where can i find out about bioliical differences?

-- rhonda pirie (jellybeen@optusnet.com.au), July 12, 2004

Answers

If Americans in general understood the history of the concept of race, the erroneous biological connotations of race, and the cultural and social dimensions of race, they could better understand that biological explanations often underpin racist links between race, biology and illness. There is no necessary concordance between biological characteristics and culturally defined groups. Though there are obvious physical differences between populations living in different geographic areas of the world, some of these differences are strongly inherited and others, such as body size and shape, are strongly influenced by nutrition, way of life, and other aspects of the environment. Biologically the human species does not have categories, it just has variations as one travels around the world, the small gene variations that give people different hair colors, make individuals more prone to certain diseases and determine how people react to drugs. According to most scientists the concept of race is bogus and has no basis in biology, the concept of race is a social and cultural construction since race simply cannot be tested or proven scientifically.

The following sites can give you more information

Modern Human Variation

The Emperor's New Clothes Joseph L. Graves Jr. professor of evolutionary biology at Arizona State University West, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the author of The Emperor’s New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium (Rutgers University Press, 2001).American Outlook, publication of the Hudson Institute Spring 2002 Joseph L. Graves Jr.

The Biological Case Against Race

-- victor m. fernandez (postmaster@culturediversity.org), October 23, 2004.