Anthropology / Everything Human

Why Do We Keep Using the Word “Caucasian”?

Column / "Race"

Each of us has our own notions of what “race” is and what it tells us about ourselves and others. Our roots as humans are tangled, and our complex histories and social constructs make race impossibly difficult to define. This blog explores the factors that make race such a fractious concept and points us toward new ways of understanding its meaning in our lives.

  • "Race"

  • "Race"

  • "Race"

    Racial Realities

    When I tell my students that there is no such thing as “race” (meaning biological race), I wait for the blowback. I know it is coming. “Well if there is no such thing as race,” one of them will say, “then why do we look different, like our skin color?” Or another will say, “If there is no such thing as race, then why do we continue to …

  • "Race"

    The Black Lives Matter movement has brought issues of race to headlines across the United States.

    Why We Must Talk About Race

    I grew up a black woman in urban Los Angeles during the age of the civil rights movement. “Race” was all around me, woven into the fabric of my personal life, my community, my country. Perhaps it was inevitable that I would become a cultural anthropologist who studies how race works in the world. I’ve always wanted to know why. Why do we live in this community, and …