Genetics and Racial Difference in Contemporary Brazil: Haemoglobinopathies, Whiteness and Admixture in Biomedical Literature

The historical role of biomedicine in shaping and legitimising ideas of race in Brazil has long been documented. Much less discussed, however, is how contemporary biomedicine helps recreate notions of race. In this article I explore some of the uses of race, and particularly whiteness, in current biomedical research, using as a case study articles published on the prevalence of haemoglobinopathies, including sickle cell anaemia and β-Thalassaemia. One can only properly understand how race features in these texts by pointing to the links between ideas about admixture and purity, existing historical discourses about difference and Nation and new genetic knowledge.