Tools for Inclusive & Antiracist Teaching and Learning-Video example: Using refutation to engage a misconception regarding race and disease

Video example: Using refutation to engage a misconception regarding race and disease

Video Transcription

Video Summary

Sickle cell anemia is often mistakenly associated exclusively with Black individuals, a misconception rooted in outdated racial views. The sickle cell trait evolved as a genetic adaptation against malaria and is prevalent across the global malaria belt, including parts of Africa, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and India. Carriers (heterozygous individuals) have resistance to malaria, while homozygous individuals develop severe anemia. The disease’s distribution correlates with ancestry linked to malaria regions rather than race, highlighting high prevalence among non-Black populations, such as Arabic and Mediterranean groups. Diagnoses should consider genetic and ancestral background, not race.

Asset Subtitle

Refutation is a powerful rhetorical approach, used in speaking or writing, to correct misconceptions. A misconception must be surfaced to produce cognitive dissonance before it can be corrected. Presenting data without first creating dissonance is much less effective. This 3-minute video by CPL is an example of the refutational approach for correcting the misconception that sickle-cell anemia is a race-based disease. The refutation teaching strategy is discussed further in the CPL workshop, Teaching that Promotes Antiracism for Health Equity: It's Easier than You May Think.

Keywords

Sickle cell anemia

Genetic adaptation

Malaria resistance

Global malaria belt

Ancestry-based prevalence