Racism is Real, but Race May Not Be (4) Franz Boaz and the Invention of Race

    Race is real but it's a social construct... Race affects our society but it's not real... How does this make any sense? Understanding where race comes from and how it affects society is one of the most important tools in getting rid of racism around the world. It is often said that "race isn't real" and that "race is just a social construct", but at the same time, valid claims are made about the effect of racism on people's lives all the time. How can both be true? If race doesn't exist, it would follow that racism doesn't either? This contradiction may be why it's such a confusing concept for people to grasp, why there are many different ideas of what race is and where it comes from in modern American society. The rift in understanding only serves to perpetuate racism. To comprehend race is to defang the mystical weight it carries, taking away its power.

    Race is a recent invention by white supremacy popularized around the 1500s to justify slavery. Franz Boaz, an Anthropologist of the 20th century considered to be the Father of Anthropology, began to dissect the idea that races have specific traits and characteristics and the idea that some cultures were more sophisticated than others. In his travels around the world studying different cultures, he realized he was judging them based on his own cultural standards, but his culture would've left him helpless in their respective situations. For example when traveling up to cold northern climates, one could say the societies there were backward and unsophisticated because they don't use silverware or wear top hats like sophisticated people do. But Boaz's culture never taught him how to drive a dogsled or icefish. By that culture's standards, he would be helpless and considered backward, and he was. This is not to say he was unsmart, nor were they unintelligent by the standards of European culture. It just goes to show that Culture is relative. What we call developed civilization is just based on European ideals. A famous hypothetical he proposed was that if someone were to call upon humanity to bring forth its smartest and most talented, people from every race and culture would be brought into this group. He made note of the fact that a historian might group a bunch of bone knives from around the world into a museum and say that they are all the same and indicator of primitive societies which was a common occurrence he observed in the 1900s. Someone that truly understood the history behind the bone knives would know that they were very different. One might be to summon rain gods while another "bone knife" might be a rattle for a baby. He also made note of the fact that the claim "Europe is great because it has so much cultural history" is misleading. He realized that every culture and every place has the exact same amount of history because that is exactly how time works. 

    His discoveries were important because around this time WWII was getting underway. Hitler was trying to assert that the Arian race was the most superior race. Boaz pushed back saying it's impossible, and we now know that he was right because of genetic research. There's no link between race and genetics. Race has been defined in many different ways since its inception and is continually changing because it's such a loose cultural idea, a catch-all to generalize people into different groups, an idea that is scientifically arbitrary. Today our notions of race are based primarily on skin color but through genetic research, we know there is no single gene for skin color as it is affected by a multitude of different genes spread all over your genetic code. To attribute any traits or characteristics to a made-up construct is pointless.

    With the understanding that race is in no way genetic, we can begin to peel back the layers and break down the racist misconceptions American society holds. The problems the Black community faces can be looked at from a new angle. We can understand that Black people are not "inherently lazy", rather lack access to jobs. Black people are not inherently violent, rather have been portrayed as such due to the well-known correlation between poverty and crime. Black people are not inherently less intelligent, rather they lack access to equal education. It is unequivocally important that children are taught these ideas young to nip the racist ideas our society perpetuates in the bud. With the understanding of race comes the death of racism.

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How will you educate students about Race in your curriculum? (write it out)

What are the first steps in your plan? (take action)

Further Reading:

*Podcast - Throughline: The Invention of Race

Teachable Content:

The myth of race, debunked in 3 minutes (3 min) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnfKgffCZ7U

Race & Ethnicity: Crash Course Sociology #34 (10 min) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7myLgdZhzjo

The Science Of Racism (4 min) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8GoIfvnurY

The Origin of Race in the USA (10 min) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVxAlmAPHec