9 Race and STS

Definition

What is “Race?” What deems us to be so different from each other? According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, “Race” is a social construct used to group and marginalize people based on physical appearances such as skin color, hair texture, and facial features, social factors, and cultural backgrounds. It is a human-invented term that is often used to divide people into groups that are often ranked as superior or inferior. Looking through the lens of Science and Technology coming from a racial perspective can have a major impact on how so-called “superior” or “inferior” races are perceived in society and their roles in STS.

Challenges

Here is where you will discuss those who may disagree with the theory or concept.

Relationship to STS

Here is where you will describe how your theory or concept directly relates to STS.

Examples

Here you will provide examples of this theory or concept as it relates to STS.

Race and STS within the world has been a missing voice upon history. Plenty of historical events that have occurred in history, have not heard the voice of people of different races. For example, Latin Americans are a major missing voice within modern history. The Latin Americans effect of science and technology within society, has not been seen to the fullest extent, as it is not written about much. It can be seen with many other individuals and cultures the importance of spreading their ideas and how these ideas have impacted society. It is the contribution of certain ideas and backgrounds that shape the world we live in today and have advanced technology in a positive light. Two examples of latin missing voices in history are the Great Depression and the Cold War, as major historical impacts on United States citizens. I want to look into how latins were impacted in the United States by these historical events.

Firstly, latins had a different impact from the Great Depression compared to other races but that was never stated in any textbook. I have found primary and secondary sources that explain how they were affected during this catastrophic event. The first article, “Tejana Radical: Emma Tenayuca and the San Antonio Labor Movement during the Great Depression,” focuses on hispanic Americans fighting for equality in the labor force. The article goes into how and what they fought for based on labor, as well as how the New Deal can help them. This article is reliable as it is a part of the Pacific Historical Review, and published by the University of California Press. This article contributes to STS, as it focuses on the Hispanic society, and how an event that occurred can change the work they were doing at said time. The hispanic Americans are the missing voice. Secondly, another example of this event was represented in “Framing Mexicans in Great Depression Editorials: Alien Riff-Raff to Heroes.” This article compares three different articles during the Great Depression. One sees Mexican immigrants as harmful to society, the other sees them as the hero, and the third a Spanish based one that represents immigrants through their eyes. It was William Randolph Hearst, the San Antonio Express, and the La Prensa, respectively. This article is reliable as it was published by American Journalism. Immigrants from Mexico are the missing voice, and this relates the society of immigrants to the workforce during the depression.

Secondly, latins had a different impact from the Cold War as well. One main thing was the Cuban Missile Crisis, which had a major effect on all latins in the United States. Other examples such as, “The Hispanic Community of Nations: The Spanish-Argentine Nexus,” article focuses on what occurred in Latin America during the Cold War, and how communist ideas made its way there. It focuses on the Argentine Revolution, and how it would have impacted the rest of the world if it became the main fight. This takes the missing voice of Latin Americans and talks about how a war was occurring, and the technology/ science for the war to occur, during the Cold War. This is reliable as it comes from Open Edition Journals, and is in the Cahiers des Ameriques Latines. Secondly, another source that shows Latin Americans as the missing voice is “Tejas, Afuera De Mexico: Newspaper.” This article focuses on many different ideals, such as immigration to America, ethnic backgrounds and the early 1900s overall. This relates the missing voice of hispanic immigrants during the 1900s, and how they are affected by a depression, how they advanced past it. This article is reliable as it is in the Journal of American Ethnic History. Although this article does not focus fully on how the Latin Americans were impacted by the Cold War, it explains their ideologies, and what they believe in. As stated in the article, the hispanic immigrant had opinions about communism compared to the economic aspect of where they live now. As this goes on to show the missing voice of how a person growing up in this time, under hispanic descent, really felt during the Cold War or other historical events.

In conclusion, Latin Americans can relate Science and Technology in Society to Race, as the culture of Latin Americans are impacted throughout history. Latin Americans are impacted by science and technology throughout history, as events impact them either similarly to other groups of people or slightly different based on the economic display that is to occur from the event at hand. Within this section I focused on two examples in which Latin Americans were the missing voices in society, as they were still impacted by the science and technological advancements in the world. The first example that was focused on was how Latin Americans were impacted by the Great Depression. I wanted to look into how they as a different race in society were impacted by such an economical catastrophe. Secondly, I used the Cold War and Communism to demonstrate another way in which Latin Americans were impacted in the world. I wanted to show how this ideology impacted their beliefs as well as their actions within society. Overall, I wanted to show how Latin Americans were impacted by the science and technology within the world, and how throughout history they have been. I wanted to explain their voice as it is missing from these events as well.

Missing Voices

Here you will provide information about ways that voices may have been left out of the conversation about this theory or concept.

Throughout history we have heard a lot about how Science and Technology have impacted us as a society, brought about great advancements, and had harmful impacts on us. But as we know, most of what we deemed those affected by these impacts in society were mainly targeted and focused on the White race. Throughout history many of these science and technological advancements have had impacts on not just the White race but on many other races we often never hear about in history books or scholarly articles. Thus deeming these races as “missing voices” in our world. Races such as the African American, Latin American, and so much more have had their greatest technology or science impacts left out of our education and history. Impacts of these technological advancements on certain races have also been mostly left out of our history.

Health equality is often a topic that has been talked about throughout history and is considered a very important step in our society. However, when we think about all the great science and technology advancements within our medical field there are still groups that are often underrepresented, left out, biased against, and easily more susceptible to mass amounts of misinformation. It’s important to get the voices and representation of all races when developing new scientific advancements to ensure that each race is being treated at the same extent and with great equality. But, unfortunately in our medical field throughout history and even to this day we still see many missing voices of certain races which changes how these technological advancements and new medicinal techniques actually play a role. An article published by the Medical Care Blog stated that at many times those who were of a different race other than the White race were often mis-categorized. American Indians in particular were frequently mis-categorized in medical registries as White. Similarly, individuals who had multiple racial/ethnic identities and Indigenous people are often misidentified on death certificates. With people being misidentified often on medical records it makes it hard to represent those of a specific race in the medical field and make new science and technological advancements that cater to them not just those who are of the White race. With being misidentified as White on medical records, these achievements still only cater to the White race often leading races such as the American Indians becoming a “missing voice.”

Still In Progress…

Summary

Here you will provide an infographic that sums up your theory or concept that includes a brief definition, its relationship to STS, and brief examples.

Chapter Questions

Type your questions here.

• Short Response: Can you make any connections to other events throughout history or current events in which Latino culture has influenced an outcome or response?

References

Vargas, Zaragos. “Tejana Radical: Emma Tenayuca and the San Antonio Labor Movement

during the Great Depression.” Pacific Historical Review, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3642237.

“Framing Mexicans in Great Depression Editorials: Alien Riff-Raff to Heroes.” Taylor & Francis,

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08821127.2016.1275216.

Gunnar Kressel, Daniel. “The Hispanic Community of Nations: The Spanish-Argentine

Nexus and …” Cahiers Des Amériques Latines, Institut Des Hautes Études De L’Amérique Latine, 25 Feb. 2016, https://journals.openedition.org/cal/3669.

Tejas, Afuera De México: Newspapers, the Mexican …

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jamerethnhist.40.2.0052.

Domínguez, Jorge. “Latinos and U.S. Foreign Policy.” Latino Impact on U.S. Immigration and Foreign Policy, 26959053, 2007. EBSCO, web-s-ebscohost-com.libproxy.clemson.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=8&sid=aa38d8a2-4a9f-4872-87db-c64c18169c3b%40redis.