Racializing narratives: obesity, diabetes and the "Aboriginal" thrifty genotype.
This post-colonial reading of narratives of obesity, diabetes, and the hypothesized "thrifty genotype" ascribed to Aboriginal peoples shows how scientific and popular texts support the belief in biological "race." Although the scientific consensus is that "race" is not a empirical category, many scientists use it without comment as a "crude proxy" for presumed genetic differences. The division between science and the social sciences/humanities protects such confusing practices from full scientific and social critique, something interdisciplinary research teams, science studies and improved peer review could provide.
Fee
Margery
M
Department of English, University of British Columbia, #397-1873 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z1. margery.fee@ubc.ca
D044467:American Indian or Alaska Native / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D001837:Body Weights and Measures; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000235:genetics*; D040961:Genetic Drift; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000208:ethnology; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006801:Humans; D009656:North America; D009765:Obesity / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000235:genetics*; D011287:Prejudice