Mary Rogers

Biological Anthropologist at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Interests: Epigenetics, Reproduction, Life History, Population Variation

[Mary Rogers @MethylationMary]

@KWitt_aDNA @ClemsonCHG Congratulations!!! 🎉🙌🧬

[Mary Rogers @MethylationMary]

@Hood_Biologist So sorry to hear this. If you need help, let me know.

[Dr. Jay Electronica @inthosegenespod]

NEED:

Right now there is a lack of diversity in human genomics research, and majority of #GWAS are performed in non-European populations.

@genetisaur https://t.co/imNTSUlQnZ
#DecolonizeDNA

[Hood Biologist, PhD @Hood_Biologist]

In closing, what we call racial health disparities are better understood as racist health disparities. RACISM, the political practice of racializing humans, is the risk factor, not "race". Race does not stand alone, it is the child of racism.

#DecolonizeDNA

[Hood Biologist, PhD @Hood_Biologist]

Race/ism is a colonial breeding program that governs and mediates lives through the active making and management of relational indexes of hegemonic difference.

Colonial gender serves as the medium through which Europeans imposed race on colonized subjects.
#DecolonizeDNA

[Hood Biologist, PhD @Hood_Biologist]

The set of physical differences that we come to know of as race is a colonial invention.

See my recent publication here: https://t.co/twQIGoesqS

#DecolonizeDNA

[Hood Biologist, PhD @Hood_Biologist]

Definitions of race that reduce it to physical differences ignore the historical development of race and its foundational ties to racism and Euro-Western colonialism.

A more useful approach is one that looks at what race does, what is race in action?

#DecolonizeDNA

[Hood Biologist, PhD @Hood_Biologist]

Hello everyone! First I'd like to thank @kstsosie for organizing @DecolonizeDNA & inviting me to participate.

Today I'll be discussing the relationships between race/ism, biology, & human health. Below is a quick outline of my twitter talk. #DecolonizeDNA

[Dr./Prof. Keolu Fox @KeoluFox]

Whether you're a first author or a collaborator on these types of projects, ask yourself: How will history remember your work? How will history remember your name? Your legacy? In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr: “There comes a time when silence is betrayal” #DecolonizeDNA

[Dr./Prof. Keolu Fox @KeoluFox]

You don't have to buy remains to perpetuate the bone rush. For reviewers rubber-stamping pubs lacking transparency about the provenance of ancient remains, or bioinformaticians eager for a dataset no matter the means of obtaining it, you are complicit as well. #DecolonizeDNA

[Dr./Prof. Keolu Fox @KeoluFox]

There is a finite amount of human remains on 🌎- this bone rush culture is motivated by the anxiety to publish in marquee journals. But what happens when there are no more bones to mine for data? Read more on the bone rush here #DecolonizeDNA https://t.co/NG2fA3zQV1

[Dr. Krystal Tsosie, PhD, MPH @kstsosie]

If you are a #scientist, #academic in #research, keeping up-to-date with #ethical and equitable methods should be a part of your everyday toolkit. Know the history of your field. Listen to your peers who, more increasingly, are coming from historically disadvantaged groups. 13/

[Dr. Krystal Tsosie, PhD, MPH @kstsosie]

While I am glad that so many who use #DNA are also cognizant of culturally-appropriate methods grounded in community-based participatory research (https://t.co/P8MsdscsLx), I as an #Indigenous geneticist STILL encounter academics who state, "#Ethics is a waste of time." 12/

[Dr. Krystal Tsosie, PhD, MPH @kstsosie]

As much as we like to believe that "#science is objective", these value-laden judgments (made w/ each funding $ allocated or when we render accept/reject decisions on papers and grants) highlight the SUBJECTIVITY in the field.

Please recognize/acknowledge the agency in this. 6/

[Dr. Krystal Tsosie, PhD, MPH @kstsosie]

When #genetic studies exclude at-risk people, or when funding agencies decide to fund or de-fund certain kinds of #research, disparities are widened. Structural barriers to #health are exacerbated. Benefits of #research are not extended to all.

#Health inequities persist. 5/

[Dr. Krystal Tsosie, PhD, MPH @kstsosie]

These Qs (what, how, who we include/exclude in #genetic studies, what Qs we fund or not fund) are VALUE-laden. They are often made by empowered individuals who may or may not represent the communities that these judgments affect. 4/

[Dr. Krystal Tsosie, PhD, MPH @kstsosie]

I want to iterate: to "#decolonize #science" is not to dispute repeated & observed biological facts about #DNA.

BUT we call attention to WHAT Qs we as scientists ask, HOW we conduct studies, HOW we interpret, WHO we include/exclude, WHY we invest in some Qs and not others. 3/

[Dr. Krystal Tsosie, PhD, MPH @kstsosie]

#DNADay recognizes those who contributed to understanding #DNA 🧬, incl. my #WomeninSTEM hero Rosalind Franklin (https://t.co/D11bMR0SQA).

To "#decolonize" DNA is not to diminish their achievements but rather to re-frame the impacts of DNA in our own respective narratives. 2/

[Dr. Maria A Nieves-Colón @mitoPR]

In 🇵🇷 & other Antilles, colonial documents say that native ppls died out by the 1600s. This led to common narratives of Indigenous extinction, despite the presence of islanders w/Indigenous cultural identities & oral histories 💬of Indigenous descent 🤔6/ #DecolonizeDNA #DNADay