Dr. Balakrishnan Selvakumar and Dr. Ara C. Brown
July 30, 2021
Children, and adults in many cases, look at nature and group things based on visible similarities. So, tigers are a group since they look alike and look different from lions. They also tend to think that all tigers share certain inherent properties and behaviors that make them different from lions. They learn to categorize as a way to differentiate. However, when this tendency is applied to social groups like race, it leads to stereotypes, prejudices and negative interactions between people who may not look alike.
Surveys by the Pew Research Center indicate that a majority of Americans think race relations are bad and many think they are getting worse. And these responses predate the racial injustices witnessed in 2020 and 2021.
In January of 2020, we spoke about how students can use biology to address racism.
According to the Developmental Intergroup Theory, the likelihood that children develop stereotype and prejudice against people increases when they can categorize people by an easily discernable feature like race or skin color and when they hear adults explicitly label people by these features. It has also been shown that people who believe that racial essentialism is biological, the thought that members of a race share something in common like a physical characteristic that defines their nature and that they are not capable of change, are less concerned with racial inequities, and are less willing to interact with a person from another race.
How can biology inform an educational environment that reduces these negative effects of race?
Learning about the genetic variation within and between US-census defined racial groups has shown to reduce cognitive racial stereotypes in adolescents and adults1. In other words, learning about the extent of genetic similarities between racially defined groups and the extent of genetic differences within any one of these groups reduces the misconception that people of different racial categories are largely genetically distinct from each other, and that people of any one racial group are universally genetically similar. Also, an inaccurate understanding of genetic variation and race (for instance, to say that African Americans, as opposed to people with West African ancestry, are more susceptible to sickle cell disease) is associated with students inaccurately using genetics in separate contexts to explain the racial achievement gap; and with students being less likely to volunteer their free time to reduce this gap2.
A biology project that challenges the concept of race
In Fall of 2020, we created a space that allowed students to explore the question, how can studying the DNA code in human populations across the world challenge the concept of race. Students followed a five-step process to demonstrate their understanding of this central question through a research paper.
Step 1: Data analysis in class from primary research literature about variations in regions of the DNA code (genetic markers) in individuals:
· Within and between populations across the world
· As a function of geographical distance and human migration
· As a function of reproduction between different groups of people
Step 2: Formulation of a hypothesis of their own based on analysis from step 1 and research following the criteria below.
· If grouping people based on the concept of race is biologically accurate
· If ancestry and biogeography are more accurate descriptors of grouping people
· The importance of looking at larger regions of the DNA code of an individual versus
smaller regions that code for a characteristic like skin color.
· Its potential impact on race, social justice and medicine.
Step 3: Students presented their analysis in class and to the school and had a discussion with their peers and teachers.
Step 4: Students incorporated feedback from step 3 to write a research paper that was submitted to a professional journal.
Step 5: Students incorporated expert reviewer comments from the journal and resubmitted to the journal for publication.
Here is a summary of specific student papers published by Genomics: Insights, a journal of the National Human Genome Research Institute:
How people from Europe are more related to those from Africa than two people in Africa are to each other
The Biology of Race by Calla O Neil
Calla uses research literature that compares regions of the DNA code in people from different parts of the world to argue that race is an inaccurate classifier of people. Specifically, she examines data from research studies that indicate large similarities in the DNA code of people from different geographical regions of the world, and how the diversity of variations in the DNA code of people in Africa relative to other parts of the world are so large that on an average, a person from Africa would be genetically more similar to a person from Europe for instance than they would be to another person from Africa.
The extent and diversity of human genetic variation in Africa compared to global variations in a single trait like skin color
Hominid development, the great human migration, and the concept of race by JiaJia Fu
JiaJia uses research literature about the evolution of the human species, its migration out of Africa to the other parts of the world and its subsequent adaptations to local geography to challenge the concept of race. Specifically, she examines data about the large diversity of variations in the DNA code among people of Africa relative to rest of the world and the relatively smaller subset of variations in the DNA code in people in other parts of the world that for instance resulted in traits such as light skin as an adaptation to sunlight, to challenge the concept of race as an inaccurate measure of classifying people.
Ancestry as a better descriptor of population affiliation than race
Ancestry vs Race: Implications for Society by Simon Lee
Simon uses research literature to explore the meaning of ancestry as an indicator of the biogeographical history of a person and how this is a more accurate descriptor of an individual than race. Specifically, he examines studies about regions of the DNA code that are indicative of an individual's ancestry (Ancestry Informative Markers), focusing on methods that use these genetic markers to compare against a database of similar markers collected from individuals across different geographical regions to infer global ancestry, the influence of evolution on human migration at the genetic level and, the relevance to modern society relative to an inaccurate classifier like race and its accompanying social justice issues.
Ancestry combinations in mixed populations and implications on disease-susceptibility and medicine
Race and Disease Susceptibility by Ella Song
Ella uses research literature about disease susceptibility in ethnically mixed populations to explore how in a population defined as Latin American there is a diverse distribution of ancestries, including for instance varying percentages of European and African ancestries, and how different ancestry proportions within the Latin American group correlate differently with susceptibility to diseases such as cancer. She uses this rationale to argue that race is an invalid measure to categorize people especially from the standpoint of preventative medicine.
Moving Forward
Moving forward, can studying genetic variation within and between human populations to challenge race be scaled so that biology students engage students in other classes and grades in this discussion?
References
Author Bios
Dr. Balakrishnan Selvakumar: Will be teaching at Polytechnic School in Pasadena, California. Formerly, he taught at Whittle School & Studios, Washington, DC.
Dr. Ara C. Brown: Director of the Upper School at Polytechnic School in Pasadena, California and was former Assistant Head of School at Whittle School & Studios, Washington DC.
