Racializing narratives: obesity, diabetes and the "Aboriginal" thrifty genotype

Abstract

This post-colonial reading of narratives of obesity, diabetes, and the hypothesized "thrifty genotype" ascribed to Aboriginal peoples shows how scientific and popular texts support the belief in biological "race." Although the scientific consensus is that "race" is not a empirical category, many scientists use it without comment as a "crude proxy" for presumed genetic differences. The division between science and the social sciences/humanities protects such confusing practices from full scientific and social critique, something interdisciplinary research teams, science studies and improved peer review could provide.