Race and research
Lynne Smit
How do you tell whether a light-skinned baby is black or coloured? You leave
him on a table and see if he turns blue. No, this is not a bad joke it is
just one of the barbaric methods used to classify South African citizens
during the apartheid years. This, and other equally unpalatable facts,
formed part of sociologist Yvonne Erasmus's presentation last month at the
“Beyond Race” conference in Somerset West, South Africa, on the
"perverted sociology" practised here during that time.
Earlier at the conference, Professor Trefor
Jenkins, formerly the head of the department of human genetics in the school
of pathology at Wits University, spoke of how he, as one of the few geneticists in South
Africa during that time, was approached to identify the race of babies so
that they could be adopted.
Jenkins explained that the genetic tests that were available at the
time were very basic. He said that it was difficult to genetically determine
the race of South Africans, as they are so mixed.
Previous research, done in the 1970s, showed that the genetic makeup of
white South Africans contained 7% "black inheritance".
Erasmus's talk, based on interviews with people involved in racial
classification and on the facts of court cases, highlighted how ambiguous a
concept race truly is. Her research looked at the role of science and society in
the way race was classified.
The legal definition of race, as contained in the Population Registration
Act of 1950, used three criteria to classify race: descent, appearance and
social acceptance. As the process of implementing the Act gained momentum,
and more cases emerged where classification was neither obvious nor easy,
acceptance by society played an increasingly important role.
Appearance was considered Odeceptive, and descent was difficult to apply in
cases of mixed parentage. This difficulty is illustrated by one of the cases
Erasmus described, in which a baby was returned by its adoptive parents
after they saw that it didn't fit into the race they were classified as
belonging to.
Although the initial act defined three races: black, white and coloured, a
later act subdivided the coloured category into a further seven subsections.
This led to bizarre situations, such as the hostel in Natal (now
KwaZulu-Natal) for unplaced children. These were children given up for
adoption as a result of mixed parentage, and who the state found difficult
to classify (and hence place with the appropriate parents). At the age of
16, these children could then choose to which one of the seven subcategories
they wanted to belong.
Simon Outram of the University of London looked at how geneticists justify
their use of race classifications in genetic research.
Ironically, despite increasing evidence arguing against the use of race and
ethnicity, there is no indication that the use of these concepts in research
are decreasing.
These arguments are based on the fact that genetic variations form a
continuous spectrum, and can't be divided into neat categories. In fact,
there is more genetic variation within a race group than between different
race groups.
The issue of racial categories in research is the source of lively debate in
the social sciences, but it is hard to say to what extent scientists
themselves are examining their use of racial categories. "This is why it was
so important for us to present our work to scientists at this conference,"
said Outram after his talk.
There are good reasons for not using racial classifications in research.
"Race reflects socio-economic and cultural differences these categories
are not the products of genetic differences," he said. "The physical
characteristics normally used to categorise race are not good indicators of
genetic similarity."
The definitions of race categories themselves are problematic. "They are
non-scientific concepts that derive meaning from particular contexts
either historic or, as in the case of South Africa, from legal definitions."
Outram argued that the theory and practice of using racial categories act to
re-inforce each other. "In tests that could show either similarities or
differences between racial groups, difference were emphasised. In tests
where differences between races were assumed, differences were found."
He finished with a difficult question for geneticists: "Could the use of
categories of race or ethnicity be an unusual case of manufacturing a
variable when there are other, more useful variables?"
Richard Tutton of the University of Nottingham also questioned this
practice. "Race and ethnicity straddle social worlds of meaning and
practice. Race is no longer regarded as a valid scientific concept. At best,
what it is describing is patterns of social inequality." Tutton supported
the view of genetic variation as a continuous spectrum, or a continuous
variable, to borrow a term from mathematics.
"The problem is that we are forced to use words and categories in order to
be able to do science, and to be able to explain science to non-scientists,"
he said.
According to Tutton, race remains a routinised - almost "ritualistic" - part
of medical research studies. "Scientists stick with these categories due to
their demand for generalisability, standardisation and comparability," he
said.
"The problem is that, in many cases, researchers are importing a social
definition of ethnicity. People put themselves into the groups where they
feel they belong. This seems to conflict with objectives of genetic studies
and future prospects of genotyping groups."
When asked what geneticists would consider as decisive evidence to discard
race as category, Tutton said that this could only happen when large-scale
genotyping of the public becomes available, and it was no longer necessary
to rely on physical characteristics such as race to predict genetic
predisposition to disease.
Outram pointed out that genotyping on a general basis wouldn't necessarily
remove race categories, however, as it provides a useful linguistic tool.
"We have to describe the continuous variable of genetic variation to
non-scientists, so it is unlikely that the categories of race and ethnicity
will fall away," he said.
More information:
 The Beyond
Race Conference was organised by the Africa Genome Education Institute -
www.africagenome.co.za
Related articles:
Heart disease, race and genes
Skin colour and race
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