Book club – Science in Black and White by Alondra Oubré

Chemistry World Book Club

In this month’s episode we’ll talk about Science in Black and White: How Biology and Environment Shape Our Racial Divide by medical anthropologist Alondra Oubré. She delves into the science behind the nature versus nurture debate to expose racially biased research and debunk claims of inborn racial disparities and the gendered brain. The result is a deeply researched, comprehensive and nuanced title.

‘Just as many leading experts contest the notion of genes as destiny, gene–environmental interactions do not predict fated life outcomes,’ Oubré writes in her epilogue. ‘By the same token, environmental conditions do not guarantee either good or bad predetermined life outcomes, although they can have major consequences for an individual and, in some cases, his family.’