Science - USA (2022-01-28)

390 28 JANUARY 2022 • VOL 375 ISSUE 6579 science.org SCIENCE

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ByAgustín Fuentes

I

t is scientifically irrefutable that hu-

man “race” (e.g., Asian, Black, white,

etc.) is not a valid biological category. It

is equally a fact that humans vary bio-

logically on multiple dimensions, pat-

terns, and processes, and some of this

variation is meaningful and fundamental to

understanding human diversity. Simultane-

ously, race is real as a lived experience with

substantive social and biological outcomes,

and race is central in society owing to the

systemic and maleficent processes of rac-

ism. Unfortunately, being attentive to and

comprehending this complex assemblage

of facts is not how most people, including

many scientists, think about race. Joseph

Graves Jr. and Alan Goodman’s unflinching

commitment to the integration of biologi-

cal and social data and processes alongside

historical and contemporary assessments

of systemic racism in Racism, Not Race is

therefore powerful and necessary.

The authors achieve this integrative ap-

proach effectively, in part because of who

they are: an evolutionary biologist and a bio-

logical anthropologist, a Black American and

a white American. Graves was the first Afri-

can American to earn a doctorate in evolu-

tionary biology in the United States. He is a

prominent scholar of Drosophila life history

and aging and a pioneer in the study of bio-

logical and social concepts of race. Goodman

played a foundational role in the develop-

ment and dissemination of the biocultural

approach in anthropology and human bi-

ology and is a key figure in anthropology’s

public actions around race and racism.

The power of this book comes from its

holistic and data-driven insertion of rac-

ism into the analyses of race and biol-

ogy. Framing the discussion in the form

of questions, Graves and Goodman guide

the reader to a more accurate understand-

ing of racism and race than many similar

texts offer. Each chapter contains a set

of questions, asked and then answered,

that references data, analyses, inference,

and consequence. Chapter 1 presents a

history of how “race” became biological,

and chapters 2 and 3 offer overviews of

genetics and race and an examination of

racism. Chapters 4 through 10 tackle the

intersections of race/racism and disease,

life history, aging and mortality, athletics,

ancestry testing, and intelligence, as well

as the structures and outcomes of systemic

racism, the history of race names, and the

erroneous notions of “race mixing.” The

final chapter lays out the authors’ vision

for creating an antiracist society, and the

conclusion reviews the 10 key points of the

book, ending with a core premise of the

text: “Antiracism starts with understand-

ing what race is and isn’t.”

The book is outstanding, but I have a few

quibbles. To say that someone is 16% Euro-

pean or 67% African is not a biological state-

ment, but it can sound like one. The authors

clearly demonstrate that continental labels

(e.g., “African,” “Asian,” “European”) are not

accurate or effective categorizations of hu-

man biological variation, but they none-

theless employ such nomenclature. Such

categories are commonly used to represent

human groups in much of the biological,

psychological, and medical research the

authors consider, but we scientists need to

stop using them when discussing human

biological variation. Also, given how poorly

ancestry testing is understood by the pub-

lic, I would have liked to have seen more

detail about what genetic ancestry is from

a molecular and/or evolutionary perspec-

tive and how it is structured. And finally,

the authors missed an opportunity to en-

gage fully with human evolution research.

Our current understanding of the dynamics

and complexity of the Pleistocene has the

potential to add substantially to discussions

about human variation, race, and racism.

My minor critiques in no way diminish the

importance, and quality, of this text. It will be

appealing to the interested public and college

students and would be a terrific keystone for

biology and anthropology courses. However,

I think the book does extra work for schol-

ars, confirming a necessary role for active an-

tiracism on the part of scientists, especially

those in the biological and social sciences. In

chapter 11, for example, the authors point to

a series of actions that are necessary for an

antiracist and just society. Here, those who

believe that scientists and the practice of sci-

ence are and can be “neutral” will be made

uncomfortable, as the authors illustrate with

data and arguments that a main roadblock to

the accumulation of scientific knowledge and

to the practice of science itself is the abuse

and misuse of “science” in support of racism.

Racism and white supremacy are killing

people every day, harming society at large,

and fostering deep injustice. Graves and

Goodman demonstrate why antiracism is

not just an ethical and scientifically correct

position, but why it is also necessary for the

future of science and society. j

10.1126/science.abn7276

RACE AND SCIENCE

Biology versus bias

A pair of scholars confront the pernicious role played by

racism in shaping our understanding of human difference

Racism, Not Race:

Answers to Frequently

Asked Questions

Joseph L. Graves Jr. and

Alan H. Goodman

Columbia University

Press, 2021. 320 pp.

Medical myths rooted in racism can negatively impact the health outcomes of people of color.

INSIGHTS | BOOKS

The reviewer is at the Department of Anthropology,

Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.

Email: [email protected]