The Study of Human Genetic Variation in a Transnational Context: Asianism and the Racialization of Ethnicity

• In Event: 075 - Regular Session. Meaning and Movement across Transnational Spaces

Abstract

Over the last decade, advances in work in human genomics in Asia have been rapid and expanding. In this paper, drawing on document analysis and in-depth personal interviews with key human geneticists in Singapore and in Japan who participate in the Human Genome Organization Pan-Asian SNP Consortium, I explore the role of race and ethnicities in the Consortium’s genomic work at different stages. Three findings are highlighted: (1) “Diversity” provides a framework for pursuing potential drug “discovery”. (2) However, the interview data also show that there is no consensus on the term “ethnicity” – it is defined by the local participating scientists. (3) Ethnicity was used as a proxy for genetic diversity as an attempt to solve the problems of a disease-orientation study design and to navigate around the issue of “national genomic sovereignty.” This paper suggests the HUGO Pan-Asian SNP consortium’s work has the potential to simultaneously undermine and reify the biological bases of the traditional notions of race and ethnicity.

Author

• Shirley (Hsiao-Li) Sun, Nanyang Technological University