ABSTRACT
There is no one way to define race. Typical definitions of race mention people with some common origin, but referential categories vary widely. Race is often equated with skin color, but this ignores the complexity of racial definition and the purposes for which it is used. For instance, different criteria are used to define such "races" as black (inherited skin color, when including African and Australian peoples), Caucasian (physical characteristics attributed to ancestral region), Japanese (heritage and culture), Jewish (religion and culture), Hispanic (language and geography), Native American (geography), South African colored (color, parentage, and language), and human (species).
