The Nature of Race: How Scientists Think and Teach about Human Difference

326 Pages·2011·2.05 MB·English

by  Ann Morning

The Nature of Race

The Nature of Race
HOW SCIENTISTS THINK
A ND TEACH A BOUT HUM A N
DIFFERENCE
A NN MOR NING
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Berkeley Los Angeles London
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University of California Press, Ltd.
London, En gland
© 2011 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Morning, Ann Juanita, 1968–
The nature of race : how scientists think and teach about human
difference / Ann Morning.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 520- 27030- 5 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978- 0- 520- 27031- 2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Race. 2. Racism in anthropology. 3. Racism in education.
4. Racism in textbooks. I. Title.
GN269.M675 2011
305.8—dc22 2011000291
Manufactured in the United States of America
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on Cascades Enviro 100, a 100% post consumer
waste, recycled, de- inked fi ber. FSC recycled certifi ed and pro cessed
chlorine free. It is acid free, Ecologo certifi ed, and manufactured by
BioGas energy.
Contents
List of Illustrations vi
Ac know ledg ments ix
1. Introduction: What Is Race? 1
2. What Do We Know about Scientifi c and Pop u lar
Concepts of Race? 22
3. Textbook Race: Lessons on Human Difference 66
4. Teaching Race: Scientists on Human Difference 103
5. Learning Race: Students on Human Difference 142
6. Race Concepts beyond the Classroom 191
7. Conclusion: The Redemption of Essentialism 219
Appendix A. Textbook Sample Selection and List 249
Appendix B. Interview Research Design
and Methodology 257
Appendix C. Faculty Questionnaire 263
Appendix D. Student Questionnaire 267
Notes 271
References 279
Index 305
Illustrations
boxes
1. Defi nitions of Race by Discipline, Selected Textbooks 77
2. Selected Accounts of Racial Ancestry in World
Geography Textbooks 85
tables
1. Faculty Race Concepts by Academic Discipline 111
2. Faculty Characteristics by Defi nition of Race and by
Opinion of Lieberman Statement 128
3. Student Characteristics by University 146
4. Student Race Concepts by University 175
5. Student Race Concepts by Academic Major 180
6. University Undergraduate Data, AY 2001–02 259
illustrations vii
figures
1. “Caucasoid, Negroid, and Mongoloid Groups,” 1995 79
2. “Latin America’s Ethnic Diversity,” 2001 84
3. Malaria and Sickle- Cell Anemia in Africa, Eu rope,
and Asia, 2002 89
4. Sickle- Cell Anemia and Malaria in Africa Only, 2002 90
5. “The Races of Men,” 1952 93
6. “Five Major Human Races,” 1976 97
7. “Different Racial Groups,” 1998 98
8. Percentage of Department Faculty and Majors Defi ning
Race as Socially Constructed 182
9. “Races of Man,” 1958 238

Ac knowl edg ments
The people to whom I owe the most for this book are paradoxically those
I know the least: the ninety-t hree individuals I interviewed and quoted
extensively in the pages to follow. I probably w ouldn’t recognize—o r be
recognized by—a ny of them on the street now, but their ideas and words
have breathed life into mine. I am deeply grateful to these men and women
for the time and experiences they shared with me.
Several organizations provided support for this project. I thank the
National Science Foundation (and especially John Perhonis) for a Dis-
sertation Improvement Award from the program in Societal Dimensions
of Engineering, Science and Technology; the Ford Foundation and Na-
tional Research Council for Diversity Fellowships at both the doctoral
and postdoctoral levels (and Columbia University’s Department of Soci-
ology for hosting my postdoctoral year); the Spencer Foundation for a
Dissertation Fellowship; and Princet on University’s Center for Arts and
Cultural Policy Studies as well as its Program (now a Center) in African
American Studies for research funding. I am also grateful to my former
ix