The Persistence of Racial Thinking and the Myth of Racial Divergence

The concept and schema of race continue to exert a major influence on studies of human biology. The racial paradigm informs evolutionary studies in spite of evidence indicating that categories based on external phenotype are not valid. Racial thinking is especially prevalent in studies of Africa. It persists in defiance of genetic data that deconstruct such thinking, probably as a result of the sociocultural milieu, linger research traditions, and a lack of appreciation of the implications of modem genetic studies.