Franz Boas Research Synthesis Essay

A statement adopted by the Executive Board of the American Anthropological Association that posits racial differences, while often deemed by society to be genetic in nature, are actually social in nature. The statement supports this assertion by using genetic studies that have found genetic difference is greater within racial groups rather than between different groups. The statement from the AAA also uses the history of the construction of race, and its link to colonialism and enslavement; to further its claim that race is a social construction, not a collection of genetic differences.

Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was a British naturalist who became famous for his theories in evolution. He believed all species evolved form a common ancestor and that evolution happened through a process called natural selection, which meant survival of the fittest. In the BNW, the different castes of people were made from a common ancestor (a single individual). Thus, creating hundreds of his or her clones. Since the directors believed in survival of the fittest, they made the best kind of people so that they may live long in a specific environment.

The development of the scientific method in the late 1500’s to the early 1600’s was a crucial stepping-stone in the science community. The scientific method is based upon observations, hypotheses and experimentation. The concept is rather simple, and can be applied to many areas of study. Once an observation is made, the observer can make a hypothesis as to why that phenomenon occurs and can then design an experiment to prove whether or not that hypotheses is valid. Although the scientific method has been extremely useful in the discovery of various things from usages of medications to studying animal behavior, there are still those who question the usage of this tool. These critics claim that since

However, the video Race: The Power of Illusion presents significant evidence refuting the biological theories of race. Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory instructor Scott Bronson and several high school students from different ethnicities conducted personal genetic research exploring biological race theory. Students’ typed their blood, compared skin tones and took DNA samples. After sending the samples to a genetics lab, Bronson asked students whom they might expect to be more genetically similar to in the workshop. The consensus of the students was that they would each be genetically comparable to others in the group with similar physical attributes.

For that reason, professor Cohen also states that race does not control behavior like people say it does. He explains that race does not correlate to genes or skin color that control differences in “behavior of intelligence among human groups.” He then talks about culture and the way it works. In the article, it mentions that culture structures “our behavior, thoughts, perceptions, values, goals and cognitive processes.” Professor Cohen also says that students should be taught about significance of culture and revive the anthropological concept of “cultural relativism.” He claims that relativism means that people must look at what other people are doing and try to comprehend their behavior towards it before we judge it. The article concludes that teaching race in the form of “biological variation” results in the promotion of racism than when you teach it in the “cultural relativism” form.

Racial myths bear no relationship to the reality of human capabilities or behavior. Scientists today find that reliance on such folk beliefs about human differences in research has led to countless errors.

However there is no discernible difference in genotype between perceived ‘races’, as the variation observed in the morphologies and cultural patterns of geographically distinct groups are physical markers that are interpreted through social practice.1 Renowned geneticists, Francis Collins and Craig Venter after initially mapping the human genome, announced in June 2000 that 99.9% of humans are genetically identical despite perceived race.2 Subsequently, evolutionary biologist Richard Lewontin, then further substantiated that within that 0.1% of difference, 85% of phenotypical variation was prominent inside geographically distinct groups, while only 15% occurs between them.3 It has been proposed by academics such as Naomi Zack, that to continue to refer to race as a purely biological notion is detrimental to social understanding as it reinforces a false notion.4 Although observable difference between groups does exist as variation caused by the evolutionary process of random drift and adaption5, these differences are phenotypical and only become salient to racial philosophy when interpreted socially. DeSalle and Tattersall explain that variation is driven by environmental influence on genotype, highlighting that insights into cultural practice are more productive in discussions about difference. A case study provided by DeSalle and Tattersall uses the example of lactose intolerance, explaining that, “Among norther European populations, only about 1 to 15 percent

Francis could not understand their language, the murahaliin took Francis among all the children he had kidnapped, Francis was confused because he was separated from the others, so the murahaliin took him to his home with his family and introduced him to his wife and his children Francis did not understand what that they were saying but apparently the man's wife did not seem at all pleasant the boy Dinka, however the children of the Arab beat him while they laughed and sang a song which repeated the word "abeed" Francis tried to understand what the word abeed meant, but he could not find the meaning of that word that those children with pleasure repeated while hitting it again and again.

Darwin’s theories and discoveries caused much controversy to the world and still does today. These controversies occur more in

Race and racism are a worldwide concern since they have effects on both intellectual and scientific grounds. Biologically, humans can be classified into distinct races using consistent and reliable biological criteria. This can be done by use of genetic traits that is also depicted in the physical characteristic of an individual, like skin color, hair texture, eye and nose shape, and body type. These traits also vary in different geographical areas and hence all traits have distinct geographical distributions with humans in classified races. Therefore, the biological study supports that races are valid scientifically.

During the Baroque era, Bach compositions represented unity because he maintained to keep melody through rhythm. Furthermore, Cello Suite No.1 in G major, BWV 1007 has 6 parts. Kouyoumdjian stated, “ Prelude has 3 layers, the bass, then the melody which is the treble and the middle” (Kouyoumdijan commentary). Afterwards, the rest of the composition. When Kouyoumdjian transcribed Violin Sonata No. 2 in A minor, BMV, he used the violin and harpsichord as a source to transcribe the composition for the guitar. Fuga in the composition is an imitation from the previous composition, Andante is the poetic moment and Allegro shows “fiery.”

Through the cranial measurement of thousands of people, Franz Boas concluded that skull shape was a product more of someone’s environment than of their race. In 1912 Boas published an article stating that in immigrant populations he had measured, the skull shape was changing as a product of exposure to the American environment and used his findings as evidence that the environment played a bigger role in skull shape than heredity. Jantz and Sparks concluded that in their analysis there are slight differences among European born and American born members of the same population groups, but not as big as the difference between different population groups.

Boas paved the way doing field work as the first anthropologist to go out and do it. His beliefs were different to many of his opponents, questioning and proving erroneous many theories that were formed by them. Such as his research of skeletal anatomy in which he demonstrated how the cranial structure is malleable due to health, nitration and envirmental factors, not it being a racial trait, as believed by others in his field. Boas also believed that it is crucial for one to experience a culture for oneself in order to comprehend the culture thoroughly. It was his belief that one should gather his own information by going out into the field and gathering it, rejecting data not collected in the field. It was him whom brought forth

In 1846, The English scholar, William John Thoms was the one who coined the term “folkloreˮ. In England, literature and history scholars focused on gathering verbal and material texts and customary behaviors in the British countryside, that is known as “popular antiquities.” In the late of the 1800s, Folklore studies begun in the U.S. by intellectuals, as a means of “preserving” the history of rustic pre-industrial people. Bronner sums up the transition of Americans’ early interest in the study of “popular antiquities” to the collection of “folk lore” as a beginning to recognize that the lore they studied is related to the people’s daily lives.7 In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Franz Boas, a German-born anthropologist

It may be argued that the Boasian example is not indicative of a paradigm shift, as anthropology itself was too new a field to have a consensus. Whether or not the data gathered resulted from anomalies in his working paradigm is a consideration. Boas does appear to have stepped outside the bounds of the paradigm from the start, never attempting to fit his data into the existing evolutionary