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The Anthropology of Skin Colors: An Examination of the Evolution of Skin Pigmentation and the Concepts of Race and Skin of Color

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Dermatoanthropology of Ethnic Skin and Hair

Abstract

The diverse array of human skin colors is a product of adaptive evolution that has occurred as ancestral and modern humans have dispersed into environments with diverse ultraviolet radiation (UVR) regimes. Eumelanin regulates the penetration and biological activity of UVR into the skin, and its presence affects the rates of photodegradation of folate and of photosynthesis of vitamin D in the skin. The earliest members of the genus Homo and of the species Homo sapiens evolved in equatorial Africa and had darkly pigmented skin, rich in natural eumelanin sunscreen. Dispersals of humans into nontropical latitudes in Africa and Eurasia were associated with strong natural selection favoring depigmentation. Multiple dispersals in time and space resulted in the evolution of multiple genetic solutions to the same adaptive problem, and the evolution of similar skin color phenotypes caused by different suites of pigmentation genes. There is no biological basis for the concepts of race or ethnicity because they are nonexclusive categories defined by cultural and linguistic characteristics. Their utility in biomedical studies is limited to their imperfect synonymy class, and class-based associations with health outcomes. “Skin of color” designates non-European skin, and lacks any inherent biological unity except for usually exhibiting more eumelanin.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Evan Pugh University Professor of Anthropology, Center for Human Evolution and Diversity, The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, 409 Carpenter Building, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Nina G. Jablonski

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  1. Nina G. Jablonski
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Correspondence to Nina G. Jablonski .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, Center for Ethnic Skin, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Neelam A. Vashi

  2. University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA

    Howard I. Maibach

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Jablonski, N.G. (2017). The Anthropology of Skin Colors: An Examination of the Evolution of Skin Pigmentation and the Concepts of Race and Skin of Color. In: Vashi, N., Maibach, H. (eds) Dermatoanthropology of Ethnic Skin and Hair. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53961-4_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53961-4_1

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