Patterns of Variation

 Lesson 13: “Patterns of Variation” The lesson begins with comments on some instances of ethnic genocide that have occurred in the past in the Sudan, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Nazi Germany during World War II. It relates these occurrences to the concept of “race,” a concept based on physical differences between groups. It defines the everyday usage of the word “race” and includes its biological definition, which leads to the conclusion that the word and concept of “race” cannot apply to Homo sapiens because, as is well understood, there are no subspecies of Homo sapiens. The video then briefly explains the historical context of how the concept of race emerged among European explorers during the 16th century. It explains that today anthropologists and scholars look beyond visible physical differences to explain human variation. Using the example of a Somali family, the lesson describes how science now explains skin color shifts as a response to geographical regions called clines. The phenotypic variation of skin tones in Africa is demonstrated to illustrate this perspective. The video describes how the sickle-cell allele began & how it has become adaptive in malarial regions. The concept that humans are products of biocultural evolution is discussed, as well as the latest theoretical viewpoints on the “thrifty gene” hypothesis.