In the summer of 1991, population geneticists and evolutionary
biologists proposed to archive human genetic diversity by collecting the
genomes of "isolated indigenous populations." Their initiative, which
became known as the Human Genome Diversity Project, generated early
enthusiasm from those who believed it would enable huge advances in our
understanding of human evolution. However, vocal criticism soon emerged.
Physical anthropologists accused Project organizers of reimporting
racist categories into science. Indigenous-rights leaders saw a "Vampire
Project" that sought the blood of indigenous people but not their
well-being. More than a decade later, the effort is barely off the
ground.
How did an initiative whose leaders included some of biology's most
respected, socially conscious scientists become so stigmatized? How did
these model citizen-scientists come to be viewed as potential racists,
even vampires?
This book argues that the long abeyance of the Diversity Project points
to larger, fundamental questions about how to understand knowledge,
democracy, and racism in an age when expert claims about genomes
increasingly shape the possibilities for being human. Jenny Reardon
demonstrates that far from being innocent tools for fighting racism,
scientific ideas and practices embed consequential social and political
decisions about who can define race, racism, and democracy, and for what
ends. She calls for the adoption of novel conceptual tools that do not
oppose science and power, truth and racist ideologies, but rather draw
into focus their mutual constitution.
