Decoding Racial Ideology in Genomics

Decoding Racial Ideology in Genomics
ISBN-10
0739148974
ISBN-13
9780739148976
Category
Social Science
Pages
177
Language
English
Published
2016-05-27
Publisher
Lexington Books
Author
Johnny E. Williams

Description

Although the human genome exists apart from society, knowledge about it is produced through socially-created language and interactions. As such, genomicists’ thinking is informed by their inability to escape the wake of the ‘race’ concept. This book investigates how racism makes genomics and how genomics makes racism and ‘race,’ and the consequences of these constructions. Specifically, Williams explores how racial ideology works in genomics. The simple assumption that frames the book is that ‘race’ as an ideology justifying a system of oppression is persistently recreated as a practical and familiar way to understand biological reality. This book reveals that genomicists’ preoccupation with ‘race’—regardless of good or ill intent—contributes to its perception as a category of differences that is scientifically rigorous.

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