over time.”6
What is Race?
‘Race’ is usually associated with biology and physical characteristics. Genetic studies however have since refuted the idea that biogenetically distinct ‘races’ exist. Geneticists now argue that “Races are cultural interventions reflecting specific attitudes and beliefs that were imposed on different populations in the wake of western European conquests beginning in the 15th century.”7
Anthropologists and philosophers described ‘race’ using phenotypic traits and geographical location. It is from here that arose the idea of different racial types as well as the notion that it was inherent in our genetics. The idea of race further evolved in the 17th century after European colonization during which the premise that human differences were associated with different populations brought together in the New World which later emerged as a mechanism of social division. This gave rise to the thought that some ‘races’ were superior to others. The term ‘race’ with reference to humans suggested a way to categorize people by their physical differences, often connected with their geographical location based on distinctive features such as skin color, hair texture facial features and eye formation. The term ‘race’ has also been applied to linguistic groups, religious groups, political, national and ethnic groups. “For much of the 20th century, scientists in the Western world attempted to identify, describe, and classify human ‘races’ and to document their relationships between them. Some scientists used the term race for subspecies, subdivisions of the human species which were presumed sufficiently different biologically that they might later evolve into a separate species.”7
The exact number of so-called ‘races’ has never been agreed upon, ranging from 3 to 60 allegedly based on physical characteristics, therefore the term race does not have a precise or objective meaning. The National Human Genome Research Institute explains the term this way. “Race is a social construct used to group people. Race was constructed as a hierarchal human-grouping system, generating racial classifications to identify, distinguish and marginalize some groups across nations, regions and the world. Race divides human populations into groups often based on physical appearance, social factors and cultural backgrounds.”8
Despite what some still may believe or think it is now argued that human physical variations do not fit in one model, and often they overlap. Genetic variation does not identify groups into race categories as DNA analysis has proven that all humans have more in common genetically than they have differences “Because of the overlapping of traits that bear no relationship to one another, such as skin color and hair texture, and the inability of scientists to cluster people into discrete racial packages, modern researchers have concluded that the concept of ‘race’ has no biological validity.”9
‘Race’ is now understood as a social and cultural construct rather than a biological grouping. It is important to understand the differences outlined above because many of us associate these ideas when it comes to our own identity, who we say that we are versus how the world perceives us. Many people do not fit into such categories or they can identify with multiple racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Identity
Identity is defined as the distinguishing character or personality of an individual: individuality, the relation established by psychological identification or the condition of being the same with something described. “Who am I?” is a question nearly everyone asks themselves at one point. Am I who I say I am? Am I defined by the people who came before me, my family, the friends I keep, my situation, my decisions, past and present? Who says I am who I am?
In the eb and flow of daily life, these thoughts can often filter through our mindset and can overwhelmingly shape our own social, moral and intellectual development. Our identity is complex, changing and often intersectional. “The Matrix of Social Identity and Intersectional Power, by Tolteka Cuauhtin, found in “Rethinking Ethnic Studies provides a powerful visual resource for classroom use that breaks down eight levels of social identity across twenty-nine intersections. It can be downloaded at https://www.fredhutch.org/en/about/education-outreach/science-education-partnership/sep-curriculum/race-racism-genetics.html. At the center is “Who are We?” and with it carries many identities we have as humans but then goes on to analyze the “related dynamics of power invisible.”10 “Ethnic Studies programs work to understand and analyze intersectional identity, relationships, and dynamics of power in order to resist oppression and help actively change the world for the better.”10 This is imperative as we live in a society that often uses particular labels often based on particular beliefs about ‘race’, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation and economic class to name a few, that can alter the way we see and appreciate ourselves and others.11
Although there are others, the big eight identities are defined as follows. Racial identity, identifies a group that is socially defined by physical criteria. It can both shape a person’s status or undermine it. Ethnic identity relates to a person or large group that share a common culture or language. Sexual orientation is defined as an emotional, romantic, sexual, spiritual or affectional attraction to another person or persons. Sexual orientation evolves over time and can change. It is not necessarily associated with gender identity and can be unrelated. Self-labels may include gay, lesbian, heterosexual, bisexual, pansexual, queer or straight to name a few. Gender identity describes how a person views themself as, but may not conform to their birth gender. Ability identity identifies individuals based on a person’s capacity to physically or mentally perform. Spiritual identity can be institutionalized or a person’s personal or system of beliefs in a higher power. Nationality identity is expressed by the person’s country of origin. Socioeconomic Identity refers to a person’s social status based on income and/or position in society.12
“Social identities are a result of shared constructions and social relations of the people who created it based on societal norms. Dominant and subordinated identities can affect an individual’s experience of privilege and oppression. A person’s identity is how the person defines who they are. While there are many identities that can describe a person there are some that are more salient than others.”12
According to Goodman and Graves, “Athletics, IQ and Health: Three Myths of Race,” the “Big 8” socially constructed identities are: race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, religion/spirituality, nationality and socioeconomic status.”13 Many of these we are born into, but not all. Understanding who we are, as well as others will help us honor human dignity and set the tone for an inclusive society that recognizes the basic genetics from which we are formed, intertwined with the experiences and environment that which helps form us versus conceding to an inherent exclusive mindset whose history lies in the desire to create a dominate species, separated by ‘race’ and driven by misconceptions that health, IQ, sports ability and even poverty are inherently genetic.
