How Real Is Race?

Carol C. Mukhopadhyay (professor emerita of anthropology, San Jose State University) has 40 years of experience teaching, consulting, researching, and publishing on issues of cultural diversity and education related to race, ethnicity and gender, in both the United States and India. She is a key advisor for the American Anthropological Association's public information project, RACE. Rosemary Henze (professor of linguistics and language development, San Jose State University) has a background in education, anthropology, and linguistics, and has been an ESL teacher. She worked with K-12 schools for 14 years as a consultant, researcher, and curriculum designer on bilingual, multicultural, and antiracist education and has researched education in Greece, Alaska, Hawaii, and Nicaragua. Yolanda T. Moses (professor of anthropology and Associate Vice Chancellor for Excellence, Diversity and Equity, University of California, Riverside) has spent more than 25 years researching, writing, and teaching in the United States, the Caribbean, South Africa, and Brazil. She has held national leadership roles in the American Anthropological Association, City College of New York (CUNY), and American Association of Higher Education and chairs the National Advisory Board for the American Anthropological Association's Understanding Race and Human Variation project (RACE).

How real is race? What is biological fact, what is fiction, and where does culture enter? What do we mean by a "colorblind" or "postracial" society, or when we say that race is a "social construction"? If race is an invention, can we eliminate it? This book, now in its second edition, employs an activity-oriented approach to address these questions and engage readers in unraveling-and rethinking-the contradictory messages we so often hear about race.The authors systematically cover the myth of race as biology and the reality of race as a cultural invention, drawing on biocultural and cross-cultural perspectives. They then extend the discussion to hot-button issues that arise in tandem with the concept of race, such as educational inequalities; slurs and racialized labels; and interracial relationships. In so doing, they shed light on the intricate, dynamic interplay among race, culture, and biology.For an online supplement to How Real Is Race? Second Edition, click here.

Foreword by James A. BanksAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart 1: The Fallacy of Race as BiologyIntroduction to Part 11 Why Contemporary Races Are Not Scientifically Valid2 Human Biological Variation: What We Don't See3 If Not Race, How Do We Explain Biological Differences?4 More Alike Than Different, More Different Than AlikePart 2: Culture Creates RaceIntroduction to Part 25 Culture Shapes How We Experience Reality6 Culture and Classification: Race Is Culturally Real7 Race and Inequality: Race as a Social Invention to Achieve Certain Goals8 Cross-Cultural Overview of Race9 If Race Doesn't Exist, What Are We Seeing? Sex, Mating, and RacePart 3: Race and Hot-Button Issues in SchoolsIntroduction to Part 310 When is it racism? Who is a racist?11 The Academic Achievement Gap and Equity12 Assemblies, Clubs, Slurs, and Racial Labels13 Interracial Flirting and Dating in SchoolsPart 4: ResourcesReferencesKey Websites (Annotated)List of ActivitiesIndexAbout the AuthorsEndorsements