beyond black/white

[pynchonoid]

Interesting in the light of Pynchon's racial politics,
as well as a book Dave Monroe suggested (a
recommendation I echo; other Pynchon readers are
likely to enjoy it, too) a while back, _Against Race:
Imagining Political Culture Beyond the Color Line_ by
Paul Gilroy:  


DNA evidence shows race doesn't exist
BY TINA HESMAN
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS — The recently completed Human Genome
Sequencing Project has confirmed what many scientists
knew all along — that humans don't fit the biological
criteria that defines race.

The revelation strikes at the heart of some of the
most deeply entrenched social, cultural and political
divisions among Americans. But some experts say our
conception of race is not likely to be swayed by the
DNA evidence.

Breaking down racial barriers could have implications
for medicine. Public health officials are keen to
remind people of certain ethnic or racial backgrounds
of increased risks of certain diseases. But those
risks may be due more to geography than genetics. And
classifying people into arbitrary racial groups could
impair individualized care, experts fear.

"Race is real in a political, social sense, but it's
not biological," said Alan Templeton, a population
biologist at Washington University in St. Louis.

Other species, including chimpanzees and wolves,
divide into subspecies — known in human circles as
races — but people are too good at mingling to create
a subspecies. [...] 

Humans have proved that there ain't no mountain high
enough, no ocean wide enough and no environment harsh
enough to keep them confined. Roving feet also carry
genes to different parts of the globe, ensuring that
people never display sharp distinctions in their DNA.
In fact, humans are one of the most homogenous species
on the planet, Templeton said. His Ozark mountain
collared lizards are three times more variable than
humans.

Biologists use a measurement called Wright's F
statistic, or Fst, to quantify the amount of genetic
difference, or heterozygosity, between two groups. The
scale runs from zero — no difference — to a
theoretical maximum of one — distinct populations.

A heterozygote is an individual who inherits one
version of a gene, called an allele, from the mother
and a different variant of the gene from the father.
Homozygotes inherit the same mom and pop alleles.
Alleles arise naturally. Sometimes one allele causes
disease, but most of the time the variations are
harmless, just different.

Some scientists who study insect races say that in
order to be considered different races or subspecies,
two groups must have an Fst score of at least 0.25 to
0.30. That means that at least 25 percent of their
genes must be heterozygous. But those cutoff points
are arbitrary, and many scientists refuse to pinpoint
a number that would signify when a group qualifies as
a subspecies. Many don't even recognize subspecies,
saying that the distinction has no real meaning beyond
qualifying groups of organisms for protection under
endangered species laws.

Regardless of where scientists draw the subspecies
line, they agree on one thing — humans don't come
close to crossing the racial divide.

Gray wolves split into subspecies, scoring 0.7 on
Wright's scale. Even Ozark mountain lizards living on
ridges less than a mile apart differ from each other
by an Fst score of 0.4. But human groups score only
about 0.15 on the statistical scale. That's a
worldwide total measuring all human variation. When
scientists try to measure differences between only two
groups of people, they usually find a lower score, on
average about 0.08 — only 8 percent of the genes
examined have more than one allele. The most disparate
human groups barely make the 0.25 mark, far below the
diversity seen in lizards. And even though they make
the arbitrary cutoff, those human groups are not
geographically isolated and do not qualify as races.

Any way you measure it, the amount of divergence
between people is essentially zero, said Joseph L.
Graves, Jr., an evolutionary biologist and author of
books on biology and race. It's certainly not enough
to qualify human groups as different races.

"The scientific case for the nonexistence of human
race is overwhelming," Graves said.

Humans traditionally divide people into races
according to skin color. But the association really is
only skin-deep and reveals nothing about genetic
relationships. [...] 

<http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/5846064.htm>


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