ANT 275

Classes

Topics and readings

Week 1

Orientation to the course. What is race?

• A couple of web sites to help orient you to the anthropological approach to human variation:
  • PBS: Race - The Power of an Illusion
  • The American Anthropological Association Race Project
  • A WNYC Radiolab program on race
• Here is a page based on CNN's efforts to understand race
  • Black or White: Kids on Race

Week 2

Tuesday: "Race—the power of an illusion, Episode 1: The Differences Between Us"

Thursday: History of the concept of human variation up through Darwin. What did the Egyptians think? What does the bible say about race? How did the Greeks and Romans characterize differences? When does race start to have its modern meaning?

Week 3

“Race—the power of an illusion, Episode 2: The Story We Tell”

Week 4

Late 19th – Early 20th Century concepts of human variation

Week 5

20th Century perspectives

Week 6

“Race—the Power of an illusion, Part III: The House We Live In”

Week 7

Biological basis of human differences

Week 9

Diversity and human evolution, Part II

Week 10

“The Journey of Man”

Week 11

Distribution of human differences

• Links on race and genes:
  • Two Questions About Race
  • Race & Genes
  • Sex and Race in the Long Shadow of the Human Genome Project
  • Confusions About Human Races

Nov. 10, 12

Distribution of human differences: "Racial Characteristics"

• Some additional links on skin color:
  • Your Family May Once Have Been A Different Color
  • Skin color & Vitamin D & folate

Nov. 17, 19

Race and Athletics

Nov. 24

Human diversity and health: race and disease

• Some additional links:
  • The Anatomy of a Medical Myth
  • If “race” is the answer, what is the question?—on “race,” racism, and health: a social epidemiologist’s perspective
  • The Realities of Races

Dec. 1, 3

Race and IQ

Dec. 8

Tuesday, 8:00 – 9:15 a.m.: Second Exam