The video Race the Power of an Illusion has a segment in which students
check their DNA and find much to their surprise that their DNA matches do
not correspond to who they most look like.
Isn't the discussion on the list about about whether Pluto is a planet or
not is also illustrative. Several months ago it was. Now it is not. And
some are advocating that it be given honorary status or called a planet no
matter what its characteristics.
With social construction there must be some level of correspondence with
how we experience and observe the world. But our ability to observe changes
and our criteria for naming things changes.
John Eby
>>> "John Glass" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 9/18/2006 10:13 AM >>>
hi, Michael (and Brian)
what i do to make this point at a deep level...i am participating in the
National Genographic project; i submitted a DNA swab and they tracked my DNA
back to Africa. They also update the "route" my DNA took from Africa. i ask
students what "race" they think I am ("white") and then i tell them that my
ancestors were from Africa, then I show them the route of my DNA, and then I
tell them that we are all Africans as that is where the most recent data
indicates where the human race spread from. i then say, "this brings a whole
new twist to the saying, 'i wish that they would all go back to Africa' as
we would need a pretty damn big boat to fit all of us."
this seems to get the point across pretty easily.
i then point out to them how despite the fact that these data are quite
conclusive, most of us a) have never heard this, b) are socialized and
reinforced for acting out of notions of "race," c) how much insanity there
is over these perceived racial differences.
i typically let them draw their own conclusions. don't forget, i live in a
state where a colleague's daughter heard a week or so ago at her university
that "if there had never been a civil war, everything would be fine and we
would all be wealthy plantation owners right now." i can tell by the
expressions on some faces that this information (we are all from Africa and
descended from, "blacks") is distasteful to them; not my problem. my job is
to present data on what is happening and how we collectively go about making
sense of it all.
RE: gender...i show them the video XXXY about intersexuals and then ask
them why we can't have a third option in terms of gender * we are locked
into this idea that our biology determines our gender. they are more
intrigued by the fact that there are people born with ambiguous genitalia
(have had some students talk about how "disgusting" that is) than with the
gender option, but i think it at least gets them thinking about it.
i don't believe in telling students what to think; i do my best to present
the data and then ask questions about what the data mean to us. i think that
students are capable of figuring some stuff out pretty easily if it is
presented in the right manner.
john
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