Race

The second edition of the bestselling title on modern notions of race, providing timely examination of perspectives on race, racism, and human biological variation

In this fully updated second edition of this popular text on the study of race, Alan Goodman, Yolanda Moses, and Joseph Jones take a timely look at modern ideas surrounding race, racism, and human diversity, and consider the ways that ideas about race have changed over time. New material in the second edition covers recent history and emerging topics in the study of race. The second edition has also been updated to account for advancements in the study of human genetic variation, which provide further evidence that race is an entirely social phenomenon. RACE compels readers to carefully consider their own ideas about race and the role that race plays in the world around them.

• Examines the ways perceptions of race influence laws, customs, and social institutions in the US and around the world
• Explores the impact of race and racism on health, wealth, education, and other domains of life
• Includes guest essays by noted scholars, a complete bibliography, and a full glossary
• Stands as an ideal text for courses on race, racism, and cultural and economic divides
• Combines insights and examples from science, history, and personal narrative
• Includes engaging photos, illustrations, timelines, and diagrams to illustrate important concepts

To read author Alan Goodman's recent blog post on the complicated relationship between race and biology, please click here.

List of Illustrations vii

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xiv

1 Introducing Race, Human Variation, and Racism 1

Part 1 Histories of Race, Difference, and Racism 7

2 Inventing Race 9

3 Creating Race 15

4 Human Mismeasure 27

5 Inventing Whiteness 45

6 Separate and Unequal 69

Part 2 Why Human Variation is Not Racial 91

7 Introduction: Race ≠ Human Biological Variation 93

8 Skin Deep? 101

9 Sickle Cell Disease: Not for Blacks Only 111

10 The Apportionment of Variation, or …: Why We are All Africans Under the Skin 123

11 The Evolution of Variation 133

Part 3 Living with Race and Racism 147

12 Introduction: Living with Race and Racism 149

13 The Census and Making Race “Official” 158

14 Race and Education 178

15 Linking Race and Wealth: An American Dilemma 194

16 Race and Health Inequalities 213

17 Conclusion 232

Glossary 250

Index 257

Alan H. Goodman is Professor of Biological Anthropology at Hampshire College and former Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty. He has written extensively on human variation and the biological consequences of inequality and poverty and co-leads the RACE national public education project sponsored by the AAA and funded by NSF and the Ford Foundation. Goodman is a former President of the AAA.

Yolanda T. Moses is Professor of Anthropology and recent Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Excellence and Equity at the University of California, Riverside. A cultural anthropologist, she has published extensively on issues of social inequality in complex societies and cultural diversity in higher education. She co-leads the RACE national education project and is a former President of the AAA.

Joseph L. Jones is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the College of William & Mary. A biological anthropologist, his work involves descendant community engagement and skeletal research on African diasporic biohistory and health. He has published on slavery and environmental lead exposure at the New York African Burial Ground in Lower Manhattan. Jones is former RACE project manager for the American Anthropological Association.

Sponsored by the American Anthropological Association (AAA). Based out of Washington DC, the American Anthropological Association is a professional association for anthropologists working across the four major fields of anthropology – biological anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and cultural anthropology. With approximately 10,000 members, the AAA supports researchers, higher education professionals, students, and individuals working in the public, private, and non-governmental sectors. The AAA publishes a portfolio of more than 20 journals, stages annual research conferences, and supports anthropologists at all stages of their careers through awards and fellowships, career planning services, and internship and summer field school programs.

Originally published in 2012 and designed to complement the influential public education project of the same name, RACE: Are We So Different? has earned a reputation as a valuable, informative, and accessible examination of race, racism, and human variation. Through thoughtful explorations of history and science, RACE develops a compelling thesis: race is a powerful force in everyday life and has become deeply embedded in our social institutions, yet in truth, race is a recent human invention that originates not from our biology but from our cultural constructs.

In this fully updated second edition, Alan H. Goodman, Yolanda T. Moses, and Joseph L. Jones take a timely look at modern ideas surrounding race and consider the ways that these ideas have changed over time. New material in the second edition covers recent history and emerging topics in the study of race. In taking on such pressing topics as white privilege, the re-emergence of white nationalism, rising intolerance for immigration of people of color, and increases in Islamophobic attitudes, RACE demonstrates that a clear and precise conversation on the role of race in political and social life is of critical importance. In addition, new coverage of police brutality, increasing attitudes of anti-blackness, the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, the American prison system, and changing public attitudes on structural inequality provides essential insight into the ways in which complex social systems dictate our lives.

Responding to the recent explosion of data available on human genetic diversity, the second edition has also been updated to account for current knowledge about human biological variation, which provides further evidence that race is a social phenomenon. With a selection of engaging photos, illustrations, timelines, and diagrams included throughout the text, RACE compels readers to carefully consider their own ideas about race and the role that race plays in the world around them.