총 44페이지

Caduceus
closetoEuropeansandMiddleEasterners.Theresultsindicate
Chung-won
that the genetic traits of human beings do not change rapidly;
rather, they change gradually and successively depending
ⓒJeong
on the region. For instance, the Khanty, one of the Russian
minority groups, has intermediate genetic traits. Their general
appearance is close to that of Asians, but they have blond hair
and blue eyes, which are genetically close to Westerners. The
Khanty have the same ancestors as the Finnish, but as they
movedtotheEastandmixedwiththeMongoloid,theygained
the genetic traits of Asians along with those of the Finnish.
▲Movingtotheeast,theEastAsiangenepoolsteadilyincreases.
ProfessorJeongadds,“Itisclearthatmodernhumanbeingsare
West Africa also
geneticallydifferentanddiverse.However,thatdiversitycannot
ⓒgettyimages
branched off from
beclassifiedintoverydistinctclusters:white,black,andyellow.
the root. As a result
Rather,geneticdiversityissimilartothecolorsoftherainbow,
of this process, as
whichhavechangedsuccessively.Thus,itdoesnotmakesense
genetic variations
toartificiallysplitupthegenetictraitsintothreecategories.”In
have gradually
otherwords,eventhoughtherearegeneticdifferencesbetween
cumulated, modern
ethnicgroups,itisdifficulttoclassifythemintoafewclusters
humans living in
becausesuchdifferencesaresuccessiveratherthanfragmented.
Africa now have
a great variety
*Gene Pool: According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, the
▲The Khanty’s appearance is similar to that of
gene pool refers to the combination of all the genes (including alleles) present in a
of genetic traits.
Asians but they have blond hair and blue eyes
reproducingpopulationorspecies.
whicharesimilartothoseofWesterners.
Thus, as the genetic
characteristics of African ethnic groups vary, it is a hasty
Chung-won
generalizationtocategorizeallAfricansasblack.
Then what about other skin colors such as “white” and
ⓒJeong
“yellow?” Regarding this, Jeong Choong-won, Assistant
Professor of Biological Sciences at Seoul National University,
says, “A large number of people within the intermediate gene
pool* who geographically live in middle regions should also
be included for consideration.” According to Professor Jeong’s
genetic research, the inland Eurasian people have gradually
becomegeneticallysimilartoEastAsians,astheylivecloseto
theEast,whilethosewholiveclosetotheWestaregenetically
▲TheinlandEurasians’genesaregraduallychanging,formingacontinuum.
From throwing something at foreign travelers to shootings targeting certain ethnic groups, the world is still trapped in
racism.Racismhasjustifieddiscriminationduetodifferencesinskincolor,creatingunnecessaryconflictbetweenethnic
groups. As modern human genetic diversity demonstrates, grouping people on Earth according to skin color is outdated
andbiased.Moreover,itisdangeroustousethisclassificationasareasonfordiscriminationagainstcertaingroups.People
look different, but at the same time, they are very similar, as they belong to a common species. Focusing on similarities
ratherthandifferencescanbeashortcuttoreconciliation.Thinkingof“similar”firstratherthan“different”willleadtoa
moreinclusivesociety.
suyeon309@hufs.ac.kr
18
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