KINE 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 36: Sickle-Cell Disease, Arabian Peninsula, Organ Donation
31 Aug 2016
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It is something not a mere trick of the imagination. It has its histories and histories have their real, material and symbolic effects (hall, 1990, p. 226) Yes: there are physiological variations and commonalities among us, e. g. organ donation. But: racial classification systems are too simplistic and socially constructed in themselves, we give certain characteristics meaning and suggest that they belong to a certain group, e. g. hair, eye size. Historically and cultural specific classifications: 1910 virginia: < 1/16 negro blood = white", 1924: one single drop of negro blood = black". A group of individuals who share genetically transmitted traits: these traits are imbued with meanings that (re)produce unequal power relations. A form of classification (and hierarchizing) of people based on the false assumption that physical differences are related intellectual, moral, or cultural superiority: 11/2400 genes determine skin colour which has shaped history. Traditional racial categories are based on social meanings given to combinations of physical differences and similarities.
