Race and Genetics

  1. Articles and Presentations
  2. Books
  3. Videos

 

ARTICLES AND PRESENTATIONS:

The Color of Our Genes: Balancing the Promise and Risks of Racial Categories in Human Biotechnology
Osagie Obasogie, Science Progress
June 15, 2009

The End of Race History? Not Yet
Osagie K. Obasogie, New Scientist
December 14th, 2012

Return of the race myth?
by Osagie K. Obasogie, New Scientist
July 1st, 2009

Strict Scrutiny and the FDA: A Model Form of Race Regulation or a Recipe for Disaster? [PDF]
by Osagie K. Obasogie
April 7th, 2006

Race Under the Microscope: Biological Misunderstandings of Race
May 24th, 2012

White Rabbit
by Patricia J. Williams, The Nation
June 23rd, 2014

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BOOKS:

Milton Reynolds and the Facing History Project, "Race and Membership in American History: The Eugenics Movement."

 

Backdoor to Eugenics
Troy Duster, Routledge, 2003
Considered a classic in the field, Troy Duster's Backdoor to Eugenics was a groundbreaking book that grappled with the social and political implications of the new genetic technologies. Completely updated and revised, this work will be welcomed back into print as we struggle to understand the pros and cons of prenatal detection of birth defects; gene therapies; growth hormones; and substitute genetic answers to problems linked with such groups as Jews, Scandanavians, Native American, Arabs and African Americans.

 

Race in a Bottle
Jonathan Kahn, published December 2012
At a ceremony announcing the completion of the first draft of the human genome in 2000, President Bill Clinton declared, "I believe one of the great truths to emerge from this triumphant expedition inside the human genome is that in genetic terms, all human beings, regardless of race, are more than 99.9 percent the same." Yet despite this declaration of unity, biomedical research has focused increasingly on mapping that .1 percent of difference, particularly as it relates to race.

 

Race Decoded: The genomic fight for social justice
Catherine Bliss
In 2000, with the success of the Human Genome Project, scientists declared the death of race in biology and medicine. But within five years, many of these same scientists had reversed course and embarked upon a new hunt for the biological meaning of race. Drawing on personal interviews and life stories, Race Decoded takes us into the world of elite genome scientists-including Francis Collins, director of the NIH; Craig Venter, the first person to create a synthetic genome; and Spencer Wells, National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence, among others-to show how and why they are formulating new ways of thinking about race.

 

Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty
Dorothy Roberts
This is a no-holds-barred response to the liberal and conservative retreat from an assertive, activist, and socially transformative civil rights agenda of recent years--using a black feminist lens and the issue of the impact of recent legislation, social policy, and welfare "reform" on black women's--especially poor black women's--control over their bodies' autonomy and their freedom to bear and raise children with respect and dignity in a society whose white mainstream is determined to demonize, even criminalize their lives.

 

Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century

Dorothy Roberts


This groundbreaking book by the acclaimed Dorothy Roberts examines how the myth of biological concept of race-revived by purportedly cutting-edge science, race-specific drugs, genetic testing, and DNA databases-continues to undermine a just society and promote inequality in a supposedly "post-racial" era.

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VIDEOS:

Race and the New Biocitizen
Dorothy Roberts, The Tarrytown Meetings, 2010

Race Under the Microscope: Biological Misunderstandings of Race
Race Under the Microscope features commentary on the misuse of race from esteemed professors Jonathan Kahn (Professor of Law, Hamline University), Dorothy Roberts (Professor of Law, Northwestern University), Osagie K. Obasogie (Professor of Law, University of California Hastings Law School), and Joseph Graves (Associate Dean for Research, Joint School for Nanosciences & Nanoengineering, Greensboro, NC). The excerpts used in the video were filmed during the 2011 Tarrytown Meeting.

You Are Not an Ape! Jon Marks at TEDxEast
Biological Anthropologist Jon Marks explores our ancestry and connection to apes - August 23, 2012

Dorothy E. Roberts: Fatal Invention: The New Biopolitics of Race
Dorothy E. Roberts - recently named Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor at the University of Pennsylvania -- presenting "Fatal Invention: The New Biopolitics of Race" based on her latest book Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century - November 21, 2012

Interview with Dorothy Roberts: Talking Biopolitics
Published on May 8, 2012 - The resurgence of race as biological concept is one of the most pressing social justice challenges raised by recent developments in genetic science and technologies. Dorothy Roberts, noted professor of law at Northwestern University, discusses her efforts to communicate this trend, and to place it within broad social and political contexts in the United States, in her published book Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century.

Alondra Nelson and Dalton Conley discuss race and genetic testing
In this interview for Dalton Conley's book, You May Ask Yourself, Alondra Nelson describes her research on genetic testing and how it is changing the way people think about race.
Sep 15, 2010

Patricia Williams - Race and Genetics
Uploaded on Jun 5, 2011

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