Book Review: African American Bioethics: Culture, Race, and Identity

October 23, 2007

The essays in this volume were contributed by various African American ethicists, physicians, and philosophers whose charge was to address African American perspectives of bioethical issues and to answer the question, “Is there a distinctive African American cultural perspective on bioethics?” This question was initially posed in 1992 at the First Conference of the African American Perspective in Biomedical Ethics, spearheaded by Pellegrino and by Dr Harley Flack, at which a panel of distinguished African American scholars discussed this and related questions, opening the door for intercultural dialogue. The editors of this current book felt that the change in demography of the United States over the past 15 years warranted a review of this subject, to determine if perspectives, culture, or the bioethical issues have changed. (JAMA)