ABSTRACT
Whatever the academic quandary about the validity of racial classification of the species Homo sapiens, I would suggest that if as social geographers we are to understand our observations fully, we must be prepared to examine social interaction initially in the terms used by those involved in the interactions. Having achieved this participant understanding we must then, as academics, proceed to a more abstract analysis of the relationships between the perceptions and the actions observed. This is a point that has been convincingly expounded by Mitchell in his discussion of ethnic perception and behaviour in Zambia (Mitchell 1974).
