Decoding Racial Ideology in Genomics

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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 raceregardless of good or ill intentcontributes to its perception as a category of differences that is scientifically rigorous.

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Williams Decoding Racial Ideology excavates and reveals the many ways in which genomic studies of racial differences are typically grounded in deep-seated common lay assumptions about race. In so doing, he contributes to a growing body of literature that documents how, in this era of Post-Genomics, lay racial thinking persists and remains embedded in much human genetic research. -- Troy Duster, Emeritus Chancellor's Professor, University of California, Berkeley

Author Bio

Johnny E. Williams is associate professor of sociology at Trinity College.