ANTH 1006 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Folk Taxonomy, Biological Anthropology, Gene Flow
Document Summary
Variability seen in typological terms, that is , types or variabilities of humans. Biological anthropology became involved in developing the correct racial taxonomy. Classification of some class of phenomenon based of cultural traditions. Japan = consider koreans as a separate race. Is the us race is fixed and assigned at birth. Race is fluid based on parents, phenotype, and socio-economic status. A population differing in the frequency of certain alleles from other populations within the same species. Since we cannot observe allele frequency, we rely on phenotypic characteristics i. e skin color. Typologies are seen as static, stable divisions of humankind. However, gene frequencies are always changing every generation. Whatever way you define your categories, there will always be people that don"t fit. In the long run reduces genetic variation between populations. There are no, and never have been pure races. Gene flow has always been the rule. Early anthropologists were looking for statistical averages to define race types.
