Hi Everyone,

I think Terri's post is interesting.  It would seem the more
"races" are identified/recognized, the less meaningful the
term "race" becomes.  Is "race" determined by purely
subjective means?  After all, "a class or kind of people
unified by community of interests, habits, or
characteristics" seems an extraordinarily broad definition
of "race" offered by Merriam-Websters Dictionary.  And how,
if at all, does this differ from the definition of ethnic:
"large groups of people classed according to common racial,
national, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural origin
or background"?  (Fiona Adams wrote we are all of the human
race, but of differing ethnicities.  Thomas Kavanagh shot
that down, citing ethnicity as cultural and race as
biological.)

What if someone defines themselves as a member of a certain
"race" based on criteria that are considered fraudulent or
unacceptable to others?  Does this make Star Trek fans a
racial group as they share an "interest" (the original show
and its spin off shows, movies, products, conventions, etc.)
and "habits" (watching or taping television at certain times
of the week or day)?  And, as most Trekies are American,
they might qualify as an ethnic group as their cultural
background (American Pop culture of the 20th century) is the
same?  (BTW, I'm not a Trekie.)

As well, by identifying "race," are we contributing to
potential discrimination (or reverse discrimination)?
Despots, of decades and centuries past, used "race" as a
factor in determining who should be persecuted or spared.
Where do those who are 1/4th, 1/8th, 1/16th, etc. of a
racial group fit in?

Interesting psycho-social questions . . . heady stuff.  Hope
this doesn't go too far off track.  Also hope I didn't make
any spelling or grammatical mistakes.  <smirk>

Sincerely,

Jay Heuman
Visitor & Volunteer Services Coordinator
Joslyn Art Museum
2200 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE, 68102
342-3300 (telephone)   342-2376 (fax)   www.joslyn.org

"You can’t lock up art in a vault and keep it frozen for
posterity. Then the artist is betrayed, history is
betrayed."
(Walter Persegati)


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museum discussion list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of Terri McNichol, Ren Associates
> Sent: Wednesday, June 19, 2002 10:20 am
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: subject terms for race
>
> However, the Census 2000 Summary File 2 data (to be
> released soon) contains an iteration of 250 population
> groups: the total, 132 race groups, 78 American Indian
> and Alaska Native tribe categories, and 39 Hispanic
> (or Latino) groups.
> Perhaps it furthers the meaning of the richness of
diversty
> rather than seeing it as based on race alone.

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