As society moves
forward, I cannot help but wonder how the civil rights movement or the underlying
issues of race will be perceived. Last October, National Geographic presented
an article of the changing faces of America by Lise Funderburg containing portraits
of multiracial families by Martin Schoeller. The mission of this presentation
was to celebrate the beauty of multiracial diversity. Additionally, they wanted
to show limitations of how our society perceives race when it is categorized.
What will categorization
look like 50 years from now? According to Funderburg, “In today’s presumably
more accepting world, people with complex cultural and racial origins become
more fluid and playful with what they call themselves.” Moreover the author
added how, this past census, the detailed data on multiracial people jumped by
32 percent.
By having more
people able to categorize themselves with more complex racial origins, it seems
as if how we define racial identities will also evolve. In the article,
Funderburg writes, “It’s also, for the rest of us, an opportunity. If we can’t
slot people into familiar categories, perhaps we’ll be forced to reconsider
existing definitions of race and identity, presumptions about who is us and who
is them.” What is this saying about categorization?
In an article
from Psychology Today, it talks about how when we categorize people, we
automatically assume that they have the essence of this category. The study
from Psychology Today by Markman showed that people are much more likely to
think it is necessary to classify people based on race if they grow up in a
politically conservative environment versus if they grow up in a politically
liberal environment. I find this very interesting in that is it talking about
the perceptions of race today.
In contrast to
Funderburg’s perception of a changing America, Markman makes me wonder about
the development of ethnic develop and how our society will perceive these
issues in the future. Is it possible to categorize people without assuming we have
the “essence” of each category?
Sources:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/changing-faces/funderburg-text
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior-motives/200910/categories-essentialism-race-and-culture
I remember reading that National Geographic issue over winter break! To be honest I did not read the article itself, but I did look at the pictures and the comments of the individuals pictured. I find it interesting that there is still the pressure of the "one drop" qualification of race. It also reminds me of the National Geographic article from 5-10 years ago that had a computer generated photo of what a person would look like if their ethnicity percentages were that of the United States that my high school History teacher has taped up by the door of her classroom. The article has columns and rows of computer-generated faces of mixed race couples - what you probably look like if your parents were black and white, asian and white, etc. I think that the evolution within the magazine is interesting as they have evolved from categorizing the races themselves to showcasing those who cannot be categorized and encouraging its audience not to do so. It will be very interesting how, or if categorization will change in the next 50 years.
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