Physical anthropology (was: RE: Owed Explanation I (Was Re:Ebonic Xmas))

And Rosta wrote:
> It is of course true that the racial categories that most people operate
> with are socially constructed and have scant empirical basis. But I
> would like to query -- without necessarily disputing -- the assertion
> that human subspecies -- in at least some relevant sense of that term --
> don't exist.
Well, I wouldn't call them "subspecies", that term is reserved in
taxonomy for far greater differences, as in H. sapiens sapiens and H.
sapiens neanderthalensis.

But it is true that races do exist, just not as simple as "Black, White,
Asian"

> As for races, Coon argues that races antedate the sapiens species.
I've heard that theory, but I don't really so much agree with it.

> Me, I don't think that the idea that race has no
> biological basis can be squared with who you see winning when you watch
> the Olympic Games.
Sure, there's might be some statistical differences between people
originating in different parts of the world, but there's still no
*objective* way you can divide the continuous variation of Humanity into
segments.  Humanity forms a genetic continuum, not several groups with
sharp divisions.

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