Many of us have been taught to think of race as a fixed, genetically mediated, biological characteristic of humans. However, “‘race’ is chiefly a social category that encompasses what is commonly referred to as ethnicity—common geographic origins, ancestry, family patterns, cultural norms and traditions, and the social history of specific groups,” explains Professor David R. Williams of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. Medical journal articles and reports that refer to race rarely define it, and when they do, the definitions are inconsistent and vary in their validity. The same
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