Our Perception Of The World: Race & Culture

We are more alike than we tend to believe. Despite the fact that some individuals emphasize our differences, there are numerous parallels across cultures and civilizations. It is critical that we learn about others around us so we may focus on our similarities while also better understanding ourselves.

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Cultural studies help people realize that humans are more alike than they are different. Culture shapes ideologies and beliefs, but it also establishes universal, meaningful values that are shared by people from all over the world.

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As values and ideologies shift as a result of social media and social movements, culture, particularly mainstream culture, continues to change. Furthermore, our understanding and perception of the world is influenced by our socio-economic standing which in turn creates our cultural capital. Cultural identity is shaped by history, cultural repertoire, mainstream media, and social media.

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Additionally, we must understand, just as our cultural identity is reliant on our upbringing, our genetic and phenotypic makeup is reliant on our physical appearance. Our phenotypic distinctions are due to physical and environmental adaptions our ancestors underwent thousands of years before.

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Environmental Variation is caused by numerous factors such as climate, exposure, lifestyle, diet, and culture. This contributes to the human variation around us. Additionally, skin pigmentation is evidence of evolution as humans migrated out of Africa and were less exposed to the sun. These conditions resulted in the adaptation of lighter pigmentation.

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Therefore, it can be argued that humans are all one “race” as we adapted to the environment around us. However, race is a social construct.

The Western concept of race must be understood as a classification system that emerged from, and in support of, European colonialism, oppression, and discrimination. Race has become a social reality that structures societies and how we experience the world. In this regard, race is real, as is racism, and both have real biological consequences. Genome/environment interactions, local and regional biological changes through time, and genetic exchange among populations have produced the biological diversity we see in humans today.

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AABA STATEMENT ON RACE & RACISM

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To learn more, please consider:

Reading the AABA Statement on Race & Racism

‍Watching Nina Jablonski’s TED Talk Skin Color is an Illusion