​Åpent debattmøte: HVA ER RASE?

Debatten innledes med foredraget "Tales of the ex-Apes: How We Think About Race" av professor i biologisk antropologi Jonathan Marks.

Åpent debattmøte: What is race? 

4 September 2015, 19:00,  Norsk Teknisk Museum

For english text scroll down.

De siste åras teknologiske revolusjon i DNA-forskningen har ført med seg en boom i studier av folkegruppers genetikk. I rettsmedisin benyttes nå DNA-markører for etnisk identifisering. Medisinsk forskning kartlegger sammenhenger mellom etnisitet, “rase”, genetikk og disposisjon for sykdom, og i arkeologien benyttes DNA-undersøkelser av forhistoriske skjeletter og nålevende befolkninger til å undersøke relasjoner mellom etniske grupper i fortid og nåtid. Slik forskning har fått mye offentlig oppmerksomhet, og har ført til at flere historikere, vitenskapsfilosofer, samfunnsforskere, biologiske antropologer og genetikere har begynt å spørre i hvilken grad vi ser en framvekst av nye (eller en gjennoppliving av gamle) ideer biologiske ideer om rase, opphav og etnisitet. Derfor ønsker vi å sette spørsmålet "Hva er rase?" på dagsordenen.

Et eksempel er diskusjonen om BiDil, en hjertmedisin som er godkjent av helsemyndighetene i USA, som et medikament spesielt tilpasset afrikansk-amerikanere. Kritikere har påpekt svakheter i uttestingen av medikamentet, og hevder at “rase” slik dette har blitt benyttet som kriterium i denne forskningen ikke nødvendigvis sammenfaller med relevante genetiske forskjeller i befolkningen, og at forskningen slik sett bidrar til å fremme ubegrunnede forestillinger om grunnleggende genetiske forskjeller mellom ”raser”.

Professor Jonathan Marks, som innleder debatten, er en sentral deltaker i det internasjonale vitenskapelige ordskiftet om disse spørsmålene og har skrevet bøker som Tales of the ex-Apes: How We Think about Human Evolution (som utgis i September 2015), Why I Am Not a Scientist (2009), og What It Means to Be 98% Chimpanzee (2002).

Tales of the ex-Apes: How We Think About Race
The study of human origins and diversity is reflexive and bio-political, and quite different from other sciences. Because this science strives to answer primal questions – “Who are we?” and “Where did we come from?” – it incorporates a narrative or storytelling aspect, itself a unique product of human evolution, to a much greater extent than other sciences do. The two major breakthroughs of this science, biological anthropology, have been (1) that humans are descended from apes, in the mid-19th century; and (2) that patterns of human variation are quite different from racial categories, in the mid-20th century.

Debattmøtet arrangeres i forbindelse med forsker-workshop’en "Ancestry, ethnicity, race and DNA 1990-2015", og et internasjonalt knippe av fagfolk fra genetikk, biologisk antropologi, sosialantropologi, filosofi og vitenskapshistorie, vil være tilstede i salen og bidra i debatten. (http://www.ethnicityandrace.com/workshop-2.html). Møtet er relatert til Teknisk museums forskningsprosjekt "From racial typology to DNA sequencing: 'Race' and 'ethnicity' and the science of human genetic variation 1945-2012" (http://www.ethnicityandrace.com/debate.html).

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Public Debate: What is race?
4 September 2015, 19:00, Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology

The debate will be introduced by professor of biological anthropology Jonathan Marks with a lecture on "Tales of the ex-Apes: How We Think About Race".

The technological revolution in DNA research during the last couple of decades has led to a boom in research on human population genetics. Forensic science uses DNA as a marker for ethnic identification, medical research explores the relationship between ethnicity, 'race', genetics, and disposition towards certain health risks, while DNA from ancient bones is used to investigate the relationships between past and present populations and reconstruct prehistoric population movements. Such research has received much public attention and has led to several historians and philosophers of science, social scientists, biological anthropologists and geneticists raising the question whether we are witnessing the emergence of new (or revival of old) biological ideas about race, origins, and ethnicity. With this debate, we want to put the question What is race? on the agenda.

Professor Jonathan Marks is a key participant in the international discussions on these issues and has written extensively on relevant topics. Some of his most recent writings include: Tales of the ex-Apes: How We Think about Human Evolution (to be released in September 2015), Why I Am Not a Scientist (2009), and What It Means to Be 98% Chimpanzee (2002).

"Tales of the ex-Apes: How We Think About Race" abstract
The study of human origins and diversity is reflexive and bio-political, and quite different from other sciences. Because this science strives to answer primal questions – “Who are we?” and “Where did we come from?” – it incorporates a narrative or storytelling aspect, itself a unique product of human evolution, to a much greater extent than other sciences do. The two major breakthroughs of this science, biological anthropology, have been (1) that humans are descended from apes, in the mid-19th century; and (2) that patterns of human variation are quite different from racial categories, in the mid-20th century.

The debate is arranged in connection with the research workshop Ancestry, ethnicity, race, and DNA 1990-2015 (http://www.ethnicityandrace.com/workshop-2.html), and an international group of geneticists, biological and social anthropologists, and historians and philosophers of science will attend the debate and contribute to the discussion. The discussion is also associated with the Museum’s research project "From racial typology to DNA sequencing: 'Race' and 'ethnicity' and the science of human genetic variation 1945-2012" (http://www.ethnicityandrace.com/).

The lecture and discussion will be held in english.