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How does the consideration of Indigenous identities in the US complicate conversations about tracking folk racial categories in epidemiologic research?

  • S.I.: Philosophy of Epidemiology
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Abstract

In public health research, tracking folk racial categories (in disease risk, etc.) is a double-edged tool. On the one hand, tracking folk racial categories is dangerous because it reinforces a problematic but fairly common belief in biological race essentialism. On the other hand, ignoring racial categories also runs the risk of ignoring very real biological phenomena in which marginalized communities, likely in virtue of their marginalization, are sicker and in need of improved resources. Much of the conversation among epidemiologists and philosophers of medicine concerning the issue of tracking folk racial categories in public health research springs forth from largely black/white binarized health inequities. While health inequities between black and white Americans are certainly a very important topic, I am interested in investigating the complications to this conversation about the potential harms of tracking folk racial categories in public health research generated by the consideration of Indigenous identities in the US—groups whose health inequities are typically tracked based on the folk racial category of “Native American” or “American Indian,” but whose unique identity categories and community membership problematize the current spectrum of approaches to tracking folk racial categories in epidemiologic research. This paper will draw on scholarship by and about Indigenous people in the US context to address an undertheorized facet of the conversations concerning the potential harms of tracking folk racial categories in public health research, including the potential undermining of American Indian sovereignty and Indigenous epistemologies. I will end on some methodological considerations inspired by the inclusion of Indigenous identities in the US in the conversation about tracking folk racial categories in epidemiologic research.

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Notes

  1. Although there has been some important studies regarding health inequities of groups outside of the Black/white binary, for the most part, the epidemiologic discussions occurs within the binary. For examples of these studies see: Neophytou et al. (2018), Mak et al. (2018), Marques et al. (2017), Nishimura et al. (2016), Oh et al. (2012), and Lichtensztajn et al. (2014).

  2. While as an Indigenous person, I prefer to use the term “Indigenous” to refer to myself, I use “Indigenous identities in the US,” “American Indian,” and “Native American” interchangeably in this piece to refer to the folk racial categories used by Indigenous peoples in the United States.

  3. Shelbi Nahwilet Meissner is a doctoral candidate in philosophy at Michigan State University with a graduate affiliation in American Indian and Indigenous Studies. Her areas of specialization are American Indian and Indigenous philosophy, feminist epistemology, and philosophy of language. Meissner’s primary research concerns Indigenous language reclamation and questions about the relationships between Indigenous languages, knowledge systems, and power. Meissner is of Luiseño (La Jolla) and Cupeño descent and an avid participant in the reclamation of 'atáaxum pomtéela, the Luiseño language.

  4. For more examples, see: Kaplan (2010, 2011).

  5. For examples, see: Cho (2006) and Graves and Rose (2006).

  6. For examples see: Cohn (2006), Mallon (2013) and Spencer (2013).

  7. For examples, see: Valles (2012) and Kaplan (2010).

  8. Kaplan and Valles actually offer very similar caveats on the use of folk racial categories in the public health research. In my explication of their views, I focus on their recommendations as separate: Kaplan recommends tracking racism, not race, while Valles recommends offering more specific parameters for risk than mere race; however, I believe Kaplan recognizes the value of and presupposes the merit of giving more specific parameters for risk, while Valles also notes that folk racial categories are useful in tracking health inequities caused by racism. For ease of articulation, I use each author as representatives of their primary caveat in this paper, though I think it should be noted that their views share important similarities.

  9. “The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System,” (2014), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Accessed October 1st, 2017. Available at https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/about/index.htm, and on file with author.

  10. “The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System,” (2014), https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/about/index.htm.

  11. “The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System,” (2014), https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/about/index.htm.

  12. “The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System,” (2014), https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/about/index.htm.

  13. pages: 11, 17, 18, 40, 67, 68 of “Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System 2016 Questionnaire,” BRFSS, accessed October 1st, 2017. Available at https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/questionnaires/pdf-ques/2016_BRFSS_Questionnaire_FINAL.pdf and on file with author; pages: 12, 20, 21, 55, 88, of “Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System 2017 Questionnaire,” BRFSS, accessed October 1st, 2017. Available at https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/questionnaires/pdf-ques/2017_BRFSS_Pub_Ques_508_tagged.pdf and on file with author.

  14. Indian Health Service: The Federal Health Program for American Indians and Alaska Natives, “Locations.” Accessed October 22nd, 2017. Available at https://www.ihs.gov/locations/ and on file with author.

  15. For ease of explication, I have focused solely on racial and ethnic self-identification. Unfortunately, due to space constraints, I am not able to address in greater detail the similar and pressing issues faced by Kanaka Maoli people and Alaskan Natives.

  16. Constitution of the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians, Article 2, Section A.

  17. Blood quantum is a very controversial topic in Indian Country and some Native people, myself included, consider it a flawed ancestral tracking mechanism that propagates Western heteropatriarchal conceptions of kinship at the expense of Indigenous conceptions of family/community. That being said, tribes are sovereign nations whose criteria for enrollment depend solely on their own governance structures, and thus, intrusion on this issue from non-Indigenous scholars is not acceptable. More on this later.

  18. “Enrollment,” Wiyot Tribe, accessed September 9th, 2017, available at http://www.wiyot.us/programs-and-services/human-resources/enrollment, and on file with author.

  19. For more on this topic from Kim TallBear, see Latour (2012) and TallBear (2013).

  20. Recall the La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians currently employs a 1/8th minimum blood quantum for enrollment. A nearby federally recognized tribe of Luiseño and Cupeño called the Pala Band of Mission Indians had a minimum blood quantum of 1/16th in 2012. The criteria for tribal enrollment are matters of tribal constitution and therefore subject to change. Tony Perry, 2012. “Pala Tribe Roiled By Bloodline Dispute,” Los Angeles Times. Available at http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/17/local/la-me-pala-dispute-20120318 and on file with author.

  21. There are exceptions.

  22. There are always exceptions.

  23. “What Is A Federal Indian Reservation?” Accessed October 1st, 2017, available at https://www.bia.gov/frequently-asked-questions and on file with author.

  24. 2010 US Census. Here, I note that this is an estimate since, as I’ve been arguing, data based on the folk racial category “American Indian” can be unreliable.

  25. Brooks’ article is from 1998; as of 2018, there are 573 federally recognized tribes in the US.

  26. Though there is strong evidence to suggest that Indigenous people living in urban centers are still subject to environmental racism, though from different sources and to differing degrees. See: Weaver (2010). BRFSS data is also difficult to tie to location, especially so now that cellular phone respondents make up a significant contribution to BRFSS data.

  27. In a recent article, Sean Valles argues something similar regarding the pan-ethnic identity “Hispanic.” See Valles (2016).

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Acknowledgements

Noşúun pilek lóoviq//thank you to Sean Valles and Kyle Powys Whyte for their helpful feedback on earlier versions of this paper. I would also like to thank two anonymous referees at Synthese for their helpful comments which greatly improved the paper.

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  1. Michigan State University, Lansing, USA

    Shelbi Nahwilet Meissner

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Meissner, S.N. How does the consideration of Indigenous identities in the US complicate conversations about tracking folk racial categories in epidemiologic research?. Synthese 198 (Suppl 10), 2439–2462 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-018-02019-2

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