9.1 Introduction

Suppose someone asked you the following open-ended questions: How would you define the word race as it applies to groups of human beings? How many human races are there and what are they? For each of the races you identify, what are the important or key criteria that distinguish each group (what characteristics or features are unique to each group that differentiate it from the others)? These questions are important to think about as we get into the subject of “race”.  The reason race is so important is because of the role it plays in people’s everyday lives, through racism and privilege.

Discussions about race and racism are often highly emotional and encompass a wide range of emotions, including  discomfort, fear, defensiveness, anger, and insecurity—why is this such an emotional topic in society and why do you think it is so difficult for individuals to discuss race dispassionately?  How would you respond to these questions? Fellow anthropologist, Dr. Justin García, currently at  Millersville University of Pennsylvania, poses these thought-provoking questions to students enrolled in his Introduction to Cultural Anthropology course just before beginning the unit on race and ethnicity.  While he uses a worksheet before class to gather this information and then have students do some small group discussion in class, I (Vanessa) choose to pose similar questions and spend the first class on race and Ethnicity allowing students to struggle a bit with these questions.  I also start the semester by building Community Agreements together with students so that engaging in difficult and controversial conversations can be done in constructive and clear ways.  I remind students that they need to really allow themselves to feel the discomfort and grow from it.  Student responses are often very interesting and quite revealing and generate memorable classroom dialogues.  It is critical to set up the course from the very beginning with clear rules of engagement so that discussions can be fruitful, show understanding of anthropology, and allow students to challenge their own preconceived notions about race.