Science Pub Portland

"Modern Science and the Legacy of Scientific Racism"

Science, like other institutions, is susceptible to being imbued with the values of its practitioners and the social context in which it emerges. What questions scientists ask and how their findings are used have implications for society, particularly regarding some of the most pressing issues of our time. Through this Science Pub, we examine a brief history of how the “racial worldview” has permeated scientific endeavor in the United States. We then consider the legacies of this history on today’s science and its relationship to what we have come to call “race.” We conclude by asking what the role of science could be in intervening in racial inequality.

Emily M. Drew, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Willamette University. Her research centers upon understanding the role of race and racism in social institutions, and her most recent scholarship about gentrification in Northeast Portland appears in the Journal of Urban Affairs. She teaches courses about how racism operates in the post-Civil Rights era and co-facilitates workshops with Crossroads Antiracism Organizing and Trainer. Most recently, Drew was awarded the Community Action Research Grant for her study on the effects of immigration policy on families in the Northwest.

Chris I. Smith, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Willamette University. Chris’s research focuses on applications of genetics and genomic tools to questions in evolution and ecology, particularly the evolution of plants and insect interactions. Chris has received several major research grants from the National Science Foundation and the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust, and has published more than 20 research articles in journals such as Evolution, Heredity, and the American Naturalist. Chris is an associate editor of The Journal of Heredity. He teaches courses about evolution, ecology, and genetics. His interest in race stems from studying genetic variation in non-human animals, and teaching about human evolution.

RACE: Are We so Different?

On view at OMSI September 26, 2012-January 1, 2013

People are different. Throughout history, these differences have been a source of community strength and personal identity. They have also been the basis for discrimination and oppression. Contemporary scientific understanding of human variation now challenges the idea of racial differences, and even questions the very concept of race. RACE: Are We So Different? Is the first national exhibition to tell the story of race from biological, cultural, and historical points of view. Introducing the idea of race as a primarily social construct, as opposed to a physical reality, the exhibit invites visitors to challenge how they perceive their differences and similarities.

RACE: Are We So Different is a project of the American Anthropological Association and is sponsored by the Ford Foundation and National Science Foundation. The local sponsor for this exhibit is The Standard.