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A Qualitative Analysis of How Anthropologists Interpret the Race Construct
Author(s) -
Ifekwunigwe Jayne O.,
Wagner Jennifer K.,
Yu JoonHo,
Harrell Tanya M.,
Bamshad Michael J.,
Royal Charmaine D.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1111/aman.12890
Subject(s) - logos bible software , humanities , ideology , sociology , racism , race (biology) , construct (python library) , gender studies , philosophy , politics , political science , theology , computer science , law , programming language
This article assesses anthropological thinking about the race concept and its applications. Drawn from a broader national survey of geneticists’ and anthropologists’ views on race, in this analysis, we provide a qualitative account of anthropologists’ perspectives. We delve deeper than simply asserting that “race is a social construct.” Instead, we explore the differential ways in which anthropologists describe and interpret how race is constructed. Utilizing the heuristic of constructors , shifters , and reconcilers , we also illustrate the ways in which anthropologists conceptualize their interpretations of race along a broad spectrum as well as what these differential approaches reveal about the ideological and biological consequences of socially defined races, such as racism in general and racialized health disparities in particular. [ race concept, social construction, racism, health disparities ]