Language+2

This week's wiki is a bit more involved...you'll need about an hour to listen to the podcast linked below. After you listen, please offer **one** thoughtful response (that's right, I only want one, NOT TWO!). I expect a thoughtful response will take about 5-10 sentences each. Post your response in the space below for others to read and ponder. Use your response to explore your reaction to the podcast, or to discuss to what extent race defines a person. You might also talk about the extent to which your "race" defines who you are, or how the world defines you accordingly. Think critically about how humans, as users and creators of language, create labels and classifications, and how does this influence our perception of the world and ourselves?

Click on the following link to listen to the “Race” RadioLab podcast found at []

Nancy A: Listening to this podcast was very interesting for me. On one hand I was able to learn about some new topics I had never even heard about before, and on the other hand, I enjoyed it very much because I could relate to some of these people, (especially Wayne). I have always wondered what 'race' I am. I had always considered myself to be Hispanic, however, to find out that such is not considered as one of the primitive races, can be a bit overwhelming. One thing that really stood out to me was something Wayne said when he discovered that we wasn't actually an African-American, he said that, "There are certain decisions made in life based on who you think you are." At first you might hear this and discard it, but the closer you look at it the more you start to realize it is true... Whether those decisions have to do with the kind of acquaintances you make, the kind of food you eat, the place where you live, or the school you go to, the person who you grow up believing you are, influences the way you view the world.

Jesus O:Whoa this podcast was really informative. It shows how much knowledge the human being has acquired; because we are know able to look deeply into individual’s DNA and find out their race. It's crazy to think that what you've lived by and believed in could all be false. I think it would be life changing if someone found out that their ethnicity is not what they believed it was. With that, I believe that race can tell a lot about a person, after all many people refer to their race to determine the way they live, where they live and it is fundamental in a person’s life, and today in actuality race plays a huge role to justify one’s personality. In today’s world you can almost find a multicultural environment in most places, so I believe that in a near future racism will be lost in time. Now something important that I caught is that skin color can be misleading to finding someone race, it can have nothing to do with your race as exemplified in the podcast (Wow). We all justify, put labels on people, criticize and evaluate others that are human instincts; however we should do it properly and well. With this info I guess that when determining a person’s race we can no longer refer to their skin color.

Melissa M.: This podcast made me realize how many issues the color of our skin can cause, or have caused. It made me think that maybe at one point we were all one race and simply mutated. In the case of Wayne Joseph maybe finding out he hasn't the race he thought he was it could have evoked a sense of betrayal since the culture that he thought he belonged to was wrong. His customs could have been African but now that he discovered he is not he might feel the need to change the person he is today. It is a shame that race is seen as a negative type of description in society. In the end were are all human beings although our skin color isn't always the same we should be treated the same and not be judged by this classification.

Vazquez S. The podcast is incredibly informative. It's amazing what our technology can do. It's also amusing how we shape our lives around what other people say about us. Like Wayne, whose life would've been different if he had known. But why would it? Simply because someone decided that that skin color needed a different label. It's unbelievable how these labels can change a persons life. Since the ethnicity didn't change Wayne's life, the label they put on him did. Also this proves how stereotypes and credibility of human perception are both vulnerable to failure. Due to a stereotype that all colored people are African, we trust our sight throughout our life to classify these people as such. However, it is beyond our control so truly understand those around us. We are limited to much less than we think, everything else are simple assumptions.

Miguel L: As I listened to the podcast I was amazed to hear how a man like Wayne Joseph, lived his life thinking he was African, but when scientists tested him, he wasn't even 1% African. Many people are only judged by there color of skin. Us, as humans, tend to base our race from our father's and mother's race and our appearance. However, most of us are not sure at all because we can be a whole different race that none of us thought of. People every day are harassed and embarrassed because of their race and to find out that their whole life they've been living a race that they're not can be dramatically life changing. For example an "American" that once owned slaves might end up actually being African. These tests show how you shouldn't base people on how they look, and assume their race. We are all humans and should be treated equal.

Jason M: During the podcast i found it very interesting to the many issues they talk about and what interested me the most was ethnicity. I learn that you can never be sure about what you are, for example during the podcast their was a black man who tested himself and found out that he was 0% african, this fact reveal that ethnicity is a very important factor in life because during the podcast this man talk about how greatly his life would have change if he had learn about this during his chilhood. Another factor that interested me about ethnicity is that people tend to look at people differently if someone is not from the same race, for example thought the sunni and shitte came from the same ancestor they look at each other from different perspective toward their own race and both discriminated and shed blood among each other. This shows that race can not be define or explain by factors such as ethnicity ans DNA.

Xiomara G: Race has always, and probably will always be a major issue among people and throughout the world. That is were racism comes from, and the fact that you think you are one race when in reality your ancestors are from a different race truly amazes me. I believe it is very depressing to think about all those people out there who objectify people because of their race when in reality, many of us may actually come from the same race and the same ancestry. This podcast presents those issues and how knowing your true race, the one from your ancestors at least, can change your life. Throughout life, one believes they are the race they appear to be. To discover that you may in fact be a different race is very life changing. Some people highly depend on their race to show people who they are and what they can do. Whatever the race, people strive to be accepted by others because race does in fact matter to many people. Personally, I believe i am not very dependent on my race, or the race i believe myself to be. However, that is different for others, and others take their race to such an extreme that they use it to define themselves. Race is not everything.

