Date: Mon, 3 Nov 1997 12:53:30 +0000 From: Duane Campbell Subject: Re: "race" (was PC Dictionaries?the N word? racism? race?) At 02:13 PM 10/31/97 -0500, you wrote: > >My understanding is that race (or subspecies) is defined in terms of >differential reproductive success. You have been misinformed. Specific races of plants are often used in hybridizing programs. The truth is that the term race is not very well defined (nor is species, which puts meat and potatoes on taxonomists' tables) and may be used slightly differently by different botanists or zoologists. Most commonly it is expressed geographically. A race or subspecies of some plant may be slightly different from another race growing in another isolated area, but not yet evolved far enough to constitute a different species. Brought together they are quite compatable. > Inasmuch as there not different rates >of reproductive success in "interbreeding" between the various human >"races," there is no such thing, technically speaking, as a human >subspecies or "race." Quite the contrary. One homogeneous species expanding out of Africa (according to this week's theory) gradually became geographically isolated and evolved into slightly different strains with identifiable genetic characteristics. Races. That is the biology of it. As a social issue the word obviously takes on other nuances. But attempts to solve a problem by simply denying it have seldom been successful. Duane Campbell dcamp[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]epix.net http://www.epix.net/~dcamp/