Race Are We So Different Analysis

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148 Review Essay: RACE: Are We So Different? Mischa Penn, Gregory Laden and Gilbert Tostevin ‘‘R ACE: Are We So Different?’’ is a traveling exhibition project of the American Anthropological Association and the Science Museum of Minnesota. Created by the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM), the exhibit ‘‘RACE: Are We So Different?’’ marks a significant intervention into the social and political life of a local American community on matters of race. It makes a powerful statement about the origin of race ideas, and their impact upon American society, past and present. At the same time, the exhibit asks individuals to reflect critically upon some of their most fundamental and…show more content…
That came later when skin color was used to identify and subjugate the enslaved. ‘‘Natural’’ differences were translated into racial hierarchies that fixed the inferiority of the slaves, culturally and philosophically. Race provided the physical grounds, but conceptualization of a racial hierarchy is a matter of racism and not race. Racism is a cultural expression of fundamental social beliefs and values. Visitors would have been better served had they been made aware that race is only half of the equation. Racism occupies the other half, and each implies the other. An exclusive emphasis upon race would lead to enumerations of physical characteristics in the absence of a framework that could organize and evaluate them. Racism performs that role, while race selects groups marked for racial defamation. The downplaying of racism may be a consequence of an incorrect understanding of the former’s relation to race. It may have been assumed that race was the primary phenomenon, and racism a secondary effect occurring subsequently.…show more content…
Does not the hard science of the genetic data trump the social construction argument?’’ The difficulty in exhibiting anything as complex as synchronic, modern genetic variability in the form of diachronic and geographically situated evolutionary scenarios should have been thought out to a greater degree and perhaps given more space. Community Engagement at Museum Sites Across the Nation Public engagement is an explicit goal of the exhibit and of the larger AAA Race Project. In addition to its very user-friendly interactive website (http://www.understandingrace.org/; accessed May 24, 2008), the ‘‘talking circles’’ within the exhibit promise very positive opportunities for community engagement. Led by exhibit docents, these talking circles occur at regular points throughout the day, so that a good number of visitors can take RACE: ARE WE SO DIFFERENT? 155 part in open discussions of the issues raised by the exhibit and their own personal experiences. One of the present authors participated in several of these events and found them productive. As the talking circles are an integral part of the community focus of the exhibit, we are pleased that they will be seen
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