Shelbi Meissner (Michigan State University)
In public health research, tracking folk racial categories is a double-edged tool. Tracking racial categories is dangerous because it reifies biological race essentialism, but ignoring racial categories risks ignoring phenomena in which marginalized communities are sicker and need improved resources. The conversation among philosophers of medicine regarding the issue of tracking racial categories primarily concerns Black/white health inequities. I problematize this binary conversation by considering the complicated facets of identity in American Indian communities. This paper addresses the potential harms of tracking the folk race "American Indian" in public health research, including the undermining of tribal sovereignty and Indigenous epistemologies.
