Goodman A H
US Southwest and Mexico Program, School of Natural Science, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA 01002, USA.
Am J Public Health. 2000 Nov;90(11):1699-702. doi: 10.2105/ajph.90.11.1699.
There is a paradoxical relationship between "race" and genetics. Whereas genetic data were first used to prove the validity of race, since the early 1970s they have been used to illustrate the invalidity of biological races. Indeed, race does not account for human genetic variation, which is continuous, complexly structured, constantly changing, and predominantly within "races." Despite the disproof of race-as-biology, genetic variation continues to be used to explain racial differences. Such explanations require the acceptance of 2 disproved assumptions: that genetic variation explains variation in disease and that genetic variation explains racial variation in disease. While the former is a form of geneticization, the notion that genes are the primary determinants of biology and behavior, the latter represents a form of racialization, an exaggeration of the salience of race. Using race as a proxy for genetic differences limits understandings of the complex interactions among political-economic processes, lived experiences, and human biologies. By moving beyond studies of racialized genetics, we can clarify the processes by which varied and interwoven forms of racialization and racism affect individuals "under the skin."
“种族”与遗传学之间存在一种矛盾的关系。虽然遗传数据最初被用来证明种族的有效性，但自20世纪70年代初以来，它们一直被用来证明生物种族的无效性。事实上，种族并不能解释人类的遗传变异，这种变异是连续的、结构复杂的、不断变化的，并且主要存在于“种族”内部。尽管种族作为生物学概念已被证伪，但遗传变异仍被用来解释种族差异。这种解释需要接受两个已被证伪的假设：即遗传变异解释疾病变异，以及遗传变异解释疾病的种族变异。前者是基因化的一种形式，即认为基因是生物学和行为的主要决定因素，而后者则代表了一种种族化形式，即对种族显著性的夸大。将种族用作遗传差异的替代指标限制了我们对政治经济过程、生活经历和人类生物学之间复杂相互作用的理解。通过超越对种族化遗传学的研究，我们可以阐明各种交织在一起的种族化和种族主义形式影响个体“内在”的过程。
