ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

The (Scientific) Advantages of Segregation: Human Isolates and the Making of Genetic Epidemiology

• In Event: Human Isolates and Population Admixtures: The Changing Politics of Human Genetics in the 20th and 21st Centuries

English Abstract

The long-standing intellectual interest in both segregated and admixed human communities took a scientific turn at the beginning of the 20th century, with a series of anthropological investigations (from W. H. R. Rivers' 'Genealogical Method' to E. Fisher's anthropometric study of the Rehoboth Basters, etc.). During the interwar period, eugenicists also resorted to isolation and admixture studies to weigh up the respective roles of heredity and environment in shaping human populations. In turn, geneticists embarked in earnest on the study of human populations in the aftermath of the Second World War, often with the aim of identifying the impact of deleterious traits (whether recessive or dominant) on their biological and social fabric. The study of segregated human groups proved essential in this respect. It is therefore no coincidence that such isolated studies became the methodological cornerstone of a new interdisciplinary field called 'genetic epidemiology', which emerged in North America and Europe in the 1970s before gaining global traction. Initially, the new field focused on the in-depth study of rare diseases in affected, inbred communities. This presentation aims to reflect on the problematisation of inbreeding and interbreeding in genetic epidemiology, including its implicit socio-political preconceptions. To this end, we will discuss a series of studies conducted in the French West Indies by a team of French and Canadian geneticists, anthropologists and epidemiologists, between the mid-1970s and the 1980s. We will detail the vital role played by interdisciplinary collaboration and transnational research networks in enabling this specific type of study. Finally, we will highlight the long-term scientific and political impact of the 'human isolate' approach on genetic epidemiology and human genetics, including contemporary genomic investigations such as national genome programmes.

Authors

• Luc Berlivet, French National Centre for Scientific Research

• Catherine Bourgain, French National Institute of Health and Medical Research