Final answer:
Race science became a topic of interest due to historical, social, and scientific factors, including postmodernism, the rise of eugenics, and the rejection of biological explanations of race by social science organizations.
Step-by-step explanation:
Race science became a topic of interest due to various historical, social, and scientific factors. In the mid-20th century, postmodernism challenged the concept of race as a biological reality, emphasizing its social construction. Additionally, the rise of eugenics and its flawed attempts to prove innate racial differences raised questions about the validity of race science. Over time, social science organizations rejected biological explanations of race, highlighting that racial categories were based on pseudoscience and used to justify racist practices. The understanding that race is not biologically identifiable and its arbitrary assignment of previous racial categories led to increased interest in examining the social and cultural dimensions of race.