Race post 1: The roots of "us vs them"

A Brief Introduction 

  Greetings! I've just finished reading through page 67 in the book Race by Marc Aronson. This book looks at racism through a historical scope, examining when and why racism originated and how it came to its modern role in society. He takes an investigative stance on the origins of the concept of race as well as racism. When I was first deciding which book to read, this one immediately caught my attention. I've never been much of a history buff, in fact, I quite dislike history and I find it confusing. However, I was intrigued by the idea of understanding the roots of racism. I often found myself wondering how race arrived at its highly controversial meaning and connotations. On the news, I've seen the devastating effects of racism and I wonder why and even how humans can treat other humans in such a way for no reason other than skin color. I thought it was absurd and disgusting and I've been truly curious as to why the color of our skin has had so much influence on the way people are treated. I look forward to reading this book and understanding how racism came to be such a widespread issue. 

Aronson's evolutionary points

  To begin his book, Aronson discusses how prejudices developed in early time periods. He uses two main perspectives to analyze how humans initially developed a sense of "us vs. them" and how that feeling evolved into something more. He breaks it up into a section about tribal living and a section about the beginning of city living. Each section shows how the two different early time periods of civilization held the foundations of prejudices and how that evolved with humans. I loved this organization because it makes the ideas clear and gives the reader a mental timeline to mark up important events. I think the way each section is titled makes it clear that he will be discussing what role these early periods played in the development of prejudice. 

   He first examines the period of hunter-gatherers and tribal living. In this period, Aronson says, the very beginning of prejudice is owed to a survival mechanism. On page 11, Aronson writes "In order to survive, each person must make an instant, accurate judgment: friend or foe" (Aronson). He describes how our primitive ancestors feared those who were different simply because it was a matter of survival. He also uses a more specific example of a modern-day tribe in Brazil called the Munduruku. "They have one word for themselves, the Munduruku, the human beings. Everyone else is pariwat. [...] Pariwat are not human and, in fact, are most similar to the animals the Munduruku hunt for food" (Aronson p 11). I found this very interesting because I don't think most people consider exactly why, when, or how we began fearing people different than us. I honestly don't want to agree with this idea, because to me it implies that people of different races are feared. I know this was more prominent in our early ancestors and doesn't play much of a role in modern society. However, to me, it feels a bit like using our evolutionary past and biology as an excuse to hate others of different races. Especially in modern society, I feel that these survival instincts just don't have a role anymore. But I do recognize that this idea is crucial to understanding how humans began to think of "us" and "them". I think it would be important to note that while prejudice seems to have biological roots, it doesn't seem right to say that racism has the same biological foundations. My "timeline event" takeaway from this was that prejudice originated from an early survival instinct, and I find that truly fascinating. 

Aronson's points on the Epic of Gilgamesh

  Aronson goes on to talk about early cities and how they contributed to the development of us vs them. The Epic of Gilgamesh is about a king in the ancient city of Uruk who was incredibly powerful. His city was very civilized, but not everybody lived within the city walls. Some "less civilized" people lived outside the city, still hunting and gathering. One particular example of these people was Enkidu. He was brought into the city to rival Gilgamesh who had become too powerful, and Gilgamesh outsmarted Enkidu. Gilgamesh and the others who lived inside the city believed they were superior to those outside because they were seemingly more civilized and had more advanced technology. "It is not hard to read this tale as showing that those who filled the streets of the bustling city believed they were 'better' than those who still lived like animals in the wild. [...] This is prejudice with a reason" (Aronson p 15). I found this tale to be very intriguing because it introduces an early example of prejudice evolving from a survival instinct to something more judgemental. The people in the city think they are superior because of the difference between them and Enkidu, mainly the way he looked and the way he behaved. As the book points out, this suggests the idea of a ranking or a class hierarchy of sorts that turns "us vs them" into "we are better than them". This is a key concept to racism so I thought it was a great move to put this idea in the introduction. It's especially important to see the transition from prejudice to prejudice with reason in order to follow the rest of his arguments. 

My thoughts so far

  I have enjoyed Aronson's writing so far and I appreciate his organization of ideas. I really liked his introduction to his arguments and I love that he used examples from several ancient tales and things of that nature to illustrate how prejudice formed and how it began to change towards its modern meaning. I already see that my idea of race has changed from reading his insight into the origins of the ideas that surround race today. I look forward to reading more and continuing to develop my thoughts about race and share them with you. I'll see you at my next post!

- Audria :)

Works Cited

Aronson, Marc. Race: A History Beyond Black and White. New York, Atheneum Books 

         for Young Readers, 2007.