The Anthropological Concept of Race Module

The Anthropological Concept of Race Module
ANTH 3500 The Anthropological Concept of Race Module 1 Group Assessment
Answer all prompts using specific details from the reading and film in your answers. This will be the expectation for all assignments in this class. Remember that you will never be graded on your opinions and it is assumed from the beginning that your opinions will differ within your groups. Rather than trying to homogenize them into a digestible single point of view try to encompass the differences and similarities of opinions within your groups. Also, remember to remain respectful of each other’s opinions during these conversations. It is fine to disagree, but you might try to make sure that you disagree with ideas rather than individuals.
1. Who is Jennifer Ho and how do her credentials inform her writing? Why is her Japanese ethnicity significant in the discussion of anti-Chinese sentiment that has arisen from our current pandemic? Briefly discuss the history that she lays out of anti-Asian racism and xenophobia, including at least one current example.
2. Do a little background research from the examples she gives on pp. 149-150 and discuss one of the examples she uses in a bit more detail. How does it make you feel to hear about these acts? How do you think it reflects on us as a people?
The Anthropological Concept of Race Module
3. How does the author define race? How does this compare with the way it was described in the first lecture of this module and this class? Why does the author claim that it is important to point out that Black lives matter? How does she justify this? What is your opinion of the use of this phrase and the BLM movement in the US?
4. Contextualize the use of the phrase ‘white supremacy’ in the article. What are some of the data the author uses to back up her claim that white supremacy is the de facto law of the land? Do you find her argument convincing? Why or why not?
5. What are the solutions the author points to at the end of the article? What will it take to carry them out? Do you agree with her summation? Why or why not?
6. A significant part of peoples’ experience of race comes from the reification of stereotypes; making commonly held assumptions about people into concrete realities. Reflect with your group about the stereotype of Asian Americans as model minorities in The Grace Lee Project. Discuss your group members’ real-life interactions and/or relationships with this stereotype. What is your assessment of the film’s portrayal of this? Choose at least one specific example from the film and one from your group discussion to illustrate how this plays out in our world and address the following questions: Does this cultural tendency simultaneously make life simpler for many of us at the expense of the identities and lives of real people? Considering what you learned in the article by Ho, are these assumptions safe to make? Do they make our lives easier? If so, at what cost? If not, why do you think they’re so persistent?