Question

This week we will be discussing issues of race and ethnicity in the early modern period. To what extent is the nature of race and identity created by religion? Or is it created by trade and economics? Is it created by a shared language? Is it created by skin color? Is it created by wealth or inequality? Your question is this: How does a community begin to identify itself, and how does it see others? Feel free to share your thoughts on current events, personal history, or generalized ideas, as you feel appropriate. This is a graded discussion. You will need to make one original post, and make comments on two of your classmates' posts. Your comments must be substantive and engage your classmates in further discussion (not simply, I agree, or great post). Ask deeper questions of your classmates. Get to know them. Challenge them to think in different ways. But as always, be respectful, know when to back off, and know when to agree to disagree. You will also need to respond to each of the comments in thoughtful ways. I will remove any postings that are offensive in any way.  

Answer 1

One of the most important and interesting facts about race is that it’s not biological but social construct. Although the concept of race and ethnicity was introduced to group people together with their physical similarities depending on their geographical proximities, white people from Europe projected and utilized race as a tool to treat other people unequally. It was also strengthened by their ignorance that skin color is related to one’s intelligence. They used religion to strengthen their belief which was brought out by manifest destiny in which they believed that god commissioned them to capture new lands. It’s not true that religions are the birth place of racial superiority because there were inequality present within a same religion. Race is one of the excuses that white people gave the world to justify their unjust acts such as, slavery, elimination of the native people, capturing Mexico, spreading capitalism etc. Even after centuries long experience and exposure of the outer world, few in the white community live in the myth that white skin color is superior and people with other skin colors are inferior thus, holding on to racial inequality.

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