Three such myths about ‘race,’ include but is not limited to the following: Myth 1, Africans and those of African descent are genetically predisposed to run faster and jump higher than Europeans and Asians. Myth 2, People of Asian descent achieve the highest levels of education in the United States because of higher IQs. Myth 3, African Americans are predisposed to certain complex disease primarily because of genetics.13
Myth 1, often we think of racial divisions on athleticism when we envision elite male athletes in sports. African American athletes make up about 75 percent of professional NBA players, which can lead people to assume that since they dominate the sport, they must have a biological or genetic basis. This hasn’t always been the case. Irish Americans lead the sport in the 1930’s. It wasn’t until after WWII in the late 1940’s that basketball began to emerge as a sport of choice in urban African American communities, mainly because it didn’t require a lot of equipment or space. “Over time, as scholars of sport have shown, the myth of the “natural Black athlete” took hold of the U.S. imagination. African American youth facing limited economic and social opportunities gravitated toward professional sports such as basketball (and football) as a path to success. As sports journalist Reagan Griffin Jr. put it, “The fact of the matter is, Black athletes have collectively achieved what they have because society presented them with few other options. Today the composition of professional basketball is again changing following the increase in popularity of the sport in Eastern Europe and around the globe.”13 Other sports as well, confirm that ‘race’ is not associated with athleticism. Swimming and skiing use similar muscles as basketball, and Europeans and Australians tend to dominate these fields. “At the 2022 Winter Olympics, for instance, White athletes from Norway, which only has a population of around 5 million people, continued their now century-long dominance in skating and skiing.”13 Athleticism combines strength, coordination and other skills often influenced by 120 different genetic markers found across the globe in conjunction with a variety of environmental and cultural factors. Patterns of differences in elite competition relate more closely to economic, social and cultural factors not genetic ones.
Myth 2: The idea that certain populations or races are inherently more intelligent than others is not uncommonly heard. This is heard historically it was thought that the ancient Romans attributed greater intelligence of the British, Germans or French but then was argued the opposite in the 1600’s when Sir Francis Bacon defended the Europeans. Today, many stereotypes exist such that the cognitive ability of certain racialized groups such as the groundless and harmful myth that “Asians are good at math.”13 Scientists have yet to provide evidence of natural selection for what constitutes as greater intelligence among various groups. “Modern genome-wide association studies—a standard method in genomics research—demonstrate that only a small fraction of the variation in cognitive performance across human populations can be explained by genes. Scientists have also not found any genetic variants associated with cognitive performance that vary dramatically across populations around the world.”13 Racialized differences lie more in educational attainment and structured inequalities, not by genetics. “Asian Americans, taken as a racialized group, do tend to test higher on standardized tests and are more likely to complete high school and attend elite colleges in comparison to White students.
However, there is no scientific evidence to show this group is naturally more intelligent; rather, studies show these students’ success may be due to a complex mix of factors, including attending better schools, U.S. immigration policies that favor highly educated immigrants, and students exerting more academic effort.”13 Cognitive performance differences associated with early child development exist primarily due to environmental situations such as living in poorer communities with less access to quality education, poorer nutrition, psychological stress, and being exposed to toxic materials.
