A Resource Guide for The Paul Rusesabagina Lecture

							                                      Resource Guide

                         Race, Culture and Biology:
                 Anthropology Looks at the Myths and Realities
                          Lecture by Yolanda Moses
                               February 5, 2009
                            Student Union Theater
                                  5:30 p.m.
Many of the resources described below have been prepared by the American
Anthropological Association in conjunction with their exhibit Race: Are We So Different,
currently on display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Relying heavily on the
exhibit's website (http://www.understandingrace.org/home.html), I have organized and
described materials that can be used to assist faculty in aligning this lecture with their
own course content.

The three primary sections into which I have divided learning resource materials here are
1) Race and Culture, 2) Race and Biology and 3) the History of the Concept of Race.
These materials along with suggested exercises and activities should assist faculty from a
wide range of disciplines who wish to make use of Moses' presentation.

Race and Culture
Introductory
The Race: Are We So Different webpage explores race as something we live each day – the
reality of race as it is socially experienced.
                  http://www.understandingrace.org/lived/index.html

Activity: Ask students to play the four games, watch the short video and explore the Blog. Use
these as the basis for a class discussion about how we visually identify and judge each other and
ourselves. Ask the students to critically consider the primary points that each of the elements of
this webpage are trying to get across.

More Advanced
The following articles address the social construction of race generally, in a specific and
unusual case (Nepal) and in American medical education. These articles may be useful
in upper-division courses that wish to explore this topic in greater detail.

        UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEMATIC OF RACE THROUGH THE
        PROBLEM OF RACE-MIXTURE Thomas C. Holt
        http://www.understandingrace.org/resources/pdf/myth_reality/holt.pdf

        THE PROBLEM OF “RACE AS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT”
        Eric C Thompson
        http://www.understandingrace.org/resources/pdf/rethinking/thompson.pdf




                                                 1
        THE EMERGENCE OF A MONGOL RACE IN NEPAL Susan Hangen
        http://www.understandingrace.org/resources/pdf/rethinking/hangen.pdf

        MEDICAL EDUCATION FOR CULTURAL COMPETENCE:
        POLICIES, INITIATIVES, AND STUDENT SELECTION William C.
        McGaghie http://www.understandingrace.org/resources/pdf/disease/mcgaghie.pdf

The American Anthropological Association's Statement on Race
              http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/racepp.htm

Exercise: Students can read this declaration and write a reaction paper addressing the questions:
How do racial notions influence social, political and economic inequalities according to this
statement? Can the ideas in this document reduce inequality?


Race and Biology
Introductory
The Race: Are We So Different webpage explores human variation by looking at human
human biological similarity/diversity both phenotypically and genotypically. It also
focuses on modern, population-level diversity.
             http://www.understandingrace.org/humvar/index.html

Activity: Skin Color and Race. Ask students to write a simple paragraph describing their
own skin color. Then have students work through the two website activities on skin
color: The Human Spectrum and Only Skin Deep. In addition or instead, students can
read Jeffrey Fish's article "Mixed Blood" (in Conformity and Conflict, eds. Spradley and
McCurdy, 2008) In either case, students can now be asked to write or to discuss
phenotypic classification by skin color, how it varies across cultures and what that
variation implies about the meaning of skin color.

Activity: Genetic Differences and Race. The remaining four activities on this webpage
focus on elementary explanations of human genetic variation and how the relate to racial
classification as well as important concerns like health care. Asking students to work
systematically through these ending with the quiz is an excellent foundation for a class
discussion.

More Advanced
The following articles address human biological variation and race in greater depth. The
final two focus on medical practice and medical education in this country as they relate to
human classification by race.

HUMAN GENETIC VARIATION: THE MECHANISMS AND
RESULTS OF MICROEVOLUTION Jeffrey C. Long
http://www.understandingrace.org/resources/pdf/myth_reality/long.pdf

THE MEANING AND CONSEQUENCES OF MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATION
Richard L. Jantz http://www.understandingrace.org/resources/pdf/myth_reality/jantz.pdf



                                                2
RETHINKING RACE AND ETHNICITY IN HEALTH DISPARITIES
Simon J. Craddock Lee
http://www.understandingrace.org/resources/pdf/rethinking/craddocklee.pdf

IS CULTURAL COMPETENCY A BACKDOOR TO RACISM?
S. Agnes Lee and Michelle Farrell
http://www.understandingrace.org/resources/pdf/rethinking/lee_farrell.pdf


History of the Race Concept
Introductory
        http://www.understandingrace.org/history/index.html

Activity: Ask three students to bring laptops to class. Bring the website up on your
classroom screen and introduce students to the timelines it offers: governmental,
scientific and societal events related to the notion of race. Divide the class into three
groups and ask each to explore one of these timelines in greater depth. Then ask the
groups to explore the titles of the (very) short articles within their timeline's topic and
select two (e.g., eugenics or measuring race). Each group should read through their
selected articles and then present key points to the class and act as leaders in a class
discussion of those key points.

Advanced
In class, use the short articles on the history of race in science, government and/or society
(http://www.understandingrace.org/history/text_timeline.html#sci) to systematically
examine the progression of western thought and the management of the concept of race.
Then select one of the articles below and ask students to write a well-grounded reaction
to the article.

RACE AND BIOLOGY: CHANGING CURRENTS IN MUDDY WATERS
Francis E. Johnston http://www.understandingrace.org/resources/pdf/myth_reality/johnston.pdf


TWO QUESTIONS ABOUT RACE Alan Goodman
http://raceandgenomics.ssrc.org/Goodman/


THE HISTORY OF THE IDEA OF RACE….AND WHY IT MATTERS
Audrey Smedley http://www.understandingrace.org/resources/pdf/disease/smedley.pdf

CONFUSIONS ABOUT HUMAN RACES R. C. Lewontin
http://raceandgenomics.ssrc.org/Lewontin/


Carolyn Behrman
Anthropology, CSAA
330-972-6695



                                               3