Paper Summary:

The paper discusses the biological anthropologist Joseph L. Graves' suggestion that race is a culturally and socially constructed idea, not a biological fact. The paper identifies how he takes contention with many of the assumptions of the modern scientific community in the fields of medicine and anthropology; he maintains that blood groups or genetic diseases are not exclusive to confined racial groups. Graves makes a persuasive case that human beings must look beyond artificially constructed racial barriers - both laypersons and traditional medical researchers. The paper concludes that culture is a more powerful influence upon individual human health than the genetic and biological legacy that we all, as members of homo sapiens, commonly share.

From the Paper:

"Sickle cell anemia, a disease associated with African Americans, is actually a genetic mutation that protects against malaria found primarily in individuals of West African ancestry. The supposed 'Black' race does not manifest the genetic trait of sickle cell across the entire African continent sparing the geographical expanse from Ethiopia to Cape Town. To further confuse racial categories of Blackness, sickle cell anemia is present in European Mediterranean ethnic groups, in a slightly different form, even though these persons might not share such conventional physical markers of race in terms of their physical appearance."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Graves, Joseph L. The Emperor's New Clothes. New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press, 2001.

Visitors who viewed this Book Review also liked these:

• Book Review # 108156 : "Gary Nash's "Race and Revolution"
• Comparison Essay # 73771 : "The Myth of Psychotherapy" and "Hunger of Memory"
• Book Review # 21650 : " Henshall's "The Myth of Absolutism, Change and Continuity in Early Modern European Monarchy","

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: