Risky cultures to risky genes: The racialised discursive construction of south Asian genetic diabetes risk

Keval, Harshad

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes within UK South Asian populations has increasingly become the focus of health science discourse. Growing rates across the globe have been a public health concern for a number of decades. Diabetes discourse has focused on lifestyle and a generalized idea of “cultural” factors as contributory factors. These have become part of what I identify as a South Asian diabetes “risk-package.” This risk formulation is extended to an additional genetic discourse which generates new causal explanations for this heightened “risk.” South Asian groups are already the subject of discursive, racialized risk constructions, which positions them as active owners of “risky culture.” The mobilization of genetic arguments repositions them as additionally passive owners of “risky genes.” I argue that the use of racial categories in genetic diabetes science, despite the relative uncertainty and ambiguity of scientific knowledge claims, is problematic and requires critical re-situating.

Citation

Keval, H. (2015). Risky cultures to risky genes: The racialised discursive construction of south Asian genetic diabetes risk. New Genetics and Society, 34(3), 274-293. https://doi.org/10.1080/14636778.2015.1036155

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 25, 2015
• Online Publication Date: May 5, 2015
• Publication Date: Jul 3, 2015
• Deposit Date: May 24, 2024
• Journal: New Genetics and Society
• Print ISSN: 1463-6778
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-9915
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 34
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 274-293
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14636778.2015.1036155
• Keywords: diabetes, race, South Asian
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/3603024