Race Decoded: The Genomic Fight for Social Justice

by Catherine Bliss

In 2000, with the success of the Human Genome Project, scientists declared the death of race in biology and medicine. But within five years, many of these same scientists had reversed course and embarked upon a new hunt for the biological meaning of race. Drawing on personal interviews and life stories, Race Decoded takes us into the world of elite genome scientists―including Francis Collins, director of the NIH; Craig Venter, the first person to create a synthetic genome; and Spencer Wells, National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence, among others―to show how and why they are formulating new ways of thinking about race. In this original exploration, Catherine Bliss reveals a paradigm shift, both at the level of science and society, from colorblindness to racial consciousness. Scientists have been fighting older understandings of race in biology while simultaneously promoting a new grand-scale program of minority inclusion. In selecting research topics or considering research design, scientists routinely draw upon personal experience of race to push the public to think about race as a biosocial entity, and even those of the most privileged racial and social backgrounds incorporate identity politics in the scientific process. Though individual scientists may view their positions differently―whether as a black civil rights activist or a white bench scientist―all stakeholders in the scientific debates are drawing on memories of racial discrimination to fashion a science-based activism to fight for social justice.

Genres: Science, Race, Nonfiction

280 pages, Hardcover

First published May 23, 2012

Reviews

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very good book. It was the first book in my mini reading jag on race and genomics that posited this discussion as both a creation and a driver of broader dynamics. Not surprising, I guess, since Bliss is a sociologist, and the book's core is a study of the attitudes and beliefs of the scientists working in the field. But on that core, Bliss builds a strong, thought-provoking narrative, that raises questions about how our approach to identity, to diversity, and poses a strong challenge to those who would put on a pedestal the objective scientist. The book provides a compelling picture of the inseparability of our cultural, social and biological assumptions, implicitly highlighting the absurdity of considering race to be either biological (and hence belonging to the geneticist) or social (and hence being none of their business).

I read the book in chunks before (well, okay, during) going to sleep, during a particularly busy and stressy period, so I'm well aware that my impressions and insights are scattered. But perhaps the most powerful ides in the book, for me, came right out of the gate, with Bliss'discussion of biosociality and anti-racist racialism. I spend a lot of time with physics and climate peeps, and I'm used and comfortable with a narrative about how much society (i.e. our governments) have disregarded, deprioritised science. In contrast, Bliss' neatly summarises a differing trend - that genomic (and I think other milestones in biology and medicine) advances have engendered socialising (creating social structures not BBQ chatter) around biology.
She also discusses the development of identity-based, and diversity-based, dialogues in changing the narratives around race - a shift in progressive circles from viewing race as an inherently harmful way of divvying people up to one of celebrating cultural diversity while condemning inequality between groups. The book isn't interested in declaring these trends good or bad, but rather in examining how they have shaped the beliefs, assumptions, the practice, and eventually the findings, of the scientists in her study.
One of the most powerful challenges to our assumptions raised through the book is to how we see racist ideas forming - the idea that the new racist policies might be contributed to by overtly, and often passionately, anti-racist people is very uncomfortable when the racist science narrative always centered around racist scientists. By pulling out to look at the dynamics which shape our society, Bliss challenges all of us, not just scientists, to understand how we are shaped by social forces around us.
Bliss continues to interweave this discussion with the more focused discussion about practices through the chapter, advancing the more theoretical, abstracted discussion alongside the practical. She exhibits respect and admiration for her subjects, and dedicates space to outlining their differences with her views as appropriate. The result is not only complex, but engaging.
In the end, I found the questions and challenges posed more interesting and compelling than the conclusions. Part of this is inevitable, in discussing the problematic nature of genetic projects based among First Nations, Bliss concludes that it is difficult to see this being resolved with well, global geopolitical restructuring, highlighting how understanding broader dynamics can leave it difficult to come up with "good" responses to small questions, at least in any simple way.
Sometimes I think of science as a process of assembling facts, then peering at the assemblage through various lenses. This was, to me, a particularly illuminating lens.

[Myriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone wanting to read about the motivations behind the scientists working on the genome project, mostly in the US. The book does not address the genome project itself but does shed some light into the controversial issues of the use, misuse or decline of use of racial categories in genomic work.