Angela Saini's new book to deal with how science created the idea of race

Award-winning investigative science journalist and author Angela Saini's next book will deal with a controversial topic - "how science created the idea of race and fanned the flames of racism".

"What Are You? The Mad Science of Race - and Its Fatal Return" brings the topic of race and science together as London-based Saini talks of race which is no more functioning on a meta level but is becoming one that's touching lives of people.

HarperCollins India has acquired the Indian subcontinent rights for the book which will be published in the summer of 2019.

"What Are You?" looks at how modern genetics, medicine, psychology and anthropology are failing to destroy these old ideas and sometimes even perpetuating them, the publisher said.

"As someone who has both known and understands the struggle for identity, Angela Saini, in 'What Are You?' will take readers on a journey to explore how racial identity was created. As she investigates, first-hand, how and why scientists are still getting race wrong, she will also examine, among other things, migration, environmental factors, personalised medicine (how more drugs will be shunted along racial lines), and paid services that analyse genetic ancestry," it said.

While the scientific ridiculousness of race may mean little in a world in which race has been made tangibly real through politics, culture and violence, it is important, now more than ever, to remind people just how our identities were invented, and that's a task that this book will accomplish.

Speaking about the forthcoming publication, Saini said, "This is the book I have wanted to write my whole life. I'm so grateful that HarperCollins India will be releasing it, and I look forward to debating the issues once it comes out."
Diya Kar, the publisher who acquired the book, said, "Angela is brilliant. And she's particularly good at questioning traditional beliefs and raising crucial, uncomfortable questions. Racism and prejudice are very real problems today. In 'What Are You?' Angela examines the dangerous lines that are being crossed in science - out of both ignorance and hatred."