Checking the Second Box: The Missing History of Ethnicity

• In Event: Ethnic Studies and STS: Connections, Interruptions, Innovations

Abstract

In this paper, I investigate the underexplored conceptual history of “ethnicity” in genetics and biomedicine. Race and ethnicity are conceptually and historically related but have distinct origins and histories that merit examination. While racial thinking evolved over multiple centuries, I show that the concept “ethnicity” gained prominence primarily in the 20th century.

My investigation adds to STS scholarship on histories of race and biomedicine by addressing what I argue has been a blind spot in this area of research. While STS scholars have thoroughly examined the emergence and persistence of the construction of race in the biomedical sciences (Fujimura et al., 2008; Fullwiley, 2008), ethnicity has not been subject to the same degree of careful critical and historical analysis. This research aims to inform contemporary debates surrounding the use of race and ethnicity in genetics and genomics research.

I begin with an overview of the development of concepts such as “ethnic factor” and “ethnic group,” which provides context for the subsequent emergence of “ethnicity,” in turn-of-the-century anthropology and economics through the works of anthropologist Franz Boas and ethnologist and economist William Ripley. Aided by this historical context, I trace the evolution of the concepts “ethnic” and “ethnicity” in human genetics by examining their function and meaning in the American Journal of Human Genetics from 1948 to 2018. I conclude with a discussion of the implications of my findings for contemporary discussions of the uses of race and ethnicity in genetics and biomedicine.

Fujimura JH, Duster T and Rajagopalan R. (2008) Introduction: Race, Genetics, and Disease: Questions of Evidence, Matters of Consequence. Social Studies of Science 38: 643-656.

Fullwiley D. (2008) The Biologistical Construction of Race: 'Admixture' Technology and the New Genetic Medicine. Social Studies of Science 38: 695-735.

Authors

• Yen Ji Julia Byeon, National Human Genome Research Institute

• Chistopher Donohue, National Human Genome Research Institute

• Vence L. Bonham, National Human Genome Research Institute