Abolish the term "race"

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Several people have responded to my post about two uses of the term "race"
and suggested that even though there is a legitimate biological use for the
term "race" (e.g., it is used in this technical sense when talking about
non-human species), the term is so laden with other meanings as to make the
use of the term "race" problematic. I quite agree.
We don't have the liberty here to act like Lewis Carroll's character who
says that a word shall mean only what I define it to mean. Inevitably the
word "race" will be given a social/cultural interpretation even though this
interpretation is rejected out of hand as not
having a biological foundation when the term is used in its technical sense.

D.Read
READ@ANTHRO.SSCNET.UCLA.EDU

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