Fabian D: I found this podcast very entertaining because it show how people categorize themselves without even knowing what their own true race. For example that man who lived his life thinking he was african-american,however looks are deceiving and in the end turned out to have 0% african blood,. Being a mexican or of hispanic race i think i would fall under native-american race out of the other 3 major races, however i would not know for sure. What i am getting to is that we put ourselves with certain people without being certain of what race we come from, only from skin color and language, mostly language. For example we have a fellow classmate that looks like he comes from a chinese descent but when you talk to him you will be stunned about how well he talks spanish. In addition people of a certain race get either offended or honored when an object is released that is meant for use by only that race. In this case that object is the drug BiDil, im sure if the intended use was for all the reaces then it would have been a success however people of african descent refused the drug. Labels for each race is as always iminent: mexicans are called beaner, africans are calles the n-word, and americans are labeled gringos. However when a person calls a person of his/her race a label word they do not get as offended as when a person outside of their race calls them a label word, especially the n-word. We seperate ourselves into categories and such, race merely influences us on how we sperate ourselves.

Bryant D. Throughout the podcast the narrator is guiding the listeners to pay attention to the common fallacies that people use to believe about race and how people were reluctant to accept that race does differentiate what kind of medicine works best for one group of people. However, as the podcast progresses we find that race does influence what kind of medicine works best for some and what doesn't. With this new knowledge we can now investigate what kind of sicknesses occur in certain areas and it will help specify what certain ethnic groups need certain medicines. This will be extremely beneficial to the human race in general because it will allow us to look further into the biological structures of human beings and will perhaps teach us much about biology, psychology, history, and many other areas of knowledge. This will also let us see that there is in fact a difference between races, however not in the negative way it has been seen throughout history. Instead, we will be able to collaborate with one another and learn how we as a people can help each other.

Francisco M: The podcast was interesting because to some extent it is inevitable to think that "race" is related to color and other physical aspects but is not. According to what i have been taught my race would be Hispanic but science says that there is only four major races, and Hispanic is not included. Our "race" influences decisions in our life because as it can be seen in school groups of students are separated by color which we would think its "race" and we do not think of our ancestors and were they came from, probably all the school might be from the same town in Russia but because we look different we consider it a different "race". Unfortunately, we are considered a different "race" if we are from different countries. In the last story told in the podcast they talk about religion and that a religion could separate some as much as race, it can also create tensions while it is just a different belief but the same person. I think we are all the same and that language killed equality by creating labels for different looking people.

Cesar L: Its amazing how centuries of mutations in the genetype can differentiate from the phenotype of ethnic background. An example of this was heard in the podcast when they mentioned [|Wayne Joseph]. It makes us think and change our views not only about our ancestral background but also in our ethnic background. How do i know im of Hispanic decent? Another question did eventualy pass through my mind how can scientist trace back ethnic genotypes if it was constanly changing through mutation? How do we know they didnt identify an ethnic background incorrectly? comment(:

Joselyn G: This podcast allows us to recognize that the extent of knowing your race is limited to the genotype of your DNA. Many times we may think that race is based on the background which is presented to us by color, however when reality is shown what we appear to be can compleatly change our course. Like the person who was raised up thinking to be black his whole life actually turned out to have no genetic relationship from an African decent. This could have changed his culture growing up by not having to fall into the African-American culture. Therefore, race affects the way of growing up by the "person" who think you are.

Eduardo R: We always assume our own race based on our skin color and ethnic backround. This is not always true because it is possible that even though we may appear to be of a certain race it is possible that we may not even be close to that. And when we find out news like this it can be shocking and change our life because we were raised believing that we were of a certain race even though it may not be true. An example would be the man who was raised believing that he was african his whole life but then finding out that he wasnt even of african at all. We cannot truly know 100% of the race we are because of periods of migrations throughout history, were our ancestors came from.

Ricardo C: Skin color and ethnic backround have always played a big role when choosing the persons who we hang out with and the people we marry. However persons may actually not be what they think they are. An example of this would be the black man from the podcast that though he had african desendence untill he found out that he didn't. If persons knew what race they actually were than it would impact them significantly making them think, What would of happened if I knew this earlier? We live in a world where people may appear to be one thing and be another making others more skeptical than they already were.

Olivia M: I found the podcast to be particularly interesting, because it made me consider my biracial background, and how that affects my perspective of the world as a whole as well as decisions I make in my life. Being both half Black and half Hispanic, I have always had a sense of pride for my ethnic diversity and I do in fact believe that it has influenced the person that I am today. This podcast gave a good insight on the perspective of racial profiling from science, and it made me realize just how much our race has become not just a classification, but a social state of mind. Similarities among certain ethnic groups do prove to be helpful, as demonstrated in the podcast by explaining how DNA is used to determine the ethnicity and appearance of a person of interest in a crime. However, in today's society ethnicity is used far too much as a judge of character.

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