Race,
a concept that has been termed by various scholars as a ‘cultural invention’
and a ‘biological fiction’, has received a great deal of attention from
sociologists and academics whose usual primary motivation is to expose the
absurdity of the claim that race is biological, that race is more than the
exterior surface of the human body. The aim of this essay, therefore, is to
contribute to the debate by offering support to those that assert that race is
not biologically determined, but rather socially constructed. Furthermore it
aims to elaborate further on how racial identities are formed, the social
constructionist understandings of ‘race’, legacies & consequences of race, and
finally the work that has been invested to combat it.
Unfortunately,
for many generations, the myth that race or the colour of one’s skin bears an
intrinsic link to one’s biological make up had been widely accepted especially
after the seventeenth century where many ideologies linked to race started to
emerge. Consequently, the world over, race has become a determinant of human
identity – what Mary Corrigally refers to as the superficial manifestation of
identity in her review of the movie Skin.
Smedley (1998) asserts how this form of human identification has been tragic
particularly for those who are at the receiving end of race such as African
Americans and other minorities in the United States. There are reasons for why
race came to play such a vital role in the construction of our society today.
One of the reasons are the superiority-inferiority complex relations that
characterised the encounters between Europeans and populations of countries
that would later become their colonies. Indeed, many academics assert that
Europeans viewed themselves as “civilised” due to their possession of ‘superior’
technology. As Europeans were of a different race to the peoples of their colonies,
race had to determine the social hierarchy, placing Europeans at the top, in
order for colonialist countries to maintain their rule and power. Thus Beuchler
(2008:130) submits, “the social construction of race and racism was vital in
legitimizing European colonization and conquest.” This can be suggested as
ample evidence that mankind planned the deliberate advantaging of a people
through the disenfranchisement and oppression of another using race.
Planned
racial divides have dictated how societies all over the world are constructed.
In South Africa, both colonialism and Apartheid have been consistent with each
other in how they have perpetuated racial stratification. The ramifications of race
in constructing society have included the poor development of those at the
receiving end of racism such as black South Africans who have poor access to
education, health care, land, housing, etc. in comparison to their white
counterparts. The results have also been psychological in the sense that some
black people have accepted the myth that white people by the virtue of their
skin colour are superior and that black people, through their pigmentation, are
inferior to whiteness. It can be argued that the psychological outcomes of the
construction of many societies today are most tragic. They are harder to combat
as it is generally difficult to change people’s attitudes.
The
formation of individual identities include more than just ‘race’, the society
in which one is born and ethnicity also shapes one’s identity, which comprises
of language, customs, norms, values, religious beliefs, etc. Human identities
are also shaped by social environments and it can also be argued that human
beings have the option of choosing an identity. The way in which societies are constructed
all over the world dictate that “western” or “white” traits are the ones that people
ought pursue, failure to do so will result in them being labelled as
anti-progress, uncivilised and barbaric. The scenery in South Africa, just like
in many countries where there are black and white people, is a clear indication
of how race is always a subject almost guaranteed to attract dissenting views.
This is because colonialism and racism were also implemented and maintained for
centuries in South Africa just as in most parts of the world. The way in which
contemporary identities are constructed in South Africa are such that whiteness
still reigns supreme over blackness as the means of production are still
predominantly owned by white people. The idea that is perpetuated is that in
order for black people to achieve the superior status that white people enjoy,
black people have to lose their blackness and adopt whiteness as an identity
hence Durrheim and Mtose submit (2006:204) “whiteness is set up as the standard
against which blackness is found to be deficient”. In the study by Durrheim and
Mtose (2006), a question is posed upon a white male university student, if he would
mind living with a black person to which he responds, “I would mind living with
a black black, I would mind if they struggled to speak English and it would be
better if they were more like us.” Black people that succeed in this quest of
adopting whiteness are labelled as ‘coconuts’, ‘oreos’ or simply ‘white blacks’.
Tragically, ‘black blacks’ are cast down the social hierarchy as there are
tendencies of the continued perpetuation of the tradition of white supremacy,
mostly by white people as evidenced in the aforementioned study.
The
consequences of a racially constructed society are abysmal for those deliberately
placed to be at the receiving end of race. Sadly, racism and prejudice in
countries such as ours run deep and ancient and it is still not uncommon to
find those targeted by racism (mostly black people) still elucidating the
trauma of being denied a job, access to a hotel or restaurant, the experience
of being hurled racist slurs at, the list goes on, but the point remains:
racism is horrible and traumatizes people unjustifiably, it is morally
repugnant and should be repudiated. It creates the unnecessary task of people
having to seek affirmation that beauty is not defined by skin colour or race.
Fortunately,
the world has experienced progressive action taken to combat racism and the
racial structure of the world. There have been policies taken by policy makers
and ground breaking court decisions aimed at making our society inclusive.
However, as there are still cases of racism and racial profiling still taking
place today, the world still has a great responsibility to invest its resources
into the work of combating racism.
In
conclusion, I submit that I remain supportive of the view that we should not to
place race at such at such a high place in society that we seek to believe that
it is more than the exterior surface of the human body. We should not be at
point where we are still disputing whether race is biological or not, when it
has long been established that is not. There aren’t any superior/inferior traits
that one inherits from a ‘race’. The social construction of race in a society
harms people and convinces them that they have to lose a sense of what builds
up their identity and assimilate into another; as is the case with ‘coconuts’
or ‘white blacks’. There are still cases of discrimination and racism and as
such the war to end racism has not been won yet, there still has to be
concerted effort especially by those that benefit from race, in this view we
can suggest that white people that still possess a mentality of white supremacy
must rid themselves of it and black people must regain pride in their culture
and language and concede as Biko suggested that blackness is not inferior.
