Ethnicity, Race and the Limits of Human Identity
The front and back covers show artist Sean Weisgerber's interpretation of the theme of this issue, the problem of classifying human identity in a world of fusion and change. Articles address biometric security, the use of the concept of ‘tribe' in US army counter-insurgency programmes, and human identity as constituted in and through debate among Afghani refugees recently returned from northern Pakistan to Afghanistan.
The difficulty of fitting human diversity into strictly defined categories is most acutely evident in questions asked on census forms. In this issue, Peter Aspinall considers the broad range of terms proposed and debated for the ‘mixed race' population. Many have complex histories and have been used to subsume individuals of varied and sometimes disparate ethnic and racial origins.
Dissatisfaction with the widely used term ‘mixed race', contested by anthropologists and sociologists among others on the grounds that it references the now discredited concept of ‘race', has led to the search for an alternative. In 1994 the Royal Anthropological Institute advanced ‘mixed origins', although such advocacy has gained little momentum.
‘Mixed race' now competes with terms such as ‘mixed heritage', ‘dual heritage' and ‘mixed parentage' amongst data users, and UK government usage also reflects this diversity in terminology. However, research indicates that the term of choice of most respondents in general and student samples of this population is ‘mixed race'. Terms invoking just two groups – such as ‘mixed parentage', ‘dual heritage', and ‘biracial' – are preferred by few.
While ‘mixed origins' is likely to have a continuing niche role in professional practice, such as legal usage and assessment of health risks, it is premature to argue that the umbrella term ‘mixed race' should be replaced by candidates that are not self-descriptors.
Bruno Latour's editorial places such questions in a broader context as he draws attention to a lively debate on the biggest question of all, the essence of nature itself. In the context of an emergent multi-naturalism, has anthropological theory itself been ‘decolonizing enough'?
Contents
Bruno Latour 1
Perspectivism: ‘Type’ or ‘bomb’?
Peter J. Aspinall 3
‘Mixed race’, ‘mixed origins’ or what? Generic terminology for the multiple racial/ethnic group population
Mark Maguire 9
The birth of biometric security
Roberto J. González 15
Going ‘tribal’: Notes on pacification in the 21st century
Magnus Marsden 20
Talking the talk: Debating debate in northern Afghanistan
COMMENT
Gustav Peebles 25
Hoarding, storing value and the credit crunch: A comment on Hart/Ortiz and Gudeman (AT 24[6])
Stephen Gudeman 25
Hoarding wealth: When virtue becomes vice: A response to Elyachar/Maurer, Applbaum and Peebles (AT 25[1] and in this issue)
Fabian Muniesa 26
The description of financial objects: A comment on Hart/Ortiz (AT 24[6])
CONFERENCES
Caitlin Fouratt, Janny Li, Taylor Nelms 27
AAA encounters: Challenging boundaries and rethinking ethics, American Anthropological Association 107th Annual Meeting
NEWS 28 CALENDAR 30 CLASSIFIED 31
