Guess My Race
| Category | Price | Seller | Device |
|---|---|---|---|
| Education | $14.99 | Playtime Interactive, LLC | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
Developed by Dr. Michael Baran, cultural anthropologist at Harvard University, this game will challenge your assumptions about individual people and about race in general.
“What race are you?”
We asked people all over Boston and Los Angeles this very question. The answers that appear in this game are their direct responses.
The object of this game is to examine photographs of ordinary people and to guess their race. After guessing from multiple choices, you then see the right answer along with a direct quote, opening a small window into their experiences of this powerful category of identity. After reading the quote, swipe to the next screen to read a fact or provocative question related to the person. The photograph, quote and fact all work together, enticing you to think more deeply about categories of race, ethnicity, religion, nation, and culture.
•Features over 150 stunning photographs of real people from varied backgrounds.
•Great conversation starter.
•Play with family and friends – learn together.
•References current events and popular media.
•Future versions will include the ability to submit your own photograph and quotes!
Acknowledging the complexity of race as a cultural and historical construction is difficult. Despite the challenge, it is critical that we all learn to talk more openly, honestly, and empathetically about these issues. Because when we learn the facts and engage with people about the realities of their lives, we are compelled to actively contest the current state of affairs where inaction, rather than overt racism, perpetuates the inequalities and injustices that linger from the past.
**Check out these great reviews:
Slate.com titled: Apps, Afros and Handcuffs: Talking With Kids About Race
Wired.com titled: Race Awareness? There's an app for that
______________________________
The Guess My Race app is part of the Race Awareness Project, bringing together art, technology, and education to get people talking about race in an entirely new way. Our goal is to make widespread some of the fascinating anthropological, historical, psychological and sociological insights about race – how race developed, how race is historically changing, and how race affects our everyday lives as it intersects with other categories of identity such as ethnicity, nationality, religion, and gender. By teaching about race in an innovative and engaging way, we are working towards promoting respect, understanding and empathy for all people.
Reviews
Guess My Race
pjsjerry
I LOVE this app because it allows fair speculation of race in a positive, learning environment. I'm glad I found it. The faces are fascinating and the implied lessons learned are worth so much more than the 99 cents cost of the app. While I don't yet own an iPad, the faces full screen would look like portraits in a gallery, they are that striking. I don't think there is another app like this one. I wish everyone had this and shared it with friends. The world needs more of this. Thank you.
Many levels
seetipper
This is a fantastic app. The author clearly put so much time, thought, and expertise into it. Not only have I learned a lot about race and perception, but the voyeuristic "game" aspect has kept me flipping images for hours. It is also, on occasion, very funny. Highly recommended.
Great app!
RunninggirlNYC
This app is really fun and different! Reading through the quotes and blurbs is informative, interesting and educational and has kept me flipping through the pictures for hours at a time.
Waste of money.
Curfy
The term "race" is defined by people as differently as night and day. Some people answered the question as to what "race" they think they were and some people answered as what ethnicity they were. Either way the question to be answered has so many possibilities of answers, this game should be called "what do I consider myself" not "what race am I" because I may consider you white per say while you consider yourself American...I apparently got that answer wrong.
Useful
bobo6205
I have used the program to begin discussions on the social construction of race, hypodescent, etc. Students have enjoyed this approach.
It does more harm than good.
B4.5
While trying to get people to think from other people's view point it also plays into other stereotypes.
Slightly offensive
Pnxnotded
This app would have gotten five stars from me had the first supposed factual information I received not referred to white people as "privileged". For an app that says everyone has their own personal experiences and no one should judge them, it certainly judged me as a white person right off the bat.
No such thing
Steeltoro
There is no such race as African American, Asian American, etc. You are eithet American or you are not. Oh wait, i see. Only whites are "Americans", right?
Racist crap.
Coolout
About what you'd expect, going by the screenshots. And nobody is a different race than they look... or at least, not that they claim to be. As someone else pointed out, it goes by what people consider themselves, not where they fall anthropologically. I thought it was going to touch on misconceptions due to stereotypes and ignorance, but instead it fed right into them. How can someone be racially (ethnically??) American, anyway? How could someone *guess* a person to be racially American?? It's just more offensive PC stuff. Initial 5-star reviews are fake.
