ABSTRACT
A concern with the social context of knowledge directs epistemology toward these decidedly non-ideal realities. Actual social contexts in which knowledge is pursued usually exhibit patterns of exclusion, often involving race and gender among other forms of identity. In general, race concepts are not taken to mean biological kinds, or natural kind distinctions between human types, but to refer to historically created groups. When “black,” “Asian American,” “Native American,” or “white” categories are used, it is a way to refer to a grouping demarcated by race rather than ethnicity, nationality, or class. Race is often considered to have associated bodily features, even though the variations and gradations within groups can make these almost indistinguishable from other groups for some individuals. One of the most astounding examples of group-related ignorance occurred during the Jim Crow era in the southern United States.
