Human biology of Afro-Caribbean populations

Abstract

Human Biology of Afro-Caribbean Populations. By Lorena Madrigal. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN-13 978-0-521-81931-2. 268 pp. $152.00 cloth. This work reviews past and current research on the demography and human biology of Afro-Caribbean populations. Lorena Madrigal, a professor in the Department of Anthrolopogy at the University of South Florida, presents a microevolutionary study of Afro-Caribbean populations using the Afro-Limonense population in Limon, Costa Rica, which is largely descended from Afro-Jamaican migrants who travelled to the province in the post-emancipation period. Her research complements and extends some of the research into the health and demography of enslaved populations in the New World. It also responds to more recent contentions about the health of African-derived populations in the African diaspora, particularly in terms of the epidemiology of obesity, non-insulin dependent diabetes, and hypertension, as well as other diseases in those populations. Madrigal presents a convincing argument that high frequencies of these diseases in some African-derived populations in the diaspora likely have socioeconomic explanations rather than explanations that are based on genetic factors. Her research is timely, as some Caribbean territories are beginning to grapple with the high treatment and productivity costs of chronic diseases. In some territories that experience high frequencies of obesity, non-insulin dependent diabetes, and hypertension, these diseases have become major obstacles to development in the health care sector, especially as the region is also faced with other health care crises in the wake of HIV/AIDS. In chapter one, Madrigal roots her discussion of the biological history of Afro-Caribbean populations in an overview of the African slave trade and in the Caribbean. She reviews the well-developed scholarship on the nutritional and health status of the enslaved during the Middle Passage and upon their arrival at the plantations of the Caribbean. Looking at the investigations of several scholars in this area, such as Curtin, Klein, Corruccini, Handler, Higman, and others, Madrigal provides a succinct sociohistorical context in which to consider the health and demography of Afro-Caribbean populations, which are characterized by high mortality and morbidity as a result of abuse, disease, and poor nutrition and sanitary conditions during the period. In the second chapter, Madrigal launches into an evolutionary overview of the epidemiological information on obesity, hypertension, and non-insulin dependent diabetes that is available for the Afro-Caribbean populations. Included in this discussion is research gathered for Afro-American, AfroBrazUian, and Afro-British populations. Focusing on theoretical discussions of these conditions, rather than on the communication, frequency, and treatment of them, Madrigal presents a concise review of the research on the relationships between these diseases and globalization among peripheral or marginal populations, such as migrant groups and the poor in both the developed and developing world. Examining the conflicting conclusions on frequencies of hypertension rates among various Afro-Caribbean, African, and African-derived populations in the United States and the United Kingdom, comparisons of these groups yield various conclusions about the role of physical activity, urbanization, modernization, and diet in the frequencies of hypertension. Other reviews are carried out for the thrifty-genotype and thrifty-phenotype hypotheses as well as the contentious slavery hypothesis for increased rates of hypertension among Afro-American populations. This last discussion provides some interesting insights into the state of epidemiological research on ethnicity-associated health disparities (67), suggesting that studies that single out race or edinicity for the health outcomes of different groups are misleading if they are concluding that these outcomes are best explained by genetic differences. …