Title |
Negro, Black, Black African, African Caribbean, African American or what? Labelling African origin populations in the health arena in the 21st century
|
---|---|
Published in |
Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, November 2005
|
DOI | 10.1136/jech.2005.035964 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Charles Agyemang, Raj Bhopal, Marc Bruijnzeels |
Abstract |
Broad terms such as Black, African, or Black African are entrenched in scientific writings although there is considerable diversity within African descent populations and such terms may be both offensive and inaccurate. This paper outlines the heterogeneity within African populations, and discusses the strengths and limitations of the term Black and related labels from epidemiological and public health perspectives in Europe and the USA. This paper calls for debate on appropriate terminologies for African descent populations and concludes with the proposals that (1) describing the population under consideration is of paramount importance (2) the word African origin or simply African is an appropriate and necessary prefix for an ethnic label, for example, African Caribbean or African Kenyan or African Surinamese (3) documents should define the ethnic labels (4) the label Black should be phased out except when used in political contexts. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 16 | 27% |
South Africa | 3 | 5% |
United Kingdom | 3 | 5% |
Kenya | 2 | 3% |
Nigeria | 2 | 3% |
Brazil | 1 | 2% |
Uruguay | 1 | 2% |
Unknown | 31 | 53% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 55 | 93% |
Scientists | 3 | 5% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 2% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 3 | 1% |
Canada | 1 | <1% |
South Africa | 1 | <1% |
Unknown | 224 | 98% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 49 | 21% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 32 | 14% |
Student > Master | 24 | 10% |
Student > Bachelor | 23 | 10% |
Researcher | 16 | 7% |
Other | 41 | 18% |
Unknown | 44 | 19% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Social Sciences | 53 | 23% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 38 | 17% |
Psychology | 28 | 12% |
Nursing and Health Professions | 14 | 6% |
Arts and Humanities | 8 | 3% |
Other | 34 | 15% |
Unknown | 54 | 24% |