Multidisciplinary Study of Race Appearance Ancestry Discrimination & Prejudice

描述(申请人提供)：美国民权运动发生在近半个世纪前，但在健康和司法方面仍然存在显著的种族差异。消除这些差异是许多人的共同目标，包括生物医学研究人员、医学从业者、法律学者和律师。与主导20世纪初的绝对论观点相比，美国人对种族概念的理解更加微妙。种族歧视本身就是一个健康风险因素，而且已知会因外表而异(例如皮肤色素沉着)。越来越多的美国人不属于一个明确的种族类别，这个问题困扰着研究人员(生物医学和社会学)，并阻碍我们努力了解造成差异的遗传和环境因素以及基因与环境的相互作用。尽管如此，为解决差距和促进平等而实施的政策机制仍然依赖绝对种族的概念。我们如何看待种族、外表和血统可能会对当今显性和隐性种族主义的表现产生重要影响，了解这些关系可能会提高我们制定有效政策和教育工具以消除卫生和司法方面差异的能力。我致力于将种族作为一种生物文化现象进行研究，并致力于消除健康和正义方面的种族差异的最终目标。拟议的职业发展计划是为我的多学科背景量身定做的，旨在帮助我在多学科学院获得全职教师职位，或在一流大学获得双系职位。在来自不同学科的杰出学者的指导下--包括初级导师和种族/民族/祖先专家Charmaine Royal博士；ELSI学者Robert Cook-Deegan博士和法学教授Guy-Uriel Charles)，我将加强我先前在人类学、遗传学和法学方面的培训，并通过以下方式为自己的职业独立做好准备：(1)获得社会科学研究设计和分析以及多元统计分析方面的额外培训；(2)获得涉及DNA血统测试、种族认同问题和少数族裔人口的研究经验；(3)为跨学科听众的课程开发有效的教学技术；(4)提高我的资历；(5)在我的专业领域发表更多的法律评论文章；(6)建立协作的、多学科的关系。职业发展计划包括正式培训、非正式研讨会、定期研讨会和参加国家专业会议，以保持对人类学、遗传学和ELSI主题的当前理解，同时建立我的法律出版记录，并为我的独立研究议程奠定基础。这项拟议的研究试图使用多学科方法解决健康和司法方面的种族差异问题。首先，这个项目将涉及生物人类学研究，以探索类别种族、外貌、家谱祖先、感知祖先和基因组祖先之间的关系。第二，该项目将涉及法律研究，以探索刑事和民事法律背景下的种族差异是否更适合归因于外表或被认为是血统而不是绝对种族，以及现有法律框架如何能够处理更微妙的种族歧视形式。第三，这个项目将涉及文化人类学研究，以探索对种族、外表和血统的看法，以及未来法律和医疗从业者的隐性种族偏见。总而言之，该项目的研究目标将对生物医学研究、医疗实践和法律实践产生广泛影响，并将帮助我们更接近消除健康和司法方面的种族差异。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The U.S. civil rights movement took place nearly a half century ago, yet significant racial disparities persist in health and justice. The elimination of these disparities is a goal shared by many, including biomedical researchers, medical practitioners, legal scholars, and attorneys. The way in which Americans conceptualize race is more nuanced than the categorical perspective that dominated the early 20th Century. Racial discrimination is itself a health risk factor and known to vary by appearance (e.g. skin pigmentation). A growing number of Americans do not fall within the clear confines of one racial category, an issue that plagues researchers (biomedical and sociological alike) and hinders our efforts to understand the genetic and environmental factors and gene-environment interactions that contribute to the disparities. Despite this, policy mechanisms implemented to resolve the disparities and promote equality continue to rely on concepts of categorical race. How we perceive race, appearance, and ancestry may have important implications for today's manifestations of explicit and implicit racism and understanding these relationships may improve our ability to develop effective policies and educational tools to eliminate disparities in health and justice. I have devoted my career and training to the study of race as a bio-cultural phenomenon and to the ultimate goal of eliminating racial disparities in health and justice. The proposed career development plan is tailored to my multidisciplinary background and is designed to help me secure a full-time faculty position in a multidisciplinary institute or a dual-departmental appointment at a premiere university. With mentor support from accomplished scholars from diverse disciplines - including primary mentor and race/ethnicity/ancestry expert, Dr. Charmaine Royal; ELSI scholar, Dr. Robert Cook-Deegan; and Law Professor Guy-Uriel Charles), I will enhance my prior training in anthropology, genetics, and law and prepare myself for professional independence by (1) gaining additional training in social science research design and analysis and multivariate statistical analysis; (2) gaining experience with research involving DNA ancestry testing, racial identity issues, and minority populations; (3) developing effective teaching techniques for courses with interdisciplinary audiences; (4) improving my grantsmanship; (5) publishing additional law review articles in my area of expertise; and (6) building collaborative, multidisciplinary relationships. The career development plan consists of formal training, informal workshops, regular seminars, and attendance at national professional meetings to maintain a current understanding of anthropology, genetics, and ELSI topics while building my legal publication record and the foundation for my independent research agenda. This proposed research seeks to address racial disparities in health and justice using a multidisciplinary approach. First, this project will involve biological anthropology research to explore the relationships between categorical race, physical appearance, genealogical ancestry, perceived ancestry, and genomic ancestry. Second, this project will involve legal research to explore whether racial disparities in criminal and civil legal contexts are more appropriately attributable to appearance or perceived ancestry as opposed to categorical race and how the existing legal framework can address more nuanced forms of racial discrimination. Third, this project will involve cultural anthropology research to explore the perceptions of race, appearance, and ancestry and the implicit racial prejudices of future legal and medical practitioners. Together, the research aims of this project will have broad implications for biomedical research, medical practice, and legal practice and will help us come closer to eliminating racial disparities in health and justice.