Race is real

This topic resurfaced for me when I read my friend's recent blog entry. Cultural anthropologists are notorious, depending on your perspective of course, for defining race as a social construct. The general argument has some rational foundation. For example, because humanity is simultaneously similar and variable within and between populations, what defines race (facial features, skin color, athletic ability, etc) are fluid attributes with near-infinite possibilities. Where does blackness end and whiteness begin? Thus, the meaning of race becomes culture-specific and, in a deconstructionist sense, meaningless. In response, many anthropologists prefer to replace the term race with "populations", for example, the obvious, African-Americans compared to Kenyans.
But sticking too strong to this view leaves us in an awkward, incomplete position. Race is real. Race defines genuine genetic differences, reenforces and combines with ethnicity to create identity, it generates and influences human action, it fills language, it represents people. It cannot be ignored, nor, within our lifetime, will it be resolved. But it's fun to study.