The (Mis)appropriation of Biological Anthropology in Race Science and the Implications for Forensic Anthropology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donovan Adams ◽  
Marin Pilloud
Keyword(s):  
Racial Differences ◽  
Forensic Anthropology ◽  
Average Power ◽  
Biological Anthropology ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Human Variation ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Race Science ◽  
Dental Traits ◽  
Biological Race

Most biological anthropologists acknowledge that phenotypic human variation is distinct from human race. However, there is the potential for the research on human variation to be (mis)interpreted by the public as a reification of biological races. To explore this possible misuse, this study is a content analysis of articles (n = 1146) in the prominent race science journals Mankind Quarterly; The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies; and The Occidental Quarterly. The goal is to investigate how race science employs research in biological and forensic anthropology to justify arguments. Articles were evaluated according to country affiliation, discipline, data sets, racial/ethnic terminology, position on racial hierarchy, position on racial segregation and eugenics, focus of study, views of scientific community, and the average power index (PI). Additionally, specific examples of (mis)appropriation are highlighted. Though the primary discipline represented in these publications is psychology, biological anthropology maintains a presence. Skeletal and dental traits, genetics, and paleoanthropological data are used to argue for biological racial differences and taxonomic distinctions. The research of forensic ancestry estimation was regularly used to legitimize the concept of biological race. While the PIs of the articles are low, they are present on the internet and circulate within social media. The continued use of biological anthropology to reinforce racial essentialism should force practitioners to question the ethical implications of their research. Finally, we provide discussion regarding shiftsin methodology and terminology to address how biological and forensic anthropologists can rectify the damage this research may directly and indirectly cause.

On WEIRD Anthropologists and Their White Skeletons

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Go ◽  
Nandar Yukyi ◽  
Elaine Chu
Keyword(s):  
Forensic Anthropology ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Biological Anthropology ◽  
Human Variation ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Scientific Enterprise ◽  
The Past ◽  
Certification And Accreditation ◽  
Objective Tool

Most forensic anthropologists and the populations they study are WEIRD—that is, Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic. In their interventions into the WEIRD, Clancy and Davis (2019) contend that WEIRD is a euphemism for white and that it is the white, Western European–derived scientists and subjects that skew the predominating narrative of the human condition. While they demonstrate how biological anthropology can decenter the WEIRD, it is fruitful to extend their framework specifically to forensic anthropology. We argue that the scientific enterprise of forensic anthropology is unique in that: (1) it is touted as an objective tool that must operate within medicolegal systems, (2) it involves board certification and accreditation standards, and (3) it holds ancestry and race as core to its practice. In a bibliometric survey of journal articles over the past five years (n = 793), we find that up to 79% of authors originate from WEIRD contexts. In articles specifically studying ancestry, European-derived populations are included 88% of the time as a category for comparison to other groups, while only 12% do not include Europeans. Furthermore, 49% of articles unrelated to ancestry use white subjects solely or in part, reinforcing a historic tendency to measure all human variation against one particular norm. We also find that WEIRD articles receive significantly more recognition than non-WEIRD counterparts. In this reflexive and positional exercise, we hope to make visible how whiteness as WEIRDness informs the history, values, and practices of forensic anthropology on a global scale.

Terminology Used to Describe Human Variation in Forensic Anthropology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marin Pilloud ◽  
Cassie Skipper ◽  
SaMoura Horsley ◽  
Alba Craig ◽  
Krista Latham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forensic Anthropology ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Forensic Sciences ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Human Variation ◽  
Systemic Racism ◽  
Ancestry Estimation ◽  
Anthropological Research ◽  
Continued Use ◽  
The U.S

To understand the implications of the forensic anthropological practice of “ancestry” estimation, we explore terminology that has been employed in forensic anthropological research. The goal is to evaluate how such terms can often circulate within social contexts as a result, which may center forensic anthropologists as constituting “race” itself through analysis and categorization. This research evaluates terminology used in anthropological articles of the Journal of Forensic Sciences between 1972 and 2020 (n = 314). Terminology was placed into two categories: classifiers and descriptors. Classifiers were standardized into one of five options: “race,” “ancestry,” “population,” “ethnic,” or “other.” Descriptors included terms used to describe individuals within these classificatory systems. We also compared these terms to those in the NamUs database and the U.S. census. Our results found that the terms “ancestry” and “race” are often conflated and “ancestry” largely supplanted “race” in the 1990s without a similar change in research approach. The NamUs and census terminology are not the same as that used in forensic anthropological research; illustrating a disconnect in the terms used to identify the missing, unidentified, and in social contexts with those used in anthropological research. We provide histories of all of these terms and conclude with suggestions for how to use terminology in the future. It is important for forensic anthropologists to be cognizant of the terms they use in medicolegal contexts, publications, and in public and/or professional spaces. The continued use of misrepresentative and improper language further marginalizes groups and perpetuates oppression rooted in systemic racism.

