Race is a social construct - A response to a lecture at Melbourne University

The factual nature of Phil’s lecture on race and genetics resonated with me strongly. In one foul swoop Phil was able to use DNA to expel any ideas that any of us belong to separate races and firmly cement that we of course belong to the one race, the human kind. By studying DNA, Phil showed us how scientists have been able to trace us all back to the very same place in South Africa some 60,000 years ago. It is this tracking of DNA and understanding how it mutates as people migrate, that dispels any misunderstanding or generalisations that people with different skin colours belong to different races, have lower levels of intelligence and higher levels of aggressiveness.

Before this particular lecture, I am embarrassed to say, I was naive in terms of understanding how our DNA connected us all. My early education and environment growing up a predominantly white, middle class society in no doubt contributed to my adoption of my own constructs around race and skin colour. It did make me question how much of what I have been told or learned was I happy to except because it hadn’t effected me? Reflecting on Phil’s lecture, I know that the provision of factual information can be a powerful transformational tool in terms of change, overcoming prejudices and opening up thoughtful discussion in a classroom. In learning that all human beings are 99.9 percent identical in their genetic make-up, I know that I am able to communicate clearly that there is no biological basis to race, that we are all born equal. I can explain that ‘race’ is unequivocally a social construct used by dominant groups in society to gain power over others and can only continue to exist through ignorance, collective agreement and acceptance of its existence. I think this conversation in classrooms forms a very good starting point for critical discussion about how the construction and acceptance of race has; disadvantaged aboriginal people, contributed to the loss of identity as well as impacting our view of indigenous people and their view of us. It’s these types of empowering conversations that will help build the types of positive inclusive relationships needed in communities across the country that provide change and equality. I plan to question my students on what they think about race and how art might be used to encourage generational change.