race
1139 Views

GC: n

S: UNESCO – http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001229/122962eo.pdf (last access: 28 January 2016); https://www.foreignaffairs.com/topics/race-ethnicity (last access: 28 January 2016).

N: 1. “people of common descent,” a word from the 16th century, from Middle French race, earlier razza “race, breed, lineage, family” (16c.), possibly from Italian razza, of unknown origin (cognate with Spanish and Portuguese raza). Etymologists say no connection with Latin radix “root,” though they admit this might have influenced the “tribe, nation” sense.
Original senses in English included “wines with characteristic flavor” (1520), “group of people with common occupation” (c. 1500), and “generation” (1540s). Meaning “tribe, nation, or people regarded as of common stock” is by 1560s. Modern meaning of “one of the great divisions of mankind based on physical peculiarities” is from 1774 (though as Oxford English Dictionary points out, even among anthropologists there never has been an accepted classification of these).
Just being a Negro doesn’t qualify you to understand the race situation any more than being sick makes you an expert on medicine. (Dick Gregory, 1964)
In mid-20c. U.S. music catalogues, “Negro.” Klein suggests these derive from Arabic ra’s “head, beginning, origin” (compare Hebrew rosh). Old English þeode meant both “race, folk, nation” and “language;” as a verb, geþeodan, it meant “to unite, to join.”
2. A class or kind of individuals with common characteristics, interests, appearance, or habits as if derived from a common ancestor.
3. What is the Difference between Race and Ethnicity?
Race is associated with biology, whereas ethnicity is associated with culture.
In biology, races are genetically distinct populations within the same species; they typically have relatively minor morphological and genetic differences. Though all humans belong to the same species (Homo sapiens), and even to the same sub-species (Homo sapiens sapiens), there are small genetic variations across the globe that engender diverse physical appearances, such as variations in skin color.
Although humans are sometimes divided into races, the morphological variation between races is not indicative of major differences in DNA. For example, recent genetic studies show skin color may drastically change in as few as 100 generations, spanning 2,500 years, as a result of environmental influences. Furthermore, the DNA of two humans chosen at random generally varies by less than 0.1 percent. This is less genetic variation than other types of hominids (such as chimpanzees and orangutans), leading some scientists to describe all humans as belong to the same race — the human race.
Ethnicity is the term for the culture of people in a given geographic region, including their language, heritage, religion and customs. To be a member of an ethnic group is to conform to some or all of those practices.
Race and ethnicity can obviously overlap, but they are distinct. For example, a Japanese-American would probably consider herself a member of the Japanese or East Asian race, but, if she doesn’t engage in any of the practices or customs of her ancestors, she might not identify with the ethnicity, but might instead consider herself to be American.
4. Collocations (race as a racial group):

  • Adj. human; mixed a child of mixed race; Irish, Jewish, Latin, etc.; master the ideology of the master race.
  • Race + noun: relations Immigration and race relations were key political issues at the time; equality; discrimination, prejudice; riot.
  • Prep.: among ~s The disease is more common among European races; between ~s greater understanding between nations and races; from a ~ children from all races and religions; of a ~ people of different races and cultures; ~ of The Amazons were a race of female warriors.
  • Phrases: on (the) grounds of race discriminating.

5. Cultural Interrelation: We can mention The Race Question (UNESCO) and Race: The Reality of Human Differences (2004) by Vincent Sarich and Frank Miele.

S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=race (last access: 28 January 2016). 2. TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 28 January 2016). 3. http://www.livescience.com/33903-difference-race-ethnicity.html (last access: 28 January 2016). 4. http://oxforddictionary.so8848.com/search1?word=race (last access: 28 January 2016). 5. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001282/128291eo.pdf (last access: 29 January 2016); http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC420514/ (last access: 28 January 2016).

SYN:
S:

CR: ethnic group, racial discrimination, racial segregation, racism, slave, slavery.