Impact of Culture and Environment.edited (1)

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2 Impact of Culture and Environment Tay - Sachs disease is Tay-Sachs disease is an inherited disorder that progressively destroys nerve cells (neurons) in the brain and spinal cord. The disease is caused by a mutation in the "TAY-Sachs" gene. The disease's biological cause is due to a mutation in the Tay-Sachs" gene, located on the long arm of chromosome 15. The TAY-Sachs gene is one of 20 to 50 genes on the long arm of chromosome 15. The function of these genes is unknown, but their presence in humans and their location on chromosome 15 suggest they have something to do with nervous system development. (Yu & Bodame, 2022). This mutation affects specific proteins found in the brain and spinal cord. These proteins control specific functions within cells, including communication between individual nerve cells and the ability of nerve cells to turn on or off. The mutation in the Tay-Sachs gene causes the production of an abnormal form of these proteins, which leads to cell death in the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms usually appear during infancy or early childhood, including developmental delays, seizures, and difficulty speaking or walking. There is no cure for Tay - Sachs disease, but treatment options include medication and rehabilitation. One of the standard populations affected by Tay - Sachs disease is Ashkenazi Jews. The fact that the Tay-Sachs gene is found in a genetic registry of Ashkenazi Jews, as well as being one of the 20 to 50 genes located on chromosome 15, suggests that it was likely passed down through generations of Jewish families. One common reason why Tay-Sachs affects the Jew population is because of the way their religion was established (Ramani & Sankaran, 2021) . When Judaism was first built, and the people were initially forming, they were encouraged to take wives from other families. This encouraged genetic diversity and the development of

3 different genes from family to family. Therefore, they would be able to build a society that could become stronger with each generation. The Tay - Sachs disease is highly affected by the environment in that it is often associated with the Ashkenazi Jewish population and Ashkenazi Jews have a common ancestry. Tay - Sachs disease is highly affected by the environment because genetics only accounts for 50% of the disease. The environment is responsible for the remaining 50%. Environmental factors linked to Tay - Sachs disease include maternal age, race, and socioeconomic status. Maternal age is the most significant environmental factor as it has been found to increase the risk of Tay - Sachs disease by up to 100%. Racial and socioeconomic status is also significant environmental factors as they have been linked to an increased risk of Tay - Sachs disease in certain groups. For example, Tay - Sachs disease is more common in Ashkenazi Jews than in any other group and is also more common in people who live in poverty (Solovyeva et al., 2018). The disease is found in Ashkenazi Jews because the genetic disorder is carried by female carriers of the gene, which occurs when two carriers have a child together (Pemberton, 2018) . The disease was only found in the Ashkenazi Jewish population because it has existed for many years and because these people passed it down from generation to generation. One environmental factor contributing to Tay- Sachs disease is the Jewish culture in which it is found. Several ethical implications may arise when the museum uses the Tay-Sachs disease as an exhibit. To start with, the disease is no longer active. So, although it has affected many people's lives in the Jewish community, it currently does not affect anyone. One culture that would be affected if the museum used this as an exhibit is Ashkenazi Jews. In order to help avoid these ethical implications, cultural relativism can be used to mitigate them. Cultural relativism states that each culture has different beliefs or values regarding health and medical practices they

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4 follow. Similarly, the Ashkenazi Jews have different beliefs. For example, in the Jewish community, certain people should not participate in certain acts. For instance, married men and women may not go alone to a room with another man and woman. The Ashkenazi Jews also believe that if you do something wrong for your body, it is because God punishes you. In addition to cultural relativism, there are several other ways that the ethical implications can be reduced when using this disease as an exhibit in the museum. Deconstructing Race Social Construct is the idea that physical characteristics which are seen as racial are made up by society. These characteristics are not biological; instead, they are based on how people perceive each other and how we classify individuals into different groups. Many cultures do not use classification into races. Instead, these cultures use physical features such as a person's appearance to judge their character ( Fox, 2018) . For example, some cultures distinguish between people with darker skin and those with lighter skin. Race is a social construct may mean that, in the future, there may be more focus on the physical characteristics that make up a person rather than racial categorization. On the same, it could mean that there will be a greater focus on racial categorization in the future. Using the Painted Face is one typical example the museum can use to illustrate how race is socially and culturally constructed. In this, a white girl is dressed up as a Native American. This example shows that race comprises society, not physical characteristics. Another example is the Blind Girl group. This group has people from many different cultures, like Jewish, Indian, and Asian Americans. These people do not know each other's culture but come together for different purposes, such as dancing and singing about tolerance. At the same, the Blind Girl group uses dance, music, and acting to spread the message of tolerance. These examples will

