Nature, Origin, and Variation of Human Pigmentation

Dados Bibliográficos

ID7841735
AutoresRick A Kittles (0000-0002-5004-4437, George Washington University, autor correspondente), Rick Kittles (George Washington University)
Ano1995
Volume26
Fascículo1
Páginas36-61
Data de publicação1995-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Black Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0021-9347 • E-ISSN: 1552-4566
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/002193479502600104
OpenAlexW2086532117
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas44

From ancient times to the present, people have speculated on why and by what mechanisms humans could be as Black as some Africans and Australian aborigines to as White as the Celtic speakers of northern Europe. The shades of color in between these extremes illustrate a huge variation in human pigmentation. Because it is one of the most conspicuous traits, pigment variation has led some societies to attach labels and fabricate myths about people of different skin and/or hair colors. In many societies, up until the turn of the century, people of different skin coloration or lack of pigmentation (e.g., albinos) were treated as divine spirits who had special healing powers. Other societies ostracized these same people because they believed they were inferior and strange (Kromberg, Zwane, & Jenkins, 1987; D. Livingstone, 1857). Misunderstandings on pigmentation within the last 30 years have caused debate on the function of melanin and the evolution of skin pigmentation. In an attempt to place the discussion of pigmentation in a Eurocentric context, many authors added further confusion to the debate (Brues, 1975; Daniels, Post, & Johnson, 1972; Harrison, 1973; Montellano, 1993; Morison, 1985; Wasserman, 1965). Work has also been presented by Africans (on the continent and in the diaspora), which has been instrumental in the movements that redefine Blackness and the Africans' cultural and biological relationship with the universe (Barnes, 1988; Diop, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1981; Finch, 1991; King, 1990; Welsing, 1991). The works of Cheikh Anta Diop, Dr. Charles Finch, Carol Barnes, Richard King, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, and others raised pertinent issues and continued dialogue in the struggle against Eurocentric analyses

Biology · Evolutionary biology · Human genetic variation · Human genome · Variation (astronomy · Genetics · Geographies of human-animal interactions · melanin and skin pigmentation · Psychology