Victims of Violence in Fiji

1995 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 666-670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saxby Pridmore ◽  
Kim Ryan ◽  
Leigh Blizzard
Keyword(s):  
Racial Differences ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Male Violence ◽  
Fatal Injury ◽  
Female Violence ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Victims Of Violence

Objective: The aim of the paper is to examine the statistics for violence performed by self or others in Fiji during the period 1969–1989 in the following sub-classifications: (1) fatal vs non-fatal; (2) Fijian vs Indian; and (3) male vs female. Method: Crude rates per 100,000 were determined and the data sets were statistically examined. Results: (1) Violence by self, which includes suicide and non-fatal injury by self, has significantly increased; (2) Indian violence by self has increased in both males and females; (3) suicide is 4 times more common than homicide, whereas non-fatal injury by others is 4 times more common than non-fatal injury by self; (4) non-fatal injury by self is 8 times more common than suicide, whereas non-fatal injury by others is over 100 times more common than homicide; (5) Indian violence by self is 6 times more common than Fijian violence by self, whereas Fijians experience violence by others 2.5 times more commonly than Indians; (6) female violence by self is 1.5 times more common than male violence by self, whereas male violence by others is 3 times more common than female violence by others; (7) the rates of suicide and homicide are low by international standards; and (8) Fijian violence by self is particularly low, but consistent with the low suicide rate of the indigenous populations in surrounding geographical regions. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that racial differences in violence are likely to be due to cultural factors.

Virtual Forensic Anthropology Applications of Advanced Computer Graphics Technology to the Identification of Human Remains

2011 ◽  
pp. 217-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie L. Davy-Jow ◽  
Summer J. Decker ◽  
Damian Schofield
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Forensic Anthropology ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Physical Anthropology ◽  
Biological Anthropology ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Case Work ◽  
Advanced Computer

Anthropology is the “study of man” and encompasses a diverse range of topics, including socio-cultural studies, linguistics, archaeology, and physical anthropology. Physical anthropology, or “biological” anthropology, the study of humans both living and deceased, can be further subcategorized into osteology, primatology, human evolution, and forensic anthropology. Forensic anthropology is the application of physical anthropology techniques to medico-legal settings. Virtual Reality (VR) is being applied to forensic anthropology in a multitude of ways to benefit research and teaching. Several large-scale projects have been launched to digitize, reconstruct, and disseminate specimens (for example, http://www.virtual-anthropology.com). This chapter will begin with an overview of the discipline of forensic anthropology and discuss a number of representative applications of VR technology in this field that are changing the way in which case work may be handled in the future.

scholarly journals The Difficulty of Sexing Skeletons from Unknown Populations

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Sierp ◽  
Maciej Henneberg
Keyword(s):  
Morphometric Analysis ◽  
Forensic Anthropology ◽  
Skeletal Remains ◽  
Biological Anthropology ◽  
Single Individual ◽  
Geometric Morphometric ◽  
Chi Squared ◽  
Geometric Morphometric Analysis ◽  
Forensic Setting

Determination of sex from skeletal remains is performed using a number of methods developed by biological anthropology. They must be evaluated for consistency and for their performance in a forensic setting. Twenty skeletons of varied provenance had their sex determined by 15 existing methods of forensic anthropology (7 metric and 8 morphological). The methods were evaluated for their consistency in determination of sex. No single individual was identified as belonging to one sex exclusively. Ambiguous results were obtained by metric methods for fourteen individuals (70%) and by morphological methods for only five individuals (25%) (Chi-squared = 4.3, df = 1, P<0.05). Methods which use the size of bones as an indicator of sex perform poorly on skeletal remains of individuals of unknown provenance. Methods which combine morphologic and metric techniques, that is, geometric morphometric analysis, may result in greater levels of consistency.

scholarly journals COVID-19’s Socioeconomic Impact on Low-Income Benefit Recipients: Early Evidence from Tracking Surveys

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 237802312097079
Author(s):  
Diana Enriquez ◽  
Adam Goldstein
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Racial Differences ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Census Bureau ◽  
Socioeconomic Impact ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Online Surveys ◽  
Assistance Program ◽  
Early Evidence ◽  
The Impact

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has introduced manifold dislocations in Americans’ lives. Using novel survey data samples of Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients and U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey data, the authors examine the incidence of COVID-19-induced hardships among low-income/benefits-eligible households during the early months of the crisis. Five repeated online surveys of SNAP recipients measured perceived and realized housing insecurity, food scarcity, new debt accrual, and recent job loss. These data were supplemented by creating parallel measures among all low-income households from Household Pulse Survey. Food insecurity and debt accrual grew more prevalent between from April to June 2020, and job losses compounded. Although the magnitude of racial differences varies across indicators and data sources, black respondents fared consistently worse than non-Hispanic whites in both survey data sets, and Latinx respondents fared worse than whites in the Household Pulse Survey. These results provide early systematic evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on poor Americans and racial disparities therein.

Racial Differences in Evaluations of the Mass Media

1992 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee B. Becker ◽  
Gerald M. Kosicki ◽  
Felecia Jones
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Racial Differences ◽  
News Media ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
White People ◽  
The Media ◽  
Blacks And Whites ◽  
The Mass Media

Analysis of two national data sets reveals that African-Americans in general know less about how the mass media operate, see fewer outside influences on the media, see themselves as having less influence on the media and are less cynical about the media than are whites. African-Americans who have the most contact with the dominant white society do evaluate the media as being more biased, compared with those with less contact with white people. Blacks and whites alike judged the news media to be influenced by advertisers, big business, unions and to be influenced by the two major political parties. If many news media are part of large corporations, this fact has not gone unnoticed by audiences, fairly or not.

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