Introduction:BiologizingCulture/CulturingBiology 31
A note of caution. This is not a book about "race," nor, for that
manner,about"gender."Thereisnospaceheretoembarkonafull-scale
engagement with the copious archives of race and gender practices,
constructs, or theories. What the following brief sections are instead
tryingtodoistodeterminehowandinwhatsensebothconceptscanbe
integrated into a discussion about the primary concern of this volume,
namelytheculturalresonancesofhumanbiology.
Race has long functioned in Western thinking as a portmanteau
signifier for forms of "normalized inequality" (Saldívar 617). It has its
basis in biological characteristics which are in more than one sense
surface phenomena: perceived differences resting on physical
phenotypes such as skin pigmentation,^23 hair texture, and other such
characteristics. In the context of his critique of Western colonialism,
Frantz Fanon has thus spoken of "epidermization," the identification of
socialandculturalinferiorityonthebasisofscopicevidence(BlackSkin
1), in this case skin pigmentation. The term's origin lies in practices of
everydayracismintheUnitedStatesandelsewhere.Giventhepervasive
marginalization, everyday affront, even corporeal violence which have
been an integral part of "race," it was highly advantageous for Africans
to pass, if possible, as "white," by modifying their outside appearance,
ideally by displaying a lighter skin. Regardless of its successes, passing
wasnonetheless"ahighlychargedsiteforanxietiesregardingvisibility,
invisibility, classification, and social demarcation" (Schlossberg 1),
because persons could never be sure of their passing. This is as true of
racismasofageism,pastandpresent,astoday,epidermizationpractices
arestillperformed,sometimesevenamongthosewhothemselvessuffer
fromthem.^24
(^23) The combined forces of colonialism and racism to this very day still put a
prizeonfairskinsothatinAfricaortheIndiansubcontinentmanypeopleresort
tochemicallyinducedprocessesofskin-lightening.Formoredetailscf.Davids,
Lester M., Jennifer van Wyk, Nonhlanhla P. Khumalo, and Nina G. Jablonsiki.
"The Phenomenon of Skin Lightening: Is It Right to Be Light?"SouthAfrican
JournalofScience112.11-12(2016).24-28.Print.
(^24) Toni Morrison'sParadise(1997) explores the workings of racism in the all-
blacktownofRuby,onlythatthistimethevictimsofracism(forwhomRubyis
a refuge) develop their own patterns of marginalization and exclusion. The
descendants of the town's founding fathers, the "8-rocks," persons with very