>>512032566Some definitions are needed:
A “race” is defined as a group of individuals sharing common genetic attributes which deter-
mine that group’s physical appearance, psychological traits, and cognitive abilities.
“Ethnicity” is defined as the creation of certain common traditions, languages, art forms, attitudes, and other means of expression by groups by individuals, most often within racial groups, but sometimes across racial divides. A language can be common across a racial divide (French is a good example, with “Francophone Africa” speaking French but not racially European.
A “Culture” is the name given to the physical manifestations created by ethnic groups— the actual language, art forms, religion, social order, and achievements of a particular ethnic group. You can talk of a white race; of a Scottish ethnicity, and a Scottish culture.
But the true test of race is DNA analysis. Each race has unique patterns of variation in their DNA – these patterns were created when we evolved in relative geographic isolation, over hundreds of thousands of years.
Evolution wasn’t trying to make a group of people with identical DNA when it produces a race - our genetic traits are far too complex to work off a single gene. Evolution defines a race by creating millions of unique patterns in our DNA.
These patterns form in what appear to be geographic and racial clusters. All Europeans group together as they are descended from a recent common ancestor. Your race is embedded in patterns across your genes. That’s how it is possible to work out “ancestry”.
Race is not a social construct.
