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. 2017 Sep;119(3):422-434.
doi: 10.1111/aman.12890. Epub 2017 Aug 14.

A Qualitative Analysis of How Anthropologists Interpret the Race Construct

Jayne O Ifekwunigwe  1 , Jennifer K Wagner  2 , Joon-Ho Yu  3 , Tanya M Harrell  4 , Michael J Bamshad  5 , Charmaine D Royal  6
Affiliations

A Qualitative Analysis of How Anthropologists Interpret the Race Construct

Jayne O Ifekwunigwe et al. Am Anthropol. 2017 Sep.

Abstract
in English, Spanish

This article assesses anthropological thinking about the race concept and its applications. Drawn from a broader national survey of geneticists' and anthropologists' views on race, in this analysis, we provide a qualitative account of anthropologists' perspectives. We delve deeper than simply asserting that "race is a social construct." Instead, we explore the differential ways in which anthropologists describe and interpret how race is constructed. Utilizing the heuristic of constructors, shifters, and reconcilers, we also illustrate the ways in which anthropologists conceptualize their interpretations of race along a broad spectrum as well as what these differential approaches reveal about the ideological and biological consequences of socially defined races, such as racism in general and racialized health disparities in particular. [race concept, social construction, racism, health disparities].

Este artículo evalúa el pensamiento antropológico acerca del concepto de raza y sus aplicaciones. Derivado de una encuesta nacional más amplia de las opiniones de genetistas y antropólogos sobre la raza, en este análisis proveemos un reporte cualitativo, de las perspectivas de los antropólogos. Ahondamos más que simplemente afirmar que “la raza es un constructo social”. En cambio, exploramos las formas diferenciales en que los antropólogos describen e interpretan cómo la raza es construida. Utilizando la heurística de constructores, desplazadores, y reconciliadores, también ilustramos las maneras en las que los antropólogos conceptualizan sus interpretaciones de la raza a lo largo de un amplio espectro, y lo que estas aproximaciones diferenciales revelan acerca de las consecuencias ideológicas y biológicas de las razas definidas socialmente, tales como racismo, en general, y las disparidades racializadas en salud, en particular. [concepto de raza, construcción social, racismo, disparidades de salud].

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References

    1. AAA (American Anthropological Association). 1998. “AAA Statement on Race.” May 17 http://www.americananthro.org/ConnectWithAAA/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=2583
    1. Abraham Laurie Kaye. 1993. Mama Might Be Better Off Dead: The Failure of Health Care in Urban America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
    1. Allen Jafari Sinclaire, and Jobson Ryan Cecil. 2016. “The Decolonizing Generation: (Race and) Theory in Anthropology Since the Eighties.” Current Anthropology 57 (2): 129–48.
    1. Allison Anne, and Piot Charles D.. 2013. “Editor’s Note.” Cultural Anthropology 28 (3): 369–71.
    1. Azoulay Katya. 2006. “Reflections on ‘Race’ and the Biologization of Difference.” Patterns of Prejudice 40 (4/5): 353–79.

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