5 illustrate how race is constructed by society in terms of using physical characteristics and culture to construct it. Museums, such as the Museum at FIT, can use these examples to illustrate the social construct of race in our present world. The common difference between race and ethnicity is that race refers to a person's physical characteristics, and ethnicity refers to a person's social or cultural background. Race is the classification of humans into groups according to skin color, hair type, facial features, and eye shape. An ethnic group is a social group that shares a common language, religion, nationality, ethnicity, or ancestral origin. In biological anthropology, race refers to the taxonomic categories of human beings. One of the reasons why biological anthropologists use ethnicity is that genetic studies show that one's ethnicity is more important in determining physical characteristics than one's race (Pope et al.,2019) . One example of this would be that, even though there are many genetic similarities between the European and African races, there are still some physical differences between these groups. Another reason is that the two races are not in the same taxonomic classification. For example, race is defined and assigned by scientists through biological data. On the other hand, ethnicity refers to a person's social or cultural background, which they are born into. In this way, you can determine someone's ethnic group by two factors: migration and shared territory. Racial groups have many commonalities, such as skin color, hair type, facial features, and eye shape. The museum could use many examples from genetics and biological and anthropological studies to reinforce the idea that race is not a biological reality but a social construct. For example, there is no significant difference between racial groups regarding one's genetic information, such as hair and eye color. This shows that how society perceives the different races from each other is not based on genetic diversity. Another example is that even though there are

6 three major racial categories: black, Asian, and white, there are only two valid subgroups within these divisions: black Africans and all other races. Another biological and anthropological study that museums could use to reinforce this is on the socialization of children. For example, it is more common for boys to grow up with Asian fathers than Western European fathers. However, when it comes to girls and their biological mothers, there are no significant differences between racial groups. These studies show that race is a social construct because each racial group has its view of what a racial group looks like. The relationship between biological and anthropological views of race and cultural relativism is that it depends on how the social groups view one another and how these groups are arranged socially. In other words, anthropological views on race and cultural relativism are based on the social structures that place different people into specific barriers to equality. In order for biological anthropologists to approach all of these different cultures, they must be able to treat all people differently through their cultural filters. Similarly, if one were only to approach the different cultures with their cultural filters, they might miss out on the actual "meaning" of race in other cultures. For example, what one culture views as racist may not be a hostile act in other cultures ( Jayne et al., 2017). On the same note, what one culture views as a positive action may not be seen as a commendable action in another culture. Biological anthropologists must employ a cultural relativist perspective when studying the concept of race in different cultures because their knowledge will affect how they see these social groups and their different views on race. At the same time, biological anthropologists must approach all of these different cultures with cultural relativism because they want to accurately understand the different treatment of other races to their race.

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7 In conclusion, culture and Environment and Deconstructing Race provide a positive outlook on how biological anthropology can be used to deconstruct the concept of race in our society. The social construction of race in the world today is believed by many to be the cause of many problems that are still occurring in the United States today. These museums aim to eliminate racial stereotypes and promote a better relationship between all people, regardless of race. If a young child is excluded from playing with another child based on race, it can create significant problems and affect future relationships with other races. References Fox, D. M. (2018). Engines of culture: Philanthropy and art museums . Routledge.

8 Jayne O. Ifekwunigwe, Jennifer K. Wagner, Joon-Ho Yu, Tanya M. Harrell, Michael J. Bamshad, & Charmaine D. Royal. (n.d.). Qualitative analyses of how anthropologists interpret the race construct . PubMed Central (PMC). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6075721/ Pemberton, S. (2018). Testing Fate: Tay-Sachs Disease and the Right to Be Responsible by Shelley Z. Reuter. Bulletin of the History of Medicine , 92 (1), 212-214. Pop, I. L., Borza, A., Buiga, A., Ighian, D., & Toader, R. (2019). Achieving cultural sustainability in museums: A step toward sustainable development. Sustainability , 11 (4), 970. Ramani, P. K., & Sankaran, B. P. (2021). Tay - Sachs disease. In StatPearls [Internet] . StatPearls Publishing. Solovyeva, V. V., Shaimardanova, A. A., Chulpanova, D. S., Kitaeva, K. V., Chakrabarti, L., & Rizvanov, A. A. (2018). New approaches to Tay-Sachs disease therapy. Frontiers in physiology , 9 , 1663. Yu, T. W., & Bodamer, O. (2022). A solid start for gene therapy in Tay–Sachs disease. Nature Medicine , 28 (2), 236-237.

Impact of Culture and Environment.edited (1)

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