How Real Is Race?: A Sourcebook on Race, Culture, and Biology

by Carol C. Mukhopadhyay, Rosemary Henze, Yolanda T. Moses

Overview

How real is race? What is biological fact, what is fiction, and where does culture enter? What do we mean by a “colorblind” or “postracial” society, or when we say that race is a “social construction”? If race is an invention, can we eliminate it? This book, now in its second edition, employs an activity-oriented approach to address these questions and engage readers in unraveling—and rethinking—the contradictory messages we so often hear about race.

The authors systematically cover the myth of race as biology and the reality of race as a cultural invention, drawing on biocultural and cross-cultural perspectives. They then extend the discussion to hot-button issues that arise in tandem with the concept of race, such as educational inequalities; slurs and racialized labels; and interracial relationships. In so doing, they shed light on the intricate, dynamic interplay among race, culture, and biology.

For an online supplement to How Real Is Race? Second Edition, click here.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780759122741
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	12/11/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	362
File size:	766 KB
Age Range:	15 - 18 Years

About the Author

Carol C. Mukhopadhyay (professor emerita of anthropology, San Jose State University) has 40 years of experience teaching, consulting, researching, and publishing on issues of cultural diversity and education related to race, ethnicity and gender, in both the United States and India. She is a key advisor for the American Anthropological Association's public information project, RACE. Rosemary Henze (professor of linguistics and language development, San Jose State University) has a background in education, anthropology, and linguistics, and has been an ESL teacher. She worked with K-12 schools for 14 years as a consultant, researcher, and curriculum designer on bilingual, multicultural, and antiracist education and has researched education in Greece, Alaska, Hawaii, and Nicaragua. Yolanda T. Moses (professor of anthropology and Associate Vice Chancellor for Excellence, Diversity and Equity, University of California, Riverside) has spent more than 25 years researching, writing, and teaching in the United States, the Caribbean, South Africa, and Brazil. She has held national leadership roles in the American Anthropological Association, City College of New York (CUNY), and American Association of Higher Education and chairs the National Advisory Board for the American Anthropological Association's Understanding Race and Human Variation project (RACE).

Table of Contents

Foreword by James A. Banks
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part 1: The Fallacy of Race as Biology
Introduction to Part 1
1 Why Contemporary Races Are Not Scientifically Valid
2 Human Biological Variation: What We Don’t See
3 If Not Race, How Do We Explain Biological Differences?
4 More Alike Than Different, More Different Than Alike
Part 2: Culture Creates Race
Introduction to Part 2
5 Culture Shapes How We Experience Reality
6 Culture and Classification: Race Is Culturally Real
7 Race and Inequality: Race as a Social Invention to Achieve Certain Goals
8 Cross-Cultural Overview of Race
9 If Race Doesn’t Exist, What Are We Seeing? Sex, Mating, and Race
Part 3: Race and Hot-Button Issues in Schools
Introduction to Part 3
10 When is it racism? Who is a racist?
11 The Academic Achievement Gap and Equity
12 Assemblies, Clubs, Slurs, and Racial Labels
13 Interracial Flirting and Dating in Schools
Part 4: Resources
References
Key Websites (Annotated)
List of Activities
Index
About the Authors
Endorsements

Editorial Reviews

How Real Is Race? explains race in a very accessible and commonsense way, and also draws on advanced knowledge from the social and biological sciences. Combining strong anti-racist commitments with deep respect for racial identity and difference, this book addresses such issues of "colorblindness" and affirmative action with grace and clarity. It will be a valuable teaching tool across the disciplines. Highly recommended for college and high school classrooms, How Real Is Race is the real thing!

Howard Winant

The second edition of How Real is Race? is a godsend for people struggling to talk about race inside and outside of schools. It engages “big ideas” about race and presents crucial facts clarifying classic confusions about biology and culture. The authors do a great service by summarizing the findings of countless studies into pithy and clear take-away points. When one’s brain tires from endless engagements with racial “worldviews” that are not based in facts, the sentences in this book are mental and verbal life preservers.

Mica Pollock