| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,900,000)
Fiscal Year 2000: ¥1,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000)
Fiscal Year 1999: ¥1,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000)
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| Research Abstract |
This study attempted to study theoretically the concept of "race" applying the most recent research findings in anthropology and other related fields. In physical anthropology today, there is almost a consensus that there exists no separate groups such as race which concept implies distinct gene composition from each other. The basis of the classic race concept was established by fathers of modern sciences in the mid 18^<th> century, and it was biased towards the Eurocentric worldview based on the idea of the Great Chain of Being, misinterpretation of Old Testament, and color ideologies. However, it was largely due to the colonialism of the late 19^<th> century and pseudo-science in the era that created the manifest hierarchical ideologies associated with race.
The anthropology of thc 19^<th> century was also responsible for promoting racism. In the beginning of the 20^<th> century, especially in the United States, some anthropologists attempted to overthrow the established race concept, but the decade of the 1990s was a critical turning point in American anthropology. The American Anthropological Association took the initiative and actively appealed to the outside of its field that race is a social construction and nothing more than a worldview. It also announced a series of official statements concerning race.
On the other hand, since the late 1980s an increasing number of studies came out especially in cultural studies, and they tend to consider race with relation to modernism, nation-state, and colonialism. However, there is a dilemma. While the concept of racc is indispensable in order to improve the injustice in the past, while the current reality projects no real improvement of racism. The dilemma is how to link the past to the present and the future.
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