Myth 3: African Americans are more at risk for disease such as diabetes, congestive heart failure, various cancers and even Covid 19 infections. African American babies are also more likely to die in their first year and their mothers are two and a half times more likely to die during childbirth. Although scientists have attempted to find genetic differences among ‘races’ in an effort to explain these disparities in health, they have yet to be uncovered. “That line of reasoning begins with a false assumption: The idea that ‘races’ are genetically coherent groups, and therefore one ‘race’ will have a predominance of the gene that increases risk of disease and others will not. Note that this faulty reasoning is also behind the myths of athletic and intellectual differences. All three of these myths are entirely unsupported by the data. In this gene-centric era, it is not surprising that biomedical researchers might seek out simple, genetic explanations for variations in risk of disease and death. Genetic differences among individuals can play a role, but risks of complex diseases are, well, complex. Until recently, researchers have largely ignored the far more significant social, environmental, and economic causes of racial disparities in health outcomes.”13
Environmental conditions associated with increased rates of diabetes, cancers and other diseases contribute to this myth as it is apparent, but not genetic. “A Black woman, for instance, may carry in her body a lifelong history of stress caused by everyday exposure to racism—what public health expert Arline Geronimus has termed ‘weathering’ that makes her more susceptible to conditions such as hypertension. A black child from a poor family is more likely to grow up in a food desert and close to a source of pollution—environmental conditions associated with increased rates of diabetes, cancers, and other diseases.”13 How did these ideas become what so many believe as truths? It’s often easier to accept things as truth when it has become such a part of the way society functions, as it just evolves into something that must be true as it is rooted in history and made evident in lives lead throughout history.
What does Science have to say?
Neither ethnicity nor ‘race’ is detected in the human genome. Although humans have genetic variations, they cannot be linked to distinct biological categories. ‘Race’ and ethnicity cannot be traced in a genetic test. “To understand why the idea of race is a biological myth requires a major paradigm shift - an absolutely paradigm shift, a shift in perspective. And for me, it's like seeing what it must have been like to understand that the world isn't flat. The world looks flat to our eyes. And perhaps I can invite you to a mountaintop or to a plain, and you can look out the window at the horizon, and see, "Oh, what I thought was flat I can see a curve in now." And that ‘race’ is not based on biology, but rather an idea that we ascribe to biology. That's quite shocking to a lot of individuals. When you look and you think you see ‘race,’ to be told that no, you don't see ‘race,’ you just think you see ‘race,’ you know, it's based on your cultural lens - that's extremely challenging.”14 Let’s look beyond the cultural lens and explore the science behind it.
Heredity and DNA
The passing on of physical or mental characteristics from one generation to another is known as heredity. It explains why offspring may resemble, but are not identical to their parents. Heredity refers to the mechanisms that the traits are passed via genes. The genes are what encode the information for making specific proteins responsible for the individual traits. The genes are made up of several variants known as alleles and reside in a cell’s chromosome, each which contains many genes. Every cell of an individual organism contains an identical set of chromosomes that transfers to the offspring during reproduction. For species that reproduce sexually, each cell contains two variants of each chromosome, one from each parent. Environmental as well as genetic variation and the dominance of the gene in a pair also contribute to how the traits develop within an individual.15
When living things produce offspring they pass traits to them, known as inherited trats. This passing of traits known as heredity, and the field of biology that studies it is known as genetics. Is this why may have similar characteristics as our parents? Why are some of our physical traits and behaviors a bit different between them and our siblings? Why are some siblings similar in appearance or behavior and others different? How do our genes determine our features and physical characteristics? Can our genes also predict our health or the probability that we will get a disease? The key to answering these questions, lies in our deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA. DNA molecules contain the coded instructions for how an organism develops and functions. These instructions are stored in chromosomes, which are then replicated throughout the cells of the body.
According to Amy Cowen’s ‘Teach Hereditary and Genetics with Hands-On Lessons,’ Almost all cells in an organism contain a copy of the organism's DNA. An organism's DNA is specific to the genome of the species but also unique in many ways to the individual. Offspring will have DNA that contains specific features from the DNA of both parents. The traits an offspring presents depend upon the recessive and dominant genes from the parent DNA.16 The model, discovered by James Watson and Francis Crick, showed that DNA looks like a twisted ladder with thousands of steps that form a genetic code. The code determines the kind of gene that is formed and the different genes determine the kinds of inherited traits an organism receives. A gene controls the inherited traits, each located in a different part of the chromosome. Genes control the life processes of your cells and determine eye color, hair color and many other characteristics.16
Genes and Genetics
Genetics is the study of heredity, particularly genes, including the ways in which they act in the cell and the way that they are transmitted from parents to offspring. The focus of modern genetics is the chemical substance that genes are made of and the ways in which it affects the chemical reactions that ignite the living processes within the cell. Information carried in genes gets passed from one generation to the next. This study stems from the work of Gregor Mendel in the 19th Century who suspected traits were inherited. Inheritance can be described by the process by which a child receives genetic information from the parents, making the offspring similar to that of the parent. Mendel’s laws of inheritance were developed as a result of a series of hybridization experiments on garden peas between 1856- 1863. By conducting cross pollination and artificial pollination with peas, Mendel modeled trait inheritance. From these experiments, Mendel found that certain factors were always transferred to offspring in a stable way. These factors were later called genes and are referred to as the units of inheritance. The two main experiments, Monohybrid Cross and Dihybrid Cross, led to the formulation of Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance, namely The Law of Dominance, The Law of Segregation and the Law of Independent Assortment. The Law of Dominance is the first of Mendel’s laws of inheritance that states hybrid offspring will only inherit the dominant trait in the phenotype. The second law of inheritance, the Law of Independent Assortment, says that a pair of trait segregates independently from another during gamete formation which allows for different traits to get equal opportunity to occur together. The third law, the Law of Segregation states that during the production of gametes, two copies of each hereditary factor segregate so that the offspring will acquire one factor from each parent.
