![]() ![]() Readers are urged to consult the vast and rich literature discussing the cultural-historical-political context of categorizing humans, and the social construction of the race concept, including and especially by scientists, some of which we cite throughout this paper (e.g. As many readers know all too well, the breed-race analogy sits in close cultural and mental proximity to the non-innocent racism that lowers targeted minorities to the status of nonhuman animals (see Weaver 2013). We counter the seemingly innocent belief that because dogs are distinguishable, on sight, by breed that therefore human racial categories are just as biologically-based. That is, a goal of this paper is to reveal why equating the category we culturally call “race” to patterns of human biological variation is non-sensical and equating “race” to the categories we know for dogs is pernicious and racist, despite the comparison appearing obvious to many individuals. After we demonstrate the fundamental biological differences between patterns of variation in the two different species (parts 1, 2, and 3), as well as the fundamental distinctions between “race” in humans and dog breed categories (part 4), we discuss the sociocultural significance of this analogy and the importance of its refutation (parts 4 and 5). To start, we compare genotypic and phenotypic variation within and between human groups and within and between dog breeds. Here we investigate how the biological variation among dogs and humans compare and contrast, answering Haldane’s question while rebuking the illegitimate appeal to science and the erroneous “logic” of the widespread analogy. ![]() It sounds like science, but as we demonstrate below it is not. The American familiarity with dogs helps make their relevance to human “race” seem natural. In 2016, Mother Jones demonstrated how mainstream and persistent the analogy is when they published their interview with a leading white supremacist who equated human races to dog breeds (Harkinson 2016). legislators pass anti-miscegenation laws in the early twentieth century (Lombardo 1987). Castle 1942 Harrington 2009), which helped U.S. Inherent to the analogy is the transference of beliefs about pure-bred dogs onto notions of human racial “purity” (e.g. In the U.S., and likely beyond, the human race-dog breed analogy is not merely an academic question about patterns of variation today, it factors substantially into the popular debate about whether race is fundamentally biological as opposed to a social construct, and it carries forward an ugly American tradition. Haldane posed a question to a group of anthropologists at the Royal Society in 1956 that reads as if it were posted on social media today: “Are the biological differences between human groups comparable with those between groups of domestic animals such as greyhounds and bulldogs…?” As an integral and influential player in Darwin’s legacy, evolutionary biologist J.B.S. By the end of this paper, readers will understand how the assumption that human races are the same as dog breeds is a racist strategy for justifying social, political, and economic inequality.ĭogs factored greatly into Darwin’s conception of evolution (Townshend 2009) and he specifically pondered the similarities of human races and dog breeds in The Descent of Man ( 1871). Our demonstration complements the vast body of existing knowledge about how human “races” differ in fundamental sociocultural, historical, and political ways from categories of nonhuman animals. Groups of humans that are culturally labeled as “races” differ in population structure, genotype–phenotype relationships, and phenotypic diversity from breeds of dogs in unsurprising ways, given how artificial selection has shaped the evolution of dogs, not humans. Speaking to everyone without expert levels of familiarity with this material, we investigate whether the dog breed analogy for human race stands up to biology. Here we answer Haldane’s question in an effort to improve the public understanding of human biological variation and “race”-two phenomena that are not synonymous. The analogy comparing human races to dog breeds is not only widespread in history and pop culture, but also sounds like scientific justification for eschewing the social construction of race, or for holding racist beliefs about human nature. Haldane posed a question to anthropologists: “Are the biological differences between human groups comparable with those between groups of domestic animals such as greyhounds and bulldogs…?” It reads as if it were posted on social media today.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |