What is race today? Scientific, legal, and social appraisals from around the globe.

Abstract

Race is a core concept in science and society. Yet, the meaning of the concept is constantly changing and varies by language and country. In science, race was once an unchallenged concept that was used to describe human biological or genetic variation, but we now know that dividing individuals into races is typological and explains a small fraction of variation. In this sense, race is an outdated idea and a myth. Yet, race continues to be used as a scientific term in many publications and fields such as medicine and forensic anthropology. In society, race has also changed in many complex ways, and varies by language, history, culture, and national tradition. Race is a global concept with profoundly local dynamics. Race in law, society and the public sphere is so salient today because racism is. The purpose of this forum is to provide a basis for comparing the “state of the art” of debates around race, human biological variation and racism in science and society in different countries. The first set of articles that follows are from European countries and the United States. How is race used in science, law and other intersecting domains such as everyday and political discourse? Giovanni Destro Bisol, JASs Editor, suggested the idea for this forum and I have been honored to work with him. We hoped that others would contribute their own analyses on the state of race in countries they are most familiar with. While each author has been free to take the topic in directions that make the more senses to them, we provided some guiding questions.