Disability : the forgotten side of race science

Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Sun Media
Abstract
The impetus for this book was an article, the first line of the abstract of which reads: “Colored women in South Africa have an increased risk for low cognitive functioning.”1 There is no question that the article reproduces racist ideas, and we are in agreement with the authors of the other chapters in this book. There is, however, another side to this article that has been less discussed. What does it mean to describe a group of people as having “increased risk for low cognitive functioning”? In much that has been written about the article, there has been almost no discussion of the social context in which the idea of somebody having, or being at risk of, “low cognitive functioning” is seen, automatically, as a form of insult.
Description
CITATION: Swartz, L. et al. 2020. Disability : the forgotten side of race science, in Jansen, J. & Walters, C. (eds). 2020. Fault lines : a primer on race, science and society. Stellenbosch: SUN PReSS, doi:10.18820/9781928480495/09.
The original publication is available at https://africansunmedia.store.it.si/za
Keywords
Disability, Science -- Social aspects
Citation
Swartz, L. et al. 2020. Disability : the forgotten side of race science, in Jansen, J. & Walters, C. (eds). 2020. Fault lines : a primer on race, science and society. Stellenbosch: SUN PReSS, doi:10.18820/9781928480495/09.