What does anti-racism look like in biology?
To be antiracist is to be actively engaged in the work to dismantle the injustices built by centuries of belief in a hierarchy of human value.
What does biology as a science tell us about human races?
Human races exist as cultural constructs. However, there are no biological characteristics that consistently align with cultural definitions of race. Humans are very diverse in terms of their genetics and their physical traits. This diversity largely reflects individual uniqueness and not differences among racial groups.
- Chou (2017): How science and genetics are reshaping the race debate of the 21st century.
- Goodman (2020): Race is real, but it's not genetic.
- Templeton (2013): Biological races in humans.
Resources for anti-racist practices in research and teaching
The following resources provide an entry point to learn about the history of racism and discrimination in biology and about anti-racist practices in research and teaching.
General
- Bang et al. (2018): If indigenous peoples stand with the science, will scientists stand with us?
- Chaudhary et al. (2020): Ten simple rules for building an antiracist lab.
In the classroom
- Harmon (2019): Can biology class reduce racism?
- Sathy and Hogan (2019): How to make your teaching more inclusive.
- Wray (2021): Introduction to inclusion, diversity, equity, and anti-racism in biology, a syllabus.
Ecology and evolution
- Demery et al. (2021): Safe fieldwork strategies for at-risk individuals, their supervisors and institutions.
- Tseng et al (2020): Strategies and support for Black, Indigenous, and people of colour in ecology and evolutionary biology.
- Trisos et al. (2021): Decoloniality and anti-oppressive practices for a more ethical ecology.
Molecular and microbiology
- American Society for Microbiology (2020): Diversity, equity, and inclusion taskforce report.
- Culbreath (2021): The Black clinical microbiologists on whose shoulders we stand.
- McVean (2019): 40 years of human experimentation in America: the Tuskegee study.
- Solanke (2019): Can we eradicate discrimination if we view it as a virus?