[Taxacom] panbiogeography suppression

[John Grehan]

Hi Ziv,

I expect you won't know about a recent attempt in NZ by some scientists to
disconnect Maori science from other science. So I don't understand what is
dishonest about referencing such a possibility.

Cheers, John

On Fri, Sep 3, 2021 at 5:29 PM Ziv Lieberman via Taxacom <
taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> wrote:

> John,
> Your question "why not, for example, call for the suppression of Māori
> science?" is, at best, poorly thought through, and at worst an intentional,
> dishonest conflation of issues which is deeply disrespectful. I choose to
> not infer where your intentions fall on this spectrum.
>
> While I actually don't agree with the recommendations of Waters et al.
> (2013) to not publish panbiogeographic works as a blanket policy, there are
> some obvious differences in the scenario called for in this paper and your
> hypothetical situation. Waters et al. (2013) lay out a cogent,
> evidence-based, and highly specific criticism of the panbiogeographic
> approach. They give explicit reference to epistemological and
> methodological conflicts between panbiogeography and the modern approach,
> which they illustrate with particular examples. In other words, they
> clearly justify*—*or at the very least, explain*—*their contention that "as
> it stands, panbiogeography is not a useful approach for evolutionary
> biology" (p. 3). They provide a structure which could be responded to,
> point by point, with evidence of your own.
>
> Obviously, no such logical structure could be erected to dismiss research
> produced by a (real or perceived) racial or ethnic group. Of course,
> history has seen many such attempts to justify eugenics and other
> scientific racism. But such arguments would be patently untrue, i.e. unable
> to withstand logical, scientific, and moral refutation.
>
> In summary: your choice of language and analogy degrade your point as a
> whole, discredit your position as a critical thinker, and represent
> co-option of social justice issues into an unrelated scientific discussion.
> In fact, the use of this analogy makes it seem like you lack an
> understanding of the problem you are criticizing, whether that is true or
> not. This tactic also detracts from the realities of the marginalization of
> indigenous peoples, which ironically contributes to upholding the kind of
> (historical and present) exclusionism which you are taking advantage of to
> express your outrage.  You cannot behave this way while simultaneously
> calling for scientific integrity and credibility.
>
> -Ziv Lieberman
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