Article Database

Carceral protectionism and the perpetually (in)vulnerable

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The United States relies on carceralism—mass incarceration and institutionalization, surveillance and control—for its continued operation. The criminalization of difference, particularly in relation to race, disability and queerness, renders certain people as perpetually subject to state violence due to their perceived unruliness. This article relies on two case studies, in Toledo, Ohio and Brooklyn, New York to question the construction and co-optation of vulnerability by state agents and focus on interrelated instances of state violence done under the guise of protectionism of and from unruly subjects. We then discuss the response to these instances of violence- from the state in the form of carceral ableism and sanism, and from local activists trying to navigate the shifting contours of protectionist violence by enacting queer transformative justice.

Embodied Discrimination and “Mutilated Historicity”: Archiving Black Women’s Bodies in the Huntington Collection

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Black Feminist Science

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“As a black woman, I have found it difficult to position myself as a scholar within the field of anthropology while grappling with the complicated history of the discipline.”

Decolonize this collection: Integrating black feminism and art to re‐examine human skeletal remains in museums

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This article combines traditional avenues of bioarchaeological research with Black feminist theory to decolonize identified skeletal collections housed in museums. Inspired by the activism of Decolonize This Place (DTP), I put the remains of Black women who were dissected in Progressive Era New York City into conversation with Black feminist theorists and artists. I argue that to “flesh in” the lives of these long anonymized and disarticulated women, it is essential to perform interdisciplinary and decolonizing work that is inspired by Black women. The field of biological anthropology will benefit from moving past privileging “scientific” knowledge and considering what the arts might contribute to our representations of the bodies we study, as suggested by Katherine McKittrick (2010). Furthermore, for our field to truly become inclusive, we must encourage scholars with multiple consciousnesses, as proposed by Faye Harrison (2010).

Effects of initiating physician-performed germline testing in safety net clinic patients with epithelial ovarian cancer

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Differences in breast cancer outcomes amongst Black US-born and Caribbean-born immigrants

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Background
There are few studies that directly investigate disparities in outcome within the African diaspora in the US. We investigated the association between nativity of Black women diagnosed with breast cancer (Caribbean or USA place of birth) and ethnicity, age at diagnosis, treatment, tumor characteristics and outcome.

Methods
The data were obtained from the University of Miami Health System, and Jackson Health System. Individual-level data from 1132 cases was used to estimate hazard rations (HRs) of women born in the Caribbean (Caribbean Blacks, CB) or in the USA (US Black, USB) using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis for overall survival.

Results
The cohort contains data from 624 (54.9%) USB women and 507 (45%) CB women diagnosed with breast cancer between 2006 and 2017. Compared to CB patients, USB patients had more Estrogen Receptor negative (31.4% vs. 39.1%, P = 0.018) and triple negative breast cancers (19.6% vs. 27.9%, P = 0.003). CB women presented at more advanced stages III/IV (44.2% vs. 35.2%; P = 0.016). CB patients showed a better overall survival (hazard ratio, HR = 0.75; 95% CI 0.59–0.96; P = 0.024). Overall Black Hispanic patients had a better overall survival (HR = 0.51; 95% CI 0.28–0.93; P = 0.028) compared to non-Hispanic Black patients.

Conclusion
In conclusion the study found that CB immigrants diagnosed with breast cancer have an improved overall survival when compared with USB patients. This finding suggests that within the African diaspora in the USA, additional factors beyond race contribute to worse outcomes in African Americans.

Developmental and adult phenotyping directly from mutant embryonic stem cells

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Demographics of breast cancer in a small cohort of women in the Caribbean

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OBJECTIVES:
To address the prevalence and spectrum of breast cancer (BRCA1 and BRCA2) mutations in the Caribbean population.

DESIGN AND METHODS:
Demographic and clinical pathologic data was collected from 347 women of Afro-Caribbean decent. The cohort included women with breast cancer from the following countries the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Barbados, Dominica, Trinidad & Tobago and Haiti.

RESULTS:
The mean age of onset in the cohort was 48.1 yrs. with a mean body mass index (BMI) of 27.7. 70% of breast cancer cases were estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) (n=241) and in Jamaica 27% (n=105) of breast cancer cases were human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive (Her2+). Total Abdominal Hysterectomy Bilateral Salpingo Oophorectomy (TAH-BSO) delayed invasive breast cancer from 48 to 53 years (p=0.005). Parity was a significant factor (p<0.0001), which delayed age of onset by 8 yrs. Additionally, pregnancy alone delayed age of onset (p<0.005) by 8 yrs. Only three women out of 347 were found to have a mutation.

CONCLUSIONS:
This population-based study provided an insight into pattern of risk factors – both genetic and environmental of breast cancer incidence and subtype across the Caribbean. In conclusion 1) genetic causes of breast cancer appeared rare outside of the Bahamas, 2) fertility factors appeared important in the development of breast cancer, 3) TAH-BSO was common as both a form of contraception and because of the high incidence of fibroids, it may be protective, 4) BMI may impact on breast cancer development and 5) screening mammography was rare and the vast majority was diagnostic in nature.

CCAAT/enhancer binding protein delta (C/EBPδ) demonstrates a dichotomous role in tumour initiation and promotion of epithelial carcinoma

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Cancer risks associated with germline PALB2 pathogenic variants: an international study of 524 families

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