What is race
Reading Response 1
What is Race/What is Ethnicity?
1. Why was the social classification of race invented?
After reading the book it states that “Race was the modern conception of human differences and human identity, as well as, a form of social identification and stratification that was seemingly grounded in the physical differences of populations interacting with one another in the New World.”(The Meaning 49) Yes, that sounds great but was that the true reason for the classification, I think not. There are two very important reasons I found in the reading for the classification of race according to our book. One, as a way for the ruling class (Europeans) to rationalize brutal treatment of another class of people (Indian & African). And two, for the perpetuation and retention of slavery for Africans people, because the ruling class concluded that the Africans and Indians and their descendants were lesser forms of human beings, and that their inferiority was natural and or God-given. In the reading it clearly states that “Race was a social invention of the eighteenth century that took advantage of the superficial physical differences among the American population and the social roles that these peoples played, and transposed these into a new form of social stratification and the symbols of race identity became the substance.”(The Meaning 54) This writer, a black American believe that this still unfortunately hold true presently in the twentieth century.
2. Is Afrocentrism a response to racism?
Yes, this writer believes it was. Our reading states that “Afrocentrism was really intended to restore a sense of pride and dignity to ordinary African Americans, regardless of how whites and others regard their position.” The African American people came to understand, “that for too long African Americans have been conditioned to the same negative beliefs about Africa and Africans as have whites and others and that there is a need to eliminate the self-deprecation and
What is Race/What is Ethnicity?
1. Why was the social classification of race invented?
After reading the book it states that “Race was the modern conception of human differences and human identity, as well as, a form of social identification and stratification that was seemingly grounded in the physical differences of populations interacting with one another in the New World.”(The Meaning 49) Yes, that sounds great but was that the true reason for the classification, I think not. There are two very important reasons I found in the reading for the classification of race according to our book. One, as a way for the ruling class (Europeans) to rationalize brutal treatment of another class of people (Indian & African). And two, for the perpetuation and retention of slavery for Africans people, because the ruling class concluded that the Africans and Indians and their descendants were lesser forms of human beings, and that their inferiority was natural and or God-given. In the reading it clearly states that “Race was a social invention of the eighteenth century that took advantage of the superficial physical differences among the American population and the social roles that these peoples played, and transposed these into a new form of social stratification and the symbols of race identity became the substance.”(The Meaning 54) This writer, a black American believe that this still unfortunately hold true presently in the twentieth century.
2. Is Afrocentrism a response to racism?
Yes, this writer believes it was. Our reading states that “Afrocentrism was really intended to restore a sense of pride and dignity to ordinary African Americans, regardless of how whites and others regard their position.” The African American people came to understand, “that for too long African Americans have been conditioned to the same negative beliefs about Africa and Africans as have whites and others and that there is a need to eliminate the self-deprecation and