Talking About Race

Abstract

CoachingThis article is a reflection of our individual and collective experiences as university professors and researchers of color whose work addresses African American health disparities. Finding ourselves on the cusp of teaching a new course on health disparities several years ago, we each struggled with how to "talk about race" in the context of health disparities. Without such context, we worried that students might walk away from our classes convinced that the myriad health disparities among African Americans were a result of genetics, apathy, or some other abstract or unsubstantiated rationale. In fact, we were very concerned that we would somehow confirm these unsubstantiated beliefs if we did not "talk about race." As researchers of color, we felt a deep responsibility to do this in spite of its potential challenges. The purpose of this discussion is to share the common experiences of three professors who have lived experience as members of the African diaspora and as instructors in African American health disparities and to describe some pedagogical tools that helped facilitate discussions of race for students. AbstractThis article is a reflection of the individual and collective experiences of university professors of color whose work addresses African American health disparities. As instructors with the responsibility of introducing undergraduate students to the concept of health disparities, we believe it is beneficial for students to examine health disparities within the historical context of race. From our collective experiences, we offer selected resources to help students (1) understand race as a social construct and (2) understand that health disparities are not a consequence of inherent race-based biological differences. This is paramount to initiating a discussion of African American health disparities. Furthermore, this challenges students to think critically about social determinants of health and the broader ecological factors associated with health disparities. In preparing future professionals in health promotion, this results in more well-rounded practitioners who are better able to engage with more diverse communities.

Message from the Editor-in-Chief: Celebrating 10 Years of Pedagogy in Health Promotion: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

“…Developing pedagogies to address health equity, one of the most significant matters confronting public health, is an ongoing priority topic covered in this journal over the years. Our first issue set the stage with a paper by Robillard et al (2015), which provided a guide for how to "talk about race" with students and help them view race as a social construct underlying disparities in health. Harvey (2020) argues that public health pedagogy needs to move beyond an emphasis on behavioral theory and embrace "social theories of health inequality," that is, explanations of social phenomena and their role in producing inequities in health.…”

Including social determinants of health disparities in health psychology.

“…This underscores that attributing responsibility to the individual alone is inaccurate, unfair, and reductionist, and it is crucial to consider available environmental supports. Robillard et al (2015) offered methods for discussing how health disparities result from a complex interplay of environment and institutionalized racism, including how such metaphors may serve to attenuate individualistic assumptions and underscore race as a sociohistorical, rather than a biological construct.…”

Scientific Racism Attitudes Among Diverse Undergraduate Pre–Health Professions Students

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Scientific racism" describes pseudoscientific beliefs that human population differences in behavior, cognitive abilities, socioeconomic status, and physical attributes are the consequences of inflexible, biological differences between racial groups (A. Smedley & Smedley, 2005). Contrary to this view of race, the vast majority of experts agree that race is a social construction with no objective reality but is defined by collectives according to their interpretations of history and culture (Krieger, 2005;Robillard et al, 2015). The completion of the Human Genome Project further supports the view of race as a social category by producing scientific evidence that race is not biologically determined (Yudell et al, 2016), showing that about 85% of the variation in gene frequencies occurs within populations of the same race while only 15% of variation occurs between such groups (Freeman, 1998).

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