Biologically, We Are All Far More Alike Than Different |
Biologically, We Are All Far More Alike Than Different
Beacon Broadside: A Project of Beacon Press
Boston, Massachusetts
2019-06-04
Christian Coleman, Associate Digital Marketing Manager
A Q&A with Angela Saini
Why are we seeing a resurgence of race science in the twenty-first century? Weren’t we supposed to be over this after World War II? The notion of “race” has been debunked in the world of science and is understood to be a social construct, but the idea of research-based racial differences is still with us—and has been with us since The Enlightenment. Science journalist Angela Saini tells this disturbing history in Superior: The Return of Race Science. Our blog editor Christian Coleman caught up with her to ask her about her book, the inspiration for it, and how to recognize the subtle signs of race science today.
Christian Coleman: Tell us a little bit about the inspiration behind writing Superior.
Angela Saini: For me, this is a book that has been bubbling since I was a child. I became a journalist in the first place because I became involved in antiracism movements at university while studying Engineering. But the time for this book was now, with the rise of the far-right and ethnic nationalism around the world. I wanted to put the rise of intellectual racism in historical and scientific context…
…CC: What are some subtle examples of how we buy into the belief of biological racial differences today?
AS: I think it happens most clearly in medicine and DNA ancestry testing. When doctors tell us that certain groups are more susceptible to certain illnesses, without making clear that this may sometimes just be for cultural or socioeconomic reasons, it suggests we are biologically different. When firms say they can tell us where we are from by analysing our spit, without explaining how they do this or what it actually means, they also reinforce the idea of biological race…
Read the entire interview here.
Tags: Angela Saini, Beacon Broadside, Beacon Broadside: A Project of Beacon Press, Beacon Press, Christian Coleman