Amerindians, Europeans, Makiritare, Mestizos, Puerto Rican, and Quechua

Categorical Heterogeneity in Latin American Human Biology

Bibliographic Data

ID8049541
AuthorsSantiago J Molina (0000-0001-9049-518X, University of California, Berkeley, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume25
Issue5
Pages655-679
Publication date2017-09-22
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePerspectives on Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1063-6145 • E-ISSN: 1530-9274
PublisherThe MIT Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1162/posc_a_00258
OpenAlexW2757845224
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited54

The process by which scientists adopt and use socially constructed categories to classify their human subjects is complex. Scientists have used a wide variety of seemingly incongruous racial, ethnic, geographic, linguistic and national categories in their studies of human biological variation. This article details the epistemic rationale behind the system of classification found in mid-twentieth century human biology. The populationist rationale, I argue, entails agnosticism towards the reality of categories and supported the use of flexible standards around sampling and labeling. Looking closely at the categories used in projects in Latin America illustrates how the distinction between “primitive” and “industrialized” structured the classification system used by researchers to render populations productive

Agnosticism · Categorical variable · Race, Genetics, and Society