For over a century, Americans have looked to National Geographic to learn about other people and cultures around the world.
Now for the first time ever, the magazine has acknowledged its “exotic” portrayals of other cultures, which it was known for during much of its history, were based on racist ideas.
This hour, we talk about race.
People used to believe race was a division in the human species determined by biology. Scientists now say that’s not exactly true.
So if race isn’t based on science, what is it, and why does it still affect our lives so profoundly?
And it's 50 years since the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. How does race continue to shape our nation, half a century later?
Join the conversation.
GUESTS:
- Dr. Catherine Lutz - Professor of Anthropology at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. She co-authored the book Reading National Geographic in 1993.
- Lauren Jackson - Freelance writer and Ph.D. candidate in English at the University of Chicago. She wrote a piece critiquing National Geographic’s race issue for New York Magazine’s Daily Intelligencer.
- Dr. Michael Yudell - Chair and associate professor at the Department of Community Health and Prevention at Drexel University's Dornsife School of Public Health, and author of Race Unmasked: Biology and Race in the 20th Century.
- Dr. Jeffrey Ogbar- Professor of history at the University of Connecticut.
Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
Chion Wolf contributed to this show.
**Where We Live asked National Geographic's Editor and Chief and Executive Editor for Culture to speak on the show, but they declined**
The City of West Hartford is commemorating Dr. King's "I've been to the Mountaintop" speech at an event on Tuesday, April 3 at 6pm at Blue Back Square. Learn more here.
