Kenneth Weiss is the Evan Pugh Professor of Biological Anthropology and Genetics at Pennsylvania State University. His regular column "Crochets and Quiddities" is one of the main reasons I read the journal Evolutionary Anthropology.
In a Weiss column from last fall called "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugli", Weiss describes the extraordinary polarization that permeates our society, and, sad to say, has become prevalent in scientific research. Of particular importance, says Weiss, is the issue of race. How do we as scientists define race? And, what is our responsibility with respect to the societal impact of those definitions? Is social justice something we should be considering as we communicate our intepretations to the world? Should we let society restrain the things we study? How do we integrate our understandings of the differences among us without adding to the acrimony between us?
This article is too complex to boil down to a soundbyte, but here are a couple of quotes that might get the flavor to you.
"In politics, as soon as you voice a view to someone, that person will wonder what color your state is--or what color state you're in. Are you Red or Blue? In religion, you're a heretic or a believer. In biology, if you question any aspect of Darwinian theory, do you believe in evolution? If you're a committed Darwinian, then don't you even believe in God? Can you be trusted?"
"The reasons people gravitate to the solidarity of group affiliation are well known to anthropology. But is the heating-up of current divisions just a tempest in a teapot? Does the continued contentiousness reflect inadequacies of science or merely of scientists? Will there be visitations on society if either side prevails? In this Citrus Bowl, Orange and Grapefruit defend points of view by interpreting the data differently. Is one more right than the other? Or is just your view right? Or is it mine?"
Weiss says that human polarities, including this one, are not like apples and oranges, but rather like oranges and grapefruits, with the potential for hybrid vigor--an ugli, if you will--if we work at it. Weiss presents no easy answers, but "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugli" is a rich and thoughtful essay.
I emailed Dr. Weiss to let him know I was going to yammer on about his essay, and he sent me a link to a cache of all his columns, so you too can enjoy them. Sadly, the link to "The good, the bad, and the ugli" column doesn't work and the webmaster is not around to correct things. But, there are plenty of delights there to be enjoyed.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Ugli Fruit (renamed Uniq, but we have our doubts). Photo by Lisa Yarost
Comments
Incredibly insightful article. I do believe that those definitions that are chosen to outline or illustrate the state of race often do contribute to modern ideas about tendencies toward xenophobia or racism.
These kinds of terms, though, trickle into our lives in such subtle ways that it is often difficult for us to identify them until they have already taken root.
This is one of those articles that sheds light on a condition that we were are all aware was there, but creates an a-ha moment to allow us to look a little more closely at the meaning of words and how they affect us in day-to-day situations. Thanks for the column links!
I believe that the way in which humans categorize memory is the reason wehave succeeded in evolution..In fact the long time period where we made little progress then our inventions and then everything just rocketed up I think that the evolutionary process was deciding on the “program” that runs our biological filing system