Race

In class we have been discussing the subject of Race. We have yet to agree on a specific definition of what race actually is. So, I decided to look up a few different definitions of race.

The Merrian-Webster definition is:
- a family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the same stock 
- a class or kind of people unified by shared interests, habits, or characteristics

The Dictionary.com definition is:

1.	a group of persons related by common descent or heredity.

2.	a population so related.

3.

Anthropology. a. any of the traditional divisions of humankind, the commonest being the Caucasian, Mongoloid, and Negro, characterized by supposedly distinctive and universal physical characteristics: no longer in technical use. b. an arbitrary classification of modern humans, sometimes, esp. formerly, based on any or a combination of various physical characteristics, as skin color, facial form, or eye shape, and now frequently based on such genetic markers as blood groups. c. a human population partially isolated reproductively from other populations, whose members share a greater degree of physical and genetic similarity with one another than with other humans.

4.	a group of tribes or peoples forming an ethnic stock: the Slavic race.

5.	any people united by common history, language, cultural traits, etc.: the Dutch race.

6.	the human race or family; humankind: Nuclear weapons pose a threat to the race.

I found all of these definitions very interesting because Merrian-Webster which is a more traditional dictionary gave a definition very close to the one I came up with when Mr. O'Connor and Mr. Bolos asked us to write one. My initial definition was: categories/classifications people are put into based on ethnicity/heritage, habits and physical characteristics. When I read the dictionary.com definition which is a collection of different well known dictionaries gave me a wider variety of definitions. One commonality between all of the definitions that I found was they all talk about race from an outside view. That is to say, it never mentions self-identification. After our discussion in class I changed wanted to change my definition to include an aspect of self-identification. I believe that the race you identify with the most should be the race you are classified with, not the race others put you in. What is your definition of race?