Interrogating Racism

Anthropologists work to solve issues and questions pertaining to humanity. They are concerned with human behavior and can work within more specific spheres to answer questions that require more specific answers. For example, there are socialcultural anthropologists who look for the internal logic and patterns of a society using ethnographic data; there are biological anthropologists who use evolutionary and ecological perspectives to study human and non-human primates, looking at the nexus between culture, behavior, and biology. (Jarus, 2014) Linguistic anthropologists analyze languages and how they are used among people, forensic anthropologists study human remains, and there are even business anthropologists who help companies get a firmer

Mullings (2005) writes about this in her article “Interrogating Racism: Towards an Antiracist Anthropology.” According to Mullings (2005), under the cloak of “science,” racialized sentiment can too often be promulgated as “facts,” with researchers hiding behind their degrees to do so. The danger in doing that is once these “facts” are accepted by mainstream society, racism can be defended as “acceptable,” as those inclined towards racial prejudice may feel they can point to “science” to demonstrate the validity of racial inferiority/superiority anthropology paradigms. (Mullings, 2005) However, Mullings (2005) also notes that there has been work done by progressive anthropologists that addresses this, as they seek to de-racialize the brand of “science” put forth by racially prejudiced anthropologists. Mullings (2005) writes of this dichotomy in the field by saying: “Although anthropologists have written extensively about race, anthropological contributions to the study of racism have been surprisingly modest. Perhaps this is due, in part, to anthropology’s contradictory heritage.” (p.669) she then goes on to point out how anthropology was used to justify the slave trade, colonialism, eugenics, and segregation in

More complex tools, such as DNA analysis kits, stereo zoom microscopes, or optometric boards for measuring bones, are specific to the kind of anthropology being studied. It is important when going into a field that anthropologists coming from more “modern” societies do not brandish certain tools that can alarm the population they are studying (such as using flash photography among indigenous people, who have never seen a camera before.) This can create distrust between the indigenous people and the anthropologists and endanger the welfare of both parties.

In conclusion, anthropologists do important work in helping humanity grow and evolve. They help us reflect our own behaviors back to ourselves, so that we may see how we are behaving in a more impartial way, without resorting to judgment and bias. Thus, the impartiality of the anthropologist is most significant to their own work, and they should consider how their work contributes to public opinion. Being aware of how to collect data without subjectivity is the hallmark of a seasoned, educated, and ethical anthropologist, whose goal is transparent and whose data synthesis reports on facts, rather than