Race and Health: Dilemmas of the South African health researcher

Volmink, Jimmy; Hendricks, Lynn; Mazibuko, Lindokuhle; Swartz, Leslie

doi:10.18820/9781928480495/07

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Someone's self-identified or assigned race or ethnicity may therefore differ considerably from data computed using AIMs [ancestry informative markers], and may also reflect multiple ancestral origins. 12 The concern in this chapter is with the understanding and use of race in health and clinical research settings. The authors make a case for a nuanced approach to the use of racial terminology that takes into account the various environmental and genetic influences that could be at play in any particular health setting.…”

Section: Unlike Race or Ethnicity Which Is Concerned With How A Person Fits Into A Particular Group Genetic Ancestry Focuses On How An Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This difference between race, ethnicity and genetic ancestry is made clear by Jimmy Volmink, Lynn Hendricks, Lindokuhle Mazibuko and Leslie Swartz in their contribution 'Race and Health: Dilemmas of the South African health researcher'. 12 They distinguish genetic ancestry from social classifications like race and ethnicity and explain how they operate differently. They explain:…”

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confidence: 99%

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Lessons in our faults: Fault lines on race and research ethics

Msimang

2020

S. Afr. J. Sci.

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Addressing the question of race in scientific researchSince the publication of the now infamous paper 'Age-and education-related effects on cognitive functioning in Colored South African women' by Nieuwoudt and colleagues where they claim the cognitive functioning of coloured women is defective in some ways, 1 there has been renewed doubts about the legitimacy of race in research at Stellenbosch University and the controversy has become a matter of concern for universities and research ethics boards across the country. Because of the harms the Nieuwoudt paper has caused, the question of the use of race in research has re-emerged as a central concern. What researchers want to know is how to assess whether race is relevant to some question(s), how to use racial classifications if race is relevant, and when to leave race out.The attention which this paper has received is perhaps related to how it is a caricature of a more common and mundane problem about the status of race in research. Considered responses to the paper have centred on the question of how we are to use race in academic settings if at all. The Nieuwoudt paper is a caricature of the problem because the study it presented was fundamentally misguided, it relied on racist stereotypes in a quite explicit fashion, its claims about the homogeneity of the group it studied are patently false (to bolster their claim, they cited a paper that actually makes the opposite claim), and it did not meet basic scientific standards in both its claims and their assessment. 2 Because of its basic scientific failings, some academics have asked how the Nieuwoudt paper managed to pass peer review and how the research protocol managed to attain ethics approval in the first place. 3 A speculative conjecture in this regard is that the reviewers themselves may have held uncritical beliefs about race that made them overlook what, for many researchers and concerned South Africans, were glaringly dubious and problematic claims about race. 3 After a year-long investigation at Stellenbosch University, it was finally announced that 'the article was not aligned with the Research Ethics Committee (REC) approved protocol', meaning that it is arguable that this research did not follow the recommendations of the REC. 4 That the article was soon retracted by the journal for its lack of scientific merit suggests that there was a failure of quality control at the level of the peer review that the journal recognised on a second assessment. 5

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Section: Unlike Race or Ethnicity Which Is Concerned With How A Person Fits Into A Particular Group Genetic Ancestry Focuses On How An Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons in our faults: Fault lines on race and research ethics

Msimang

2020

S. Afr. J. Sci.

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“…Incomplete excision (or small biopsies) compromised histopathological assessment. The use of population group 1 as a parameter is fraught with inconsistencies (Volmink et al, 2020). The hot-deck imputation method used to determine population group when not self-reported is not statistically robust.…”

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confidence: 99%