In genetics laboratories in Latin America, scientists have been mapping the genomes of local populations, seeking to locate the genetic basis of complex diseases and to trace population histories. As part of their work, geneticists often calculate the European, African, and Amerindian genetic ancestry of populations. Some researchers explicitly connect their findings to questions of national identity and racial and ethnic difference, bringing their research to bear on issues of politics and identity.
Drawing on ethnographic research in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, the contributors to Mestizo Genomics explore how the concepts of race, ethnicity, nation, and gender enter into and are affected by genomic research. In Latin America, national identities are often based on ideas about mestizaje (race mixture), rather than racial division. Since mestizaje is said to involve relations between European men and indigenous or African women, gender is a key factor in Latin American genomics and in the analyses in this book. Also important are links between contemporary genomics and recent moves toward official multiculturalism in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. One of the first studies of its kind, Mestizo Genomics sheds new light on the interrelations between "race," identity, and genomics in Latin America.
Contributors. Adriana Díaz del Castillo H., Roosbelinda Cárdenas, Vivette García Deister, Verlan Valle Gaspar Neto, Michael Kent, Carlos López Beltrán, María Fernanda Olarte Sierra, Eduardo Restrepo, Mariana Rios Sandoval, Ernesto Schwartz-Marín, Ricardo Ventura Santos, Peter Wade
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Genomics, Race Mixture, and Nation in Latin America - Peter Wade, Carlos Lopez Beltran, Eduardo Restrepo, and Ricardo Venture Santos
- Part I: History and Context
- Chapter 1. From Degeneration to Meeting Point: Historical Views on Race, Mixture, and the Biological Diversity of the Brazilian Population - Ricardo Ventura Santos, Michael Kent, and Verlan Valle Gaspar Neto
- Chapter 2. Nation and Difference in the Genetic Imagination of Colombia - Eduardo Restrepo, Ernesto Schwartz-Marín, and Roosbelinda Cárdenas
- Chapter 3. Negotiating the Mexican Mestizo: On the Possibility of a National Genomics - Carlos López Beltrán, Vivette García Deister, and Mariana Rios Sandoval
- Part II: Laboratory Case Studies
- Chapter 4. “The Charrua Are Alive”: The Genetic Resurrection of an Extinct Indigenous Population in Southern Brazil - Michael Kent and Ricardo Ventura Santos
- Chapter 5. The Travels of Humans, Categories,and Other Genetic Products: A Case Study of the Practice of Population Genetics in Colombia - María Fernanda Olarte Sierra and Adriana Díaz del Castillo H.
- Chapter 6. Laboratory Life of the Mexican Mestizo - Vivette García Deister
- Chapter 7. Social Categories and Laboratory Practicesin Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico: A Comparative Overview - Peter Wade, Vivette García Deister, Michael Kent, and María Fernanda Olarte Sierra
- Conclusion: Race, Multiculturalism, and Genomics in Latin America - Peter Wade
- Appendix: Methods and Context
- References
- Contributors
- Index
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