Race & Human biology

Outline
Principles of evolution
over next two weeks.
Examining modern human
diversity as baseline for
discussion of evolutionary
trajectory.
Two Approaches to race
Human Variation & Skin
Color & Natural Selection
Genetic Inheritance &
Ancestry Informative
Markers

Before we start, remember

Concept of race does not explain
human evolution
Racial categories not fixed, no
attached innate characteristics,
abilities, or inclinations
Biological correlations with cultural
achievements is dangerous &
misguided
Race: Discredited concept in
biology

Two Anthropological Approaches

1) Racial Classification
2) Explanatory Approach
Racial classification: traditional
approach attempts to assign
individuals to discrete categories
purportedly based on common
ancestry
Assumed that biological
characteristics were determined
by heredity & stable (immutable)
over time

Racial Classification is wrong

Groups do vary biologically
in some genetic attributes
But change= gradual shifts
in genetic frequency --clines
Clines incompatible with
discrete categories
Race is supposed to reflect
shared genetic material but
instead has been based on
phentotype (huge
difference)

Racial Classification
Racial classification based on
phenotype is difficult &
subjective
Lack suite of accurate traits
to group people. Diverse eyes,
hairs, skin, etc.
Phenotype does not
necessarily have a genetic
basis-short term (tanning) &
long-term (environmental
conditions)
Human populations not
isolated long enough for true
group isolation (gene flow)

Explanatory approach
Explanatory approach:
Attempts to explain
differences & similarities,
rather than classify into
false discrete groups
Natural selection: process
by which forms most fit to
survive & reproduce in a
given environment do so in
greater numbers than
others in same population

Mutation & Inheritance

Inheritance is
messy; not 1:1
Bill and Luke
Walton

http://youtu.be/FxosAsUczFI

Natural Selection
is not linear or
progressive
Genetic mutation
is your friend

Explanatory Approach
Continues

Black Uhuru
The whole world
is Africa

Human demographic history indicates that

pure human stocks do not exist
(unless you count Africa)

No population is more highly

evolved than any other population
Unilineal evolution: A
pattern of cultural
progress through a
sequence of
evolutionary stages

What about skin color?

That has evolved right?

Human variation is distributed clinally

across the globe: Geographical
distribution of skin pigmentation

Skin color is a phenotypic character

Phenotype: the observable
physiological & anatomical traits
Phenotype often used to classify
individuals to a particular race
Phenotypes= highly plastic &
influenced by the environment
Simplistic & stereotypical to
equate skin color w/ race.
Still, it is most noticeable aspect
of appearance (you vs. others)

Skin color
Melanin primary determinant
of human skin color, chemical
substance produced in
epidermis
Melanin index measures
amount of melanin present in
skin or hair
Melanin indices do not
support static categories

Dermaspectrometer

Possible Selection Pressures for

Darker Skin
Protection from sunburn
Protection from skin cancer
Protection from photolysis of folic
acid
Protection from immune system
suppression

Possible Selection Pressures lighter skin

Enhanced vitamin D synthesis

Light skin protects from Rickets

Enhanced immune suppression

Protection
from
coldpressures
damage
Less sunlight
would also lessen
selection
for dark skin
Dark skin protects from Hypervitaminosis: too much vitamin d calcium
deposits build up in soft tissues

Lactose intolerance
Phenotypic adaptation:
adaptive changes occur during
an individuals lifetime
Adult milk consumption is
unnatural
Who is lactose intolerant?
Northern Europeans, Tutsi
(Rwanda) , Burundi (East
Africa) (herders) love the milk
People can increase lactose
tolerance with more intake,
probably a combination of
genes & phenotypic adaptation

Brief Paws

Partitioning Human Diversity

Richard Lewontin, 1972
Looked at serum proteins &
red blood cell enzymes in a
global population panel
85.4% of diversity is contained
within populations.
Less than 15% of human
diversity accounts for the
differences observable
between populations

Alleles
Genes contain information
about a specific characteristic
or trait & can either be dominant
or recessive.
Not all copies of a gene are
identical & alternative forms of a
gene, called alleles, lead to the
alternative form of a trait.
Genes (alleles) mutate, are
selected for differentially, & not
passed on 1:1 (messy)

About 5% of the genetic variation not shared

between populations is informative about ancestry.
These alleles can be called Ancestry Informative
Markers (AIMs).

What is ancestry?
Genealogical ancestry - the expected level
of ancestry based the origins of ones
relatives (~qualitative)
Country of origin, ethnicity

Genomic ancestry - the realized ancestry as

estimated with data such as AIMs
So which is the TRUE ancestry?
BOTH. Depends on the question.

BioGeographical
Ancestry (BGA)
using Ancestry
Informative
Markers for three
parental
populations:
West African,
Native American,
European (n=30
for each

Black Drugs

http://www.bidil.com/pnt/
http://youtu.be/-2Q8gwvTees

What do AIMS look like?

Is race biologically meaningful?

NO
Race is a cultural construct

Race as a cultural
construct
Racial
categories vary crossculturally

No universal human racial

classification exists
There is no test that determines
blackness or Asianess
Analysis of AIMS (alleles) & skin
pigmentation has little to do with
how we culturally identify ourselves.
If it did, we would have very
different groups of people.

Race is a cultural
construct but it is
still very real.
It is real because we
deal with it every single
day.

Problems with thinking of race as

simply a cultural construct (Thompson 2006)
[A]ll ideas beyond the idiosyncratic are
social constructs insofar as they are
shared cultural knowledge.
Better argument=
Race is social construct that is poorly
descriptive of the phenomenon it seeks to
describe and has a long history of
devastating consequences for individuals

Racist Thinking
A race is defined as a group
of individuals sharing common
genetic attributes which
determine that group's
physical appearance and,
more controversially, their
Cognitive abilities.---From
www.stormfront.org

What is wrong with

this statement?

Race and Intelligence

Race has no biological basis

No biological rules for determining group

membership. Race is self-reported.

Various genes (and even skin color) would

have us lumped into different groups.

Low test scores on aptitude tests has

everything to do with socioeconomic status
(access to resources like schools, teachers,
etc.) and cultural knowledge.