Article ID: CBB543686037

Building the Genomic Nation: ‘Homo Brasilis’ and the ‘Genoma Mexicano’ in Comparative Cultural Perspective (2015)

unapi

This article explores the relationship between genetic research, nationalism and the construction of collective social identities in Latin America. It makes a comparative analysis of two research projects – the ‘Genoma Mexicano’ and the ‘Homo Brasilis’ – both of which sought to establish national and genetic profiles. Both have reproduced and strengthened the idea of their respective nations of focus, incorporating biological elements into debates on social identities. Also, both have placed the unifying figure of the mestizo/mestiço at the heart of national identity constructions, and in so doing have displaced alternative identity categories, such as those based on race. However, having been developed in different national contexts, these projects have had distinct scientific and social trajectories: in Mexico, the genomic mestizo is mobilized mainly in relation to health, while in Brazil the key arena is that of race. We show the importance of the nation as a frame for mobilizing genetic data in public policy debates, and demonstrate how race comes in and out of focus in different Latin American national contexts of genomic research, while never completely disappearing.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB543686037/

Similar Citations

Article Michael Kent; Peter Wade; (2015)
Genetics against race: Science, politics and affirmative action in Brazil (/isis/citation/CBB435483388/)

Book Peter Wade; Carlos López Beltrán; Eduardo Restrepo; Ricardo Ventura Santos; (2014)
Mestizo Genomics: Race Mixture, Nation, and Science in Latin America (/isis/citation/CBB757107642/)

Article Peter Wade; Carlos López-Beltrán; Eduardo Restrepo; Ricardo Ventura Santos; (2015)
Genomic Research, Publics and Experts in Latin America: Nation, Race and Body (/isis/citation/CBB974769113/)

Article Ernesto Schwartz-Marín; Peter Wade; Arely Cruz-Santiago; Roosbelinda Cárdenas; (2015)
Colombian Forensic Genetics as a Form of Public Science: The Role of Race, Nation and Common Sense in the Stabilization of DNA Populations (/isis/citation/CBB672411022/)

Article Carlos López-Beltrán; Abigail Nieves Delgado; Sandra P. González-Santos; Vivette García-Deister; (2022)
The Heredity Matrix: Genetics and the Understanding of Mestizaje, Health, and Belonging in Mexico (/isis/citation/CBB464443070/)

Book Wallach, Jennifer Jensen; (2013)
How America Eats: A Social History of U.S. Food and Culture (/isis/citation/CBB001202133/)

Book Marcos Cueto; Eden Medina; Ivan da Costa Marques; Christina Holmes; (2014)
Beyond Imported Magic: Essays on Science, Technology, and Society in Latin America (/isis/citation/CBB341148554/)

Book Alejandra Uslenghi; (2016)
Latin America at Fin-de-Siecle Universal Exhibitions: Modern Cultures of Visuality (/isis/citation/CBB276690143/)

Article TallBear, Kim; (August 2013)
Genomic articulations of indigeneity (/isis/citation/CBB368828568/)

Article Vivette García-Deister; Carlos López-Beltrán; (2015)
País de gordos/país de muertos: Obesity, death and nation in biomedical and forensic genetics in Mexico (/isis/citation/CBB443121244/)

Book Thomson, Mathew; (2006)
Psychological Subjects: Identity, Culture, and Health in Twentieth-Century Britain (/isis/citation/CBB000773679/)

Book Sandra S. Lee; Barbara A. Koenig; Sarah S. Richardson; (2008)
Revisiting Race in a Genomic Age (/isis/citation/CBB269168445/)

Article Anna Jabloner; (2019)
A Tale of Two Molecular Californias (/isis/citation/CBB907999916/)

Article Frank, Reanne; (2015)
Back to the Future? The Emergence of a Geneticized Conceptualization of Race in Sociology (/isis/citation/CBB001510181/)

Article Graves, Joseph L., Jr.; (2015)
Great Is Their Sin: Biological Determinism in the Age of Genomics (/isis/citation/CBB001510179/)

Book Ian McGonigle; (2021)
Genomic Citizenship: The Molecularization of Identity in the Contemporary Middle East (/isis/citation/CBB092609489/)

Article Guido Barbujani; (2017)
What Genetics Has to Say about Racial Categorization of Humans (/isis/citation/CBB088477154/)

Article José A. Alonso-Pavón; Jocelyn Cheé-Santiago; M. Lucía Granados-Riveros; Marco D. Ornelas-Cruces; Erica Torrens-Rojas; Ana Barahona; (2021)
Genetics in Mexico: Mapping the Discipline (/isis/citation/CBB475001919/)

Book Karin Alejandra Rosemblatt; (2018)
The Science and Politics of Race in Mexico and the United States, 1910-1950 (/isis/citation/CBB428499522/)

Book Yudell, Michael; (2014)
Race Unmasked: Biology and Race in the Twentieth Century (/isis/citation/CBB001510175/)

Authors & Contributors
Wade, Peter
López-Beltrán, Carlos
Restrepo, Eduardo
Santos, Ricardo Ventura
García-Deister, Vivette
Marco D. Ornelas-Cruces
Concepts
Genetics
Race
Genomics
Science and society
Identity
Biology
Time Periods
20th century
21st century
20th century, late
20th century, early
Modern
Medieval
Places
Mexico
Latin America
Brazil
Colombia
United States
Argentina
Institutions
Human Genome Project
National Research Council (U.S.)
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment