June 9, 2010

  The professor entered the classroom and was slightly surprised. For the first time in a while, the school was filled with students dressed in casual clothes. Their hair still bore the military-style cut, but they looked fairly presentable on the outside. Gamamusa set down his bag. “...Hmm, everyone seems excited for their vacation. Well, it’s hard to find a day as thrilling as today.” The soldiers in the professor’s class had participated in a military cooking competition, winning awards, and earning vacation as a reward.

  The professor glanced at Goyeun. “...It seems like Goyeun should be the professor of the Food and Nutrition Department, not me. Everyone learned from her cooking skills and got a vacation as a reward. All I've done as a professor is sharing TMI... haha. Let’s give a round of applause for Goyeun!” Goyeun blushed at the sound of the student's applause. After the clapping subsided, the professor stood up and wrote the word “race” on the chalkboard. “Alright, today we’re going to tackle a sensitive topic: the keyword ‘race.’" The students listened attentively to the professor’s words. “Race is a fictional classification of human species based on a tiny fraction of genes—those that determine facial features, skin color, and so on. Sometimes, even within the same racial group, like white people, cultural distinctions, such as with Jewish people, have been used to classify them as a separate race.”

  Gamamusa wrote the word “separation” on the chalkboard. “Separation begins not with genetic diversity but with human perception. We’ll discuss perception at another time. Today, we’re focusing on the genetic formation of race.” The professor wrote “99.9%” on the board. “There are three major racial groups in the world, broadly classified as Caucasian, Black, and Asian. Their differences seem significant, but in reality, the genetic variation between races accounts for only 6.3% of the genetic variation within the human species. Simply put, the difference between a Black person and a white person is mainly skin color, but one Black person compared to another Black person shows greater genetic variation in muscle mass, obesity rates, height, hair loss, and so on. Moreover, 99.9% of human genes are identical. In other words, unless you’re a chimpanzee, your genes won’t differ by more than 0.1% from someone on the other side of the globe, like an Argentinian.”

  The students nodded at the professor’s explanation. This class felt less controversial than the last. The professor pulled out a color-coded climate map and stuck it on the board. The students, familiar with his teaching style, listened intently. “Three conditions are necessary for the formation of race: first, climate; second, agriculture; and third, isolation.” Gamamusa wrote 'climate, agriculture, isolation' on the board. “Let’s start with climate. Climate can alter human appearance and skin color through genetic adaptation. Of course, a white person getting a suntan doesn’t make them Black, but their descendants could adapt differently.”

  Gamamusa drew a graph on the board, featuring pictograms of humans in white, black, and yellow. “During the hunter-gatherer era, human populations were small, and food production was limited. With small, vulnerable populations, even minor changes could alter a group’s gene pool. For example, hunter-gatherers in Africa, facing droughts with scarce food, could suffer from malnutrition, making them prone to dying from sun exposure. Those with less melanin were more likely to die from heatstroke. If a hunter-gatherer had five children with relatively dark skin and five with relatively light skin, the five light-skinned children might die during a drought. Over generations, as this pattern continued, skin tones would progressively darken.”

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  The professor looked at the students. “Caucasians and Asians have relatively lighter skin. Both originated in Mediterranean and continental climates at similar latitudes. Caucasians, starting in the Middle East, are relatively lighter than southern populations. As they moved to higher-latitude Europe, they developed red hair, blonde hair, and blue eyes. In colder regions, where nutrients were needed for other purposes, less melanin was produced. Asians, living in the dry winter climate of Northeast Asia, adapted to distinct seasons. In dry, cold regions, their ancestors developed flatter faces and reduced eyelids to prevent frostbite, and they sweated less to avoid freezing in harsh winters.”

  The professor shifted focus to the keyword “agriculture.” “The advent of agriculture changed everything, primarily by increasing food supply. With more food and nutrients, the body could do more—regulate heat, withstand extreme temperatures without dying. As populations grew, environmental impacts on gene pools diminished. For hunter-gatherers, if five out of ten children in a group died, certain genes would dominate. In agricultural societies, with villages of 100 people, the death of five wouldn’t cause significant genetic shifts. You’d need about 50 deaths to notice a difference.”

  The professor drew circles around the human pictograms. “Hunter-gatherer populations, once agriculture began, grew while retaining racial characteristics. Caucasians, starting as farmers in Anatolia, spread from the Middle East to Europe and North India. Black populations, originating in Ethiopia, spread across Africa, into the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and as far as Papua New Guinea. Asians, cultivating crops like wheat and barley from Central Asia, moved to northern China, becoming the Asian race, and later spread to Southeast Asia.”

  The professor pointed to the climate map. “Finally, there’s isolation by climate. As you know, Africa is cut off by North Africa, preventing them from mixing with Caucasians, resulting in the dark skin getting preserved. Aryans who invaded northern India crossed the northwestern desert but couldn't heavily infiltrate beyond it, leaving eastern and southern India with darker skin. Southeast Asia wasn’t isolated from China, so Black populations there dwindled, but in Papua New Guinea, which had tropical rainforests surrounding high mountains, Black populations persisted.” Lastly, Gamamusa pointed to northern China. “Northern China is blocked by the Xinjiang and Central Asian deserts. The Asian race, formed in northern China, spread through Central Asia and Siberia to the Americas.”

  The professor cleared his throat. “The human race itself only emerged after agriculture began. Considering that the Asian race formed the native american population, race formed after agriculture and before the human migration to the Americas. Thus, the history of race is very short. And yet, we believe that race influences human wealth.” He pointed to Africa. “Currently, Black populations are isolated in tropical regions. Southeast Asia and South America, cut off by oceans, are poor, but Africans, completely isolated by deserts, are the poorest. Papua New Guinea, blocked by tropical rainforests, is also poor. Crops can’t reach Africa or New Guinea due to differing climates and wastelands. Ironically, the dark skin of Black populations is also due to their distinct climate and isolation by wastelands. But we must understand: Thay black populations aren’t poor because of genetics, but because of geographic isolation.”