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Since the controversial scientific race theories of the 1930s, anthropologists have generally avoided directly addressing the issue of race, viewing it as a social construct. Challenging this tradition, Peter Wade proposes in this volume that anthropologists can in fact play an important role in the study of race.Wade is critical of contemporary theoretical studies of race formulated within the contexts of colonial history, sociology and cultural studies. Instead he argues for a new direction; one which anthropology is well placed to explore. Taking the study of race beyond Western notions of the individual, Wade argues for new paradigms in social science, in particular in the development of connections between race, sex and gender. An understanding of these issues within an anthropological context, he contends, is vital for defining personhood and identity. Race is often defined by its reference to biology, ‘blood,’ genes, nature or essence. Yet these concepts are often left unexamined. Integrating material from the history of science, science studies, and anthropological studies of kinship and new reproductive technologies, as well as from studies of race, Peter Wade explores the meaning of such terms and interrogates the relationship between nature and culture in ideas about race.
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RACE, NATURE AND CULTURE An Anthropological Perspective PETER WADE Pluto P Press LONDON • STERLING, VIRGINIA First published 2002 by PLUTO PRESS 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166–2012, USA www.plutobooks.com Copyright © Peter Wade 2002 The right of Peter Wade to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 7453 1459 7 hardback ISBN 0 7453 1454 6 paperback Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Publishing Services, Fortescue, Sidmouth EX10 9QG Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Towcester Printed in the European Union by Antony Rowe, Chippenham, England CONTENTS Acknowledgements vi 1. Defining Race 1 2. Existing Approaches to Race 16 3. Historicising Racialised Natures 37 4. Genetics and Kinship: the Interpenetration of Nature and Culture 69 5. Race, Nature and Culture 97 6. Embodying Racialised Natures 112 Coda Notes References Index 123 127 133 147 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In writing this book, I ventured onto terrain that I was not initially very familiar with and I am grateful to many colleagues for help and suggestions about relevant reading matter, for sending me materials (some of them unpublished or still in press) and for exchanging emails and ideas about the themes I was working on. I would like to thank the following people, listed in alphabetical order: Linda Alcoff, Roberta Bivins, Susan Brems, Michael Bravo, Claudia Castañeda, William Dressler, Jeanette Edwards, Gillian Feeley-Harnik, Sarah Franklin, Sarah Green, Faye Harrison, Signe Howell, Tim Ingold, Barbara A. Koenig, Patricia A. Marshall, Kathryn Oths, Helena Ragoné, Ann Stoler, Marilyn Strathern, Elly Teman and Katharine Tyler. My thanks are also due to Richard Wilson, who was one of the editors of this series when I began this project and first suggested that I write the book, and to the publishers at Pluto Press, Roger van Zwanenberg and Anne Beech. I