Science must not invent new myths about race |
Science must not invent new myths about race
London Evening Standard
2009-11-16
Lindsay Johns
Science and race have never been easy bedfellows. Since Victorian times, when Western scientific advancement was used as an intellectual and moral justification for European colonial expansion, science or pseudo-science has occupied an uncomfortable place in our understanding of race.
Yet today, as Professor Steve Jones will argue at a debate tonight, it is commonly held by scientists that, genetically, there is no such thing as race.
It has been proven that there is a negligible amount of difference between the DNA of different “races”. Rather, race is a social construct, a fluid and malleable entity.
In America, the “one drop” rule of black blood still effectively renders anyone with any in them, even if they are quite light skinned, as “black”.
Elsewhere, race being such a nebulous entity, it can often be confusing. For example, many mixed-race people, myself included, are often mistaken for Arabs…
…Yet it would be naive to deny that race, although biologically inconsequential, is still very much a social reality.
Many social and economic disparities still arise from it: people use race to define themselves.
Scientists of all backgrounds have a duty to interpret data responsibly: their pronouncements on race have ethical, legal and social implications…
Read the entire article here.
Tags: Lindsay Johns, London Evening Standard, Steve Jones