Sunday, February 28, 2010

Based on what we have discussed so far, are there different races in Kenya?

According to the Ford Foundation's video, there should be no such thing as race. Race is a human construct that undoubtedly affects people worldwide. Countless wars and human rights violations have been waged through ideas of racial superiority. Kenya is no different from the rest of the world. In Kenya I'm a Mzungu, in Latin American I'm a Gringo, in Tahiland I'm a Farang, etc. The American Heritage Dictionary's definition of race is as follows: "Any group of people united or classified together on the basis of common history, nationality, or geographical distribution." Technically speaking, as we've read in Merrick Posnansky's "The Prehistory of East Africa", all humans originated in the same area. We all have common ancestors, but currently don't all have the same nationality and geographic distribution. As Taylor said, race has many definitions. Cornell West would argue regardless of one's definition, racism exists and matters. Can race be ignored?

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