Paradigm lost: race, ethnicity, and the search for a new population taxonomy
GM Oppenheimer
Department of Health and Nutrition Sciences, Brooklyn College (CUNY), 2900 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11210, USA. geraldo@brooklyn.cuny.edu
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently recommended that the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) reevaluate its employment of "race," a concept
lacking scientific or anthropological justification, in cancer surveillance
and other population research. The IOM advised the NIH to use a different
population classification, that of "ethnic group," instead of "race." A
relatively new term, according to the IOM, "ethnic group" would turn
research attention away from biological determinism and toward a focus on
culture and behavior. This article examines the historically central role
of racial categorization and its relationship to racism in the United
States and questions whether dropping "race" from population taxonomies is
either possible or, at least in the short run, preferable. In addition, a
historical examination of "ethnicity" and "ethnic group" finds that these
concepts, as used in the United States, derive in part from race and
immigration and are not neutral terms; instead, they carry their own burden
of political, social, and ideological meaning.
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