Racial groups are perceived as natural kinds though they are artifacts

Evidence

A guiding theme in much recent scholarship, which is discussed from a variety of perspectives, concerns the claim that race and ethnicity are not natural categories, even though both concepts are often represented as if they were (Stoler, 1995; Smaje, 2000). Their boundaries are not fixed, nor is their membership uncontested. Race and ethnic groups, like nations, are now quite widely considered to be “imagined communities” (Anderson, 1991), socially conceived and considered, manufactured and inflected group formations (Mosse, 1985; Peterson, 1995). — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 104 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Settlers claim self-evident racial markers for differences they admit no outsider can perceive — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 2051; Whiteness passes unclassified in nature while blackness is pre-classified as natural — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 529; Racist tropes enter mainstream commonsense making race-based discrimination seem natural. (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Race and ethnicity are socially constructed rather than natural categories. #corroborates (0.95) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 104