Work

Eugenics, Epigenetics, and Obesity Predisposition among Mexican Mestizos

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: We compare the discourses on obesity found in early- and mid-twentieth century Mexican public discourse with those of Mexican geneticists and doctors today. We argue that postgenomic shifts towards non-determinism, apparently contained in current openness to epigenetics, need to be considered alongside the persistence of racialized genetic determinisms, and alongside the potential for epigenetic environmental determinisms. By exploring the environmentalist explanations of earlier eugenic thinking about obesity, we trace continuities in the gendered and racialized framings of obesity, which risk stigmatizing indigenous ancestry and attributing blame to individual mothers.

Source: Medical Anthropology

DOI: 10.1080/01459740.2019.1589466

Authors: Abril Saldaña-Tejeda, Peter Wade

Institutions: Universidad de Guanajuato, University of Manchester

Language: English

Topic: Race, Genetics, and Society

Subfield: Genetics

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: Newton Fund, British Academy