1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910172220103321

Autore

Reardon Jenny <1972->

Titolo

Race to the finish : identity and governance in an age of genomics / / Jenny Reardon

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Princeton, : Princeton University Press, c2005

ISBN

1-282-08719-3

9786612087196

1-4008-2640-3

Edizione

[Course Book]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (251 p.)

Collana

In-formation series

Classificazione

02.11

Disciplina

306.4/5

Soggetti

Human population genetics - Social aspects

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [211]-228) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Post-World War II expert discourses on race -- In the legacy of Darwin -- Diversity meets anthropology -- Group consent and the informed, volitional subject -- Discourses of participation.

Sommario/riassunto

In the summer of 1991, population geneticists and evolutionary biologists proposed to archive human genetic diversity by collecting the genomes of "isolated indigenous populations." Their initiative, which became known as the Human Genome Diversity Project, generated early enthusiasm from those who believed it would enable huge advances in our understanding of human evolution. However, vocal criticism soon emerged. Physical anthropologists accused Project organizers of reimporting racist categories into science. Indigenous-rights leaders saw a "Vampire Project" that sought the blood of indigenous people but not their well-being. More than a decade later, the effort is barely off the ground. How did an initiative whose leaders included some of biology's most respected, socially conscious scientists become so stigmatized? How did these model citizen-scientists come to be viewed as potential racists, even vampires? This book argues that the long abeyance of the Diversity Project points to larger, fundamental questions about how to understand knowledge, democracy, and racism in an age when expert claims about genomes increasingly shape the possibilities for being human. Jenny Reardon demonstrates that far



from being innocent tools for fighting racism, scientific ideas and practices embed consequential social and political decisions about who can define race, racism, and democracy, and for what ends. She calls for the adoption of novel conceptual tools that do not oppose science and power, truth and racist ideologies, but rather draw into focus their mutual constitution.