Decoding Racial Ideology in Genomics

Decoding Racial Ideology in Genomics Synopsis

Although the human genome exists apart from society, knowledge about it is produced through socially-created language and interactions. As such, genomicists' thinking is informed by their inability to escape the wake of the ';race' concept. This book investigates how racism makes genomics and how genomics makes racism and ';race,' and the consequences of these constructions. Specifically, Williams explores how racial ideology works in genomics. The simple assumption that frames the book is that ';race' as an ideology justifying a system of oppression is persistently recreated as a practical and familiar way to understand biological reality. This book reveals that genomicists' preoccupation with ';race'regardless of good or ill intentcontributes to its perception as a category of differences that is scientifically rigorous.