The completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 opened up the floodgates of genetic data, ushering in rapid technological and scientific change. Today, the decreasing costs of genome sequencing are changing our understandings of human identity, especially racial identity. Yet, the influence of genetic science on conceptions of racial identity is not new. For over 100 years, genetic concepts have been deeply entwined with myths about inherent racial inferiority.
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Collection Editors
Brian M. Donovan, PhD, Research Scientist, BSCS Science Learning
Daphne O. Martschenko, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics
Natalie Pino, BA - National Human Genome Research Institute
Natural and social scientists differ in their conceptualization and use of race at a critical moment
In a recent contribution to the Yearbook of Physical Anthropology, Jada Benn Torres reviews the “race-as-biology” paradigms that were promulgated early in the discipline and tracks the emergence of the anti-racist stance in contemporary biological anthropology. Upholding this stance, Benn Torres argues, means making a proactive effort to shape scholarly and public narratives about human difference.
