Low Rates of African American Participation in Genetic Counseling and Testing for BRCA1/2 Mutations: Racial Disparities or Just a Difference?

Low rates of genetic counseling among African American women have generated concerns about disparities; however, to the extent that women's decisions to accept or decline counseling are consistent with their values, then lower participation may reflect preferences and not disparities. We evaluated the extent to which women were satisfied with their decision about participating in genetic counseling for BRCA1/2 mutations and identified variables that were associated significantly with satisfaction. Prospective study of decision satisfaction with 135 African American women who had a minimum 5% prior probability of having a BRCA1/2 mutation. Decision satisfaction was evaluated one month after women were offered participation in genetic counseling using a structured questionnaire. Women were satisfied with their participation decision; more than 80% reported that their decision was consistent with their family values. However, women who declined pre-test counseling had significantly lower satisfaction scores. Our findings highlight the importance ensuring that racial differences that are due to preferences and values are not misclassified as disparities in order to identify and address the root causes of disparate treatment.     

Counting on Whiteness: Religion,race, ethnicity,and the politics of Jewish demography

American Jews have long been an anomaly for scholars concerned with understanding how they fit into extant social scientific or historical categories. Sometimes they seem best described as an ethnic group, other times as a religious one. This ambiguity has also vexed Jewish communal leaders whose desire to comprehend their communities has largely been underwritten by their intention to protect it. This intersection of sociological methods and schema and Jewish communal concerns has resulted in decisive omissions regarding how best to account for the racial and ethnic diversity of American Jews. An analysis of survey instruments used in 175 American Jewish population studies and community portraits conducted since 1970 reveals a focus on questions of religious practice and an avoidance of those about race and ethnicity, resulting in a “religio-racial formation” of American Jews as White. This approach to studying American Jewish life has marginalized or excluded non-White Jews while ensuring ongoing Jewish communal access to Whiteness without having to claim it explicitly.     

