Description
Book SynopsisPeter Wade draws on a multidisciplinary research study in Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia, arguing that genomics produces biologized versions of racialized difference within the nation and the region and that a comparative approach nuances the simple idea that highly racialized societies give rise to highly racialized genomics.
Trade Review“This book will be of great interest to historians of race in Latin America, as it is one of the first to extend the considerable scholarship on mestizaje and racial democracy (with its attendant debates) into a new era of genetics and genomics.… By opening a host of research paths for other scholars, the monograph proves itself to be ambitious and well executed.”
-- Kelly Urban * H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews *
“
Degrees of Mixture, Degrees of Freedom is an invaluable resource on the topic of race mixture for race scholars and Latin Americanists alike.” -- G. Reginald Daniel * Hispanic American Historical Review *
"Wade’s research probes the nexus of cutting-edge scientific research, historical memory, and socio-cultural scholarship. Scholars of modern Latin America, race, and the history of science will find much of use in this well written and conceptually ambitious study." -- Alex K. Diamond * EIAL *
"Overall, Wade creates a remarkably even-handed account, which is neither alarmist nor evangelistic about the potential for genomics to transform or reinforce racial ideologies. . . . the clear and concise descriptions of genetic theory and practices will serve as an excellent introduction to these concepts for uninitiated readers, and the book makes important contributions to existing social science discussions about the anti-racist and democratising potential of mixture and genomics in contemporary societies." -- Sarah Abel * Journal of Latin American Studies *
"Due to its breath and depth this is an essential book, one that will become a key academic reference about Latin American genomics, politics, and nationhood." -- Ernesto Schwartz-Marin * Ethnohistory *
"This book provides a significant and unusual contribution to the field of sciences by centering the analysis on Latin American scientists. For scholars of race in Latin America, Wade updates and complicates our understandings of how race has been made, unmade, and remade by scientists and policymakers." -- Nancy P. Appelbaum * Latin American Research Review *
Table of ContentsPreface vii
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction. Mixture as a Biological Process 1
I. Purity and Mixture
1. Purity and Mixture in Human Population Genetics 27
2. From Eugenics to Blood Types 53
II. Genetics and Multiculturalism
3. Changing Practices 85
4. Colombia, Country of Regions 99
5. Brazil, Race, and Affirmative Action 122
6. Mexico, Public Health, and State Genomics 146
7. Genomics & Multiculturalism: Comparisons and Continuities 166
III. Narrating Mixture
8. Gender, Genealogy, and Mestizaje 191
9. The Geneticization of Race and Diversity in Everyday Life 223
Conclusion 258
Notes 267
References 273
Index 315
