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4 - Race in the Era of Genetics and Genomics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 June 2022

Rob DeSalle  and
Ian Tattersall
Rob DeSalle
Affiliation:
American Museum of Natural History, New York
Ian Tattersall
Affiliation:
American Museum of Natural History, New York
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Summary

As scientific knowledge increased, the outward physical variation of humans on this planet posed a mystery to natural historians, and begged explanation. Why were there so many different “kinds” of people on the planet? If scientists could understand how this variation worked in nature, then perhaps, the reasoning went, we could understand why people appear different.

Keywords

Adaptationbiological classificationclinesethnicityeugenicsgeneticsgenomicsHomo sapienshuman evolutionhuman raceshuman variationphylogenypseudoscienceraceracesracismspeciesspecies diagnosissubspeciessystematics
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Understanding Race , pp. 45 - 66
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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