Book reviews and notes

GENERAL. A MEDIEVAL MUSLIM SCHOLAR AT WORK:IBN TAWUS AND HIS LIBRARY. By Etan Kohlberg. Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science: Texts and Studies. Edited by H. Daiber and D. Pingree. Vol. XXII. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1992. 470pp. Hb. $120.00. ISBN 90-04-09549-7. AL-FARABI AND HIS SCHOOL. By Ian Richard Netton. London and New York: Routledge, 1992. 128pp. £10.99. Pb. ISBN 0-415-03595-3; Hb. 0-415-03594-5. PROBLEMS OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: ESSAYS IN HONOUR OF ALBERT HOURANI. Edited by John P. Spagnolo. Reading: Ithaca Press, 1992. 309pp. Hb. £30.00. ISBN 0-86372-164-8. WOMAN'S BODY, WOMAN'S WORLD: GENDER AND DISCOURSE IN ARAB-ISLAMIC WRITING. By Fedwa Malti-Douglas. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992. 206pp. $12.95. ISBN 0-691-01488-4. AVICENNA. By Lenn E. Goodman. London and New York: Routledge, 1992. 240pp. Pb.£12.99. ISBN: 0-415-07409-6. EURO-ARAB RELATIONS: A STUDY IN COLLECTIVE DIPLOMACY. By Haifaa A. Jawad. Reading: Ithaca Press, 1992. 302pp. Hb.£25.00. ISBN 0-86372-129-X. DER ISLAM: EIN LESEBUCH. Edited by MARIA HAARMANN. Beck'sche Reihe; 479. Munchen: C.H. Beck, 1992. 388pp. Pb. DM12.-. ISBN 3-406-340717. DIE ISLAMISCH WELT UND EUROPA: KULTURELLE VERSTAN-DIGUNG ALS POLITISCHE HERAUSFORDERUNG. By Hans A. Fischer-Barnicol. Stuttgart, Berlin, Koln: Verlag Kohlhammer, 1991. 260pp. Pb. DM34.80. ISBN 3-17-011749-1. DER KORAN: ARABISCH-DEUTSCH: UBERSETZUNG UND WISSENSCHAFTLICHER KOMMENTAR. By Adel Theodor Khoury. Band 3: sure 2,213-2,286. Gutersloh: Gutersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, 1992. 299pp. Hb. DM175.-. ISBN 3-579-00338-0. SHIISM. By Heinz Halm. Islamic Surveys, 18. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univ. Press, 1992. 218pp. Hb. £25.00. ISBN 0-7486-0268-2. ISLAM-LEXIKON A-Z. By Adel Th. Khoury, Ludwig Hagemann and Petet Heine. 3 vols. Freiburg i.Br.: Herder, 1991. 941pp. Pb. DM78.00. ISBN 3-451-04036-0. LEXIKON DER ISLAMISCHEN WELT. By Klaus Kreiser and Rotraud Wielandt. Vollig uberarbeitete Neuausgabe. Stuttgart, Berlin, Koln: W. Kohlhammer, 1992. 289pp. Hb. DM34.00. ISBN 3-17-011770-X. ALLMACHT UND MACHTIGKEIT: RELIGION UND WELT IM ISLAM. By Johann Christoph Burgel. Munchen: C.H. Beck, 1991. 416pp. Hb. DM48.00. ISBN 3-406-35374-6. EXEGESE, LANGUE ET THEOLOGIE EN ISLAM: L'EXEGESE CORANIQUE DE TABARI. By Claude Gilliot. Paris: J. Vrin, 1990 320pp. Pb. 252FF. ISBN 2-7116-1033-0. INTERPRETATION IN RELIGION. Edited by Shlomo Biderman and Benami Scharfstein. Leiden, New York, Koln: E.J. Brill, 1992. 290pp. Hb. DFL.125.00; $71.50. ISBN 90-04-09519-5; ISSN 0924-7904. REGIONAL. Africa. THE SUFI BROTHERHOODS IN SUDAN. By Ali Salih Karrar. London: C. Hurst, 1992. Hb. £30.00. ISBN 1-85065-111-6. THE CALL FOR DEMOCRACY IN SUDAN. By John Garang. Edited and introduced by Mansour Khalid. London: Kegan Paul International, 1992. 292pp. Pb. £12.95. ISBN 0 7103 0401 3. L'ISLAM AU CHAD. Edited by Centre D'Etude D'Afrique Noire. Bordeaux Institute. d'Etudes Politiques de Bordeaux, 1992. Collection 'Etudes et Recherches'. Pb. 150pp. Pb. 110.00FF. ISBN 2-908065-12-6; ISSN 0151-0207-20. Asia. HAUS UND FAMILIE IN ARABISCHEN LANDERN: VOM MIT-TELALTER BIS ZUM GEGENWART. By Annagret Nippa. Munchen: C.H. Beck, 1991. 244pp. Pb. DM44.00. ISBN 3-406-34603-0. NOMAD: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A QASHQA'I TRIBESMAN IN IRAN. By Lois Beck. London: I.B. Tauris, 1991. 489pp. Pb.£14.95. ISBN 1-85043-364-X. THE NORTH CAUCASUS BARRIER: THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE TOWARDS THE MUSLIM WORLD. Edited by Marie Bennigsen Broxup. London: C. Hurst, 1992. 252pp. Hb. £27.50. ISBN 1-85065-069-1. ISLAM IN BANGLADESH. By U.A.B. Razia Akter Banu. International Studies in Sociology and Social Anthropology. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1992. 194pp. $43.00. ISBN 09-04-09497-0. Europe. THE NEW SCOTS: THE STORY OF ASIANS IN SCOTLAND. By Bashir Maan. Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers, 1992. 216pp. Pb. £9.50. ISBN 0-85976-357-9. ARABS IN EXILE: YEMENI MIGRANTS IN URBAN BRITAIN. By Fred Halliday. London: I.B. Tauris, 1992. 166pp. Hb. £35.00. ISBN 1-85043-499-9. ISLAM IN SPANISH LITERATURE: FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE PRESENT. By Luce Lopex-Baralt. Leiden, New York, Koln: E.J. Brill; San Juan: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1992. 323pp. Hb. DFL.145.00; $83.00. ISBN 90-94-09460-1. Middle East. PITY THE NATION: LEBANON AT WAR. By Robert Fisk. 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992. 703pp. Pb. £7.99. ISBN 0-19-285284-1. ARMENIA AND KARABAGH: THE STRUGGLE FOR UNITY. Edited by Christopher J. Walker. London: Minority Rights Group, 1991. 162pp. Pb. n.p. ISBN 1-873194-00-5. GENDER IN CRISIS: WOMEN AND THE PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE MOVEMENT. By Julie M. Peteet. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1991. 245pp. Cloth $43.50, pb. $16.00. ISBN 0-231-07446-8 cloth, 0-231-07447-6 pb. POLITICS IN THE MIDDLE EAST. By Elie Kedourie. Oxford, New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1992. 366pp. Pb. £8,99. ISBN 0-19-289154-5. PALESTINE REBORN. By Walid Khalidi. London: I.B. Tauris, 1992. 234pp. Hb. £35.00, pb. £14.95. ISBN 1-85043-563-4 hb., 1-85043-559-6 pb. NASSER. By Peter Woodward. Profile in Power Series. London and New York: Longman, 1992. 167pp. Pb. £7.50. ISBN 0-582-03389-6. CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM RELATIONS. LES CHRETIENTES D'ORIENT ENTRE JIHAD ET DHIMMITUDE. By Bat Ye'or. Paris: Cerf, 1991. 529pp. Pb. FF199.00. ISBN 2-204-04347-8. NICOLAS OF CUSA IN SEARCH OF GOD AND WISDOM. Edited by Gerald Christianson and Thomas M. Izbicki. Studies in the History of Christian Thought, XLV. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1991. 298pp. Hb. DFL.140,00; $80.00. ISBN 90-04-09362-1. PRISONERS OF FAITH: A VIEW FROM WITHIN. By Nirmala Srinivasan. New Delhi, Newbury Park, London: Sage Publications, 1989. 219pp. Hb. Indian Rs 220.-. ISBN 81-7036-151 (India), 0-8039-9604-7 (US). NEW PERIODICALS ON FAITH ENCOUNTERS.