Although information carried in genes are transmitted from parent to offspring, they are not set in stone. Genes are affected also by environment in terms of how they develop. “Science tells us that the interactions between genes and environment shape human development. Despite the misconception, research shows that early experiences can determine how genes are turned on and off — and even whether some are expressed at all. The healthy development of all organs, including the brain, depends on how much and when certain genes are activated to do certain tasks.”17 However, because environment and experiences play a role in which genes develop, we often see variations.
Environment and Gene Development
Interactions between genes and the environment shape human development and can determine how some genes are turned on, off or even expressed at all. Healthy development depends on how much and when certain genes are activated to do certain tasks. Ensuring that there are enough growth promoting early experiences at a young age plays a crucial role in development. The chromosomes located in the nucleus of every cell in our body contains the genetic codes that are passed through each generation. Children inherit about 23,000 genes from their parents but not all develop into what they were designed to do. “Experiences leave a chemical “signature” on genes that determines whether and how the genes are expressed. Collectively, those signatures are called the epigenome.”17 During early development, the brain is particularly responsive, and external experiences spark signals between neurons whose response is to produce gene regulatory proteins. Both positive and negative experiences can change the chemistry that encodes genes in brain cells known as epigenetic modification. Such experiences include exposure to or lack of rich learning opportunities, malnutrition or environmental toxins. Epigenetic modification occurs in cells that comprise the organ systems and influences how they develop and function which can powerfully impact physical and mental health.17
In fact, most common diseases are a result of genes and the environment which includes our personal choices in terms of what we eat, amount of exercise, access to clean water and air as well as stress. A very small number of diseases are a result of a single mutation in a gene.18 Most times, genes do not determine our health. Small differences in genetic makeup mean that two people can respond differently to similar environmental exposure. Genes and the environment interact through mutagens, gene-gene interactions, transcription factors and Epigenetics. Mutagens are pollutants in the environment that can directly change the DNA sequence. Gene-gene interactions occur when pollutants from the environment that doesn’t alter the DNA sequence but instead causes a chain reaction of the functioning of one gene to another gene. Transcription factors are when pollutants from the environment indirectly affects the DNA sequences by altering transcription factors that are responsible for initiating the process to use genes to make proteins needed for other functions of the body. An example of this includes how stress can alter the immune system. Through epigenetics, the proteins that turn genes on or off are altered by the environment. “Epigenetic factors can switch genes on or off and determine what proteins are transcribed. They are involved in many normal cellular processes and epigenetic changes are a natural part of human development. Some changes, however, can lead to disease. Some of these abnormal changes can lead to diseases such as cancer, mental retardation, neurodevelopmental disorders, cardiovascular diseases, type-2 diabetes,
obesity and infertility.”18
The impact that environment and experiences play on the development of genes may contribute to the social construct of “race” when people were categorized partly in accordance to where they lived versus examining the actual genetic make-up and the outside contributing factors that can positively or negatively impact that development. Biologically there is little difference in people genetically at the start. “No two human individuals are genetically identical unless they are monozygotic (identical) twins. Between any two people DNA differs on average, at about one in one thousand nucleotide base pairs. We each have a total of about three billion base pairs, so any two people differ by an average of about three million base pairs. This may sound like a lot, but its only .1%of our total genetic makeup. This means that two people chosen at random are likely to be 99.9 percent identical genetically no matter where in the world they came from.”19
Human variation however around this world is real. We see it in outward physical appearances from eye color to skin color to shoe size. Human variation though, does not equate to racial difference. “In the 1970s, Richard Lewontin found that the amount of genetic variation within any human ‘race’ is greater than the variation among races. Interestingly, because our species spent so much of its time in Africa, that’s where the most genetic variation is to be found today. Researchers have shown the variation between two Africans is on average greater than the variation between an African and a European or Asian person. There are no subgroups within Homo sapiens that have been reproductively isolated long enough to develop anything close to separate races. The concept of ‘race’ fails to describe human variations or explain how variations evolved. On the other hand, socially defined races do exist: Humans invented them! The variations between members of our species only take on deeper cultural and political significance when humans in power start dividing and ranking individuals based upon them.”20