title: The bare bones of race.
abstract: In this paper I examine claims of racial difference in bone density and find that the use and definitions of race in medicine lack a theoretical foundation. My central argument is that the social produces the biological in a system of constant feedback between body and social experience. By providing a different angle of vision on claimed racial differences I hope to move the conversation away from an ultimately futile discussion of nature versus nurture, where time is held constant and place seen as irrelevant, and begin to build a new paradigm for examining the contributions of geographic ancestry, individual lifecycle experience, race, and gender to varied patterns of health and disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. Anne_Fausto-Sterling@brown.edu
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fausto-Sterling
mesh_terms: D015519:Bone Density; D001847:Bone Diseases / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000266:history; D005260:Female; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044469:Racial Groups / Q000266:history*