OUTLINE 

VIDEO SEGMENTS from “Race: The Power of an Illusion”

FIRST: (Part 1) 0:40-end (0:55) Deconstructs race as biology
SECOND [Part 2] 0:00-0:15 Discusses the development of the idea that became “race.”
THIRD [Part 3] 0:13:45-0:26 The legal construction of race (White by Law)

Textual Analysis:
Whenever you have a new piece of reading you should attempt to analyze it using the following rubric or set of question. They basically reduce to: What? How? Who? Why?

Let's try this approach on Haney Lopez's "Social Construction of Race" article

Argument: What is the thesis? Race is a social construct.

Method: How does the author prove their thesis? historical; autobiographical; legal citation

Audience: Who is the intended audience of the piece? college-educated, students of law

Objective: Why was this piece written? What is the goal of the author/piece? What are they trying to do? Is he trying to convince you to take a position? Do you agree with it?

IN SEMINAR, could do a similar exercise with the Mann piece.

Connections to Southland. Read pages 97-98) and discuss connections to Mann and Haney Lopez articles.

RANDOM VOCAB

binary opposition: a combination of two words or concepts that appear to be 'opposites' but are in reality defined in relation to each other. The meaning of each is constructed by referencing meanings in the other term. Examples: self/Other, Us/Them, Public/Private, Masculine/Feminine, urban/rural(?)

Race: (from Merriam-Webster)
2 a : a family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the same stock b : a class or kind of people unified by community of interests, habits, or characteristics <the English race>
3 a : an actually or potentially interbreeding group within a species; also : a taxonomic category (as a subspecies) representing such a group b : BREED c : a division of mankind possessing traits that are transmissible by descent and sufficient to characterize it as a distinct human type

Race: (from Ian Haney Lopez)
 "A vast group of people loosely bound together by historically contingent, socially significant elements of their morphology and/or ancestry" (Haney Lopez 193).

Ian Haney Lopez discussed features of “racial fabrication” (196):

1. races are human constructs
2. race is an integral part of a whole social fabric that includes gender and class relations
3. meaning-systems around race change rapidly
4. races are constructed relationally

In cultural studies we often refer to words and the meanings "commonly associated" with those words as the signifier (the word, e.g. man) and signified (the associated meaning, e.g. masculine) pair. Note, also that the signified can itself be a signifier and also have signified(s). i.e. man->masculine->muscular. This is known as a chain of signifiers.

Consider how the signifieds (cultural meanings) of each of the races (White, Black, Asian, Latino) are defined in relation to each other: e.g. dark skin implies sexuality and guilt, so light-skinned people are innocent of sexual assault, by definition.

Consider what happens when signifiers are combined (i.e. male and Black). What particular signifieds does this combination have?

What happens when you switch one of the signifiers (i.e. male and Asian, or female and Black)? How do the signifieds change?

TEN THINGS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT RACE

Our eyes tell us that people look different. No one has trouble distinguishing a Czech from a Chinese, but what do those differences mean? Are they biological? Has race always been with us? How does race affect people today?

There's less - and more - to race than meets the eye:

1. Race is a modern idea. Ancient societies, like the Greeks, did not divide people according to physical distinctions, but according to religion, status, class, even language. The English language didn't even have the word 'race' until it turns up in a 1508 poem by William Dunbar referring to a line of kings.

2. Race has no genetic basis. Not one characteristic, trait or even gene distinguishes all the members of one so-called race from all the members of another so-called race.

3. Human subspecies don't exist. Unlike many animals, modern humans simply haven't been around long enough or isolated enough to evolve into separate subspecies or races. Despite surface appearances, we are one of the most genetically similar of all species.

4. Skin color really is only skin deep. Most traits are inherited independently from one another. The genes influencing skin color have nothing to do with the genes influencing hair form, eye shape, blood type, musical talent, athletic ability or forms of intelligence. Knowing someone's skin color doesn't necessarily tell you anything else about him or her.

5. Most variation is within, not between, "races." Of the small amount of total human variation, 85% exists within any local population, be they Italians, Kurds, Koreans or Cherokees. About 94% can be found within any continent. That means two random Koreans may be as genetically different as a Korean and an Italian.

6. Slavery predates race. Throughout much of human history, societies have enslaved others, often as a result of conquest or war, even debt, but not because of physical characteristics or a belief in natural inferiority. Due to a unique set of historical circumstances, ours was the first slave system where all the slaves shared similar physical characteristics.

7. Race and freedom evolved together. The U.S. was founded on the radical new principle that "All men are created equal." But our early economy was based largely on slavery. How could this anomaly be rationalized? The new idea of race helped explain why some people could be denied the rights and freedoms that others took for granted.

8. Race justified social inequalities as natural. As the race idea evolved, white superiority became "common sense" in America. It justified not only slavery but also the extermination of Indians, exclusion of Asian immigrants, and the taking of Mexican lands by a nation that professed a belief in democracy. Racial practices were institutionalized within American government, laws, and society.

9. Race isn't biological, but racism is still real. Race is a powerful social idea that gives people different access to opportunities and resources. Our government and social institutions have created advantages that disproportionately channel wealth, power, and resources to white people. This affects everyone, whether we are aware of it or not.

10. Colorblindness will not end racism. Pretending race doesn't exist is not the same as creating equality. Race is more than stereotypes and individual prejudice. To combat racism, we need to identify and remedy social policies and institutional practices that advantage some groups at the expense of others.