Dr. Mimi -- I think you are mixing up discussion of the study of rickets in
North Carolina with my personal comments about the situation involving the
Sudanese "Lost Boys" being relocated to North Dakota.
People from the Sudan are, on average, MUCH darker skinned than any
African-Americans. African-Americans are, for the most part, the
descendants of West Africans who came in a variety of colors, Europeans
(also a variety of colors), Native Americans, and other nationalities added
in over the years. Yes, African-Americans come in a variety of skin colors.
None of them are anywhere near as dark as the Sudanese.
My comments about adjusting to the cold were aimed at the cultural
adjustments, though, not the skin color issue. It is one thing thing to be
born and raised in Chicago, coping with the cold from one's first days -- of
course you learn how to dress, how to heat the house, how to avoid the
coldest days, when the wind is blowing and the wind chill is -40, etc.
Coping with the cold is *mostly* CULTURAL.
However, these are boys ranging in age from young teens to early 20s who
were born and raised in the Sudan(one of the hottest places on earth). They
are both biologically and culturally adapted to coping with the heat
(biologically in the shape of their bodies -- tall and linear, with longer
arms and legs for their height than you would find in other Africans or
African-Americans -- their tall linear body shapes are the result of natural
selection to minimize mass and maximize surface area to deal with the
extreme heat). Some of these boys spent time in Ethiopia and Kenya (on the
road, trying to find sanctuary, and then years in refugee camps in Kenya)
before being sent to the US for relocation. If you've spent your entire
life living in a climate that is extremely hot and dry, North Dakota is
going to be a severe shock to the senses -- both physically, climatically,
and of course culturally.
Heck, I grew up in California and when I went to grad school in Indiana at
age 22, I did NOT know how to dress for the cold. I didn't have the right
clothes, didn't even know what the right clothes were, didn't know how to
dress, didn't know the symptoms of frostbite, or how to keep my feet from
getting wet and frozen, etc. I did finally learn, with help from native
Hoosiers. Just recently, after 15 years in the south, I moved to Delaware
in the middle of winter and again had to adjust.
I do think it is cruel and unusual to take war-torn, traumatized, basically
starving young boys and men and send them to North Dakota. The author of
the New York Times article, Sara Corbett, said in our phone conversation
that there has been some degree of depression and anxiety among the Sudanese
in North Dakota because they know that some of the other kids from the Kenya
refugee camp got settled in south Texas. The ones in North Dakota wonder if
they are being punished for something they have done wrong. They have been
in contact by phone with Sudanese resettled in Boston, trying to help each
other cope with the cold.
It is the case that humans have adapted genetically, physically, and
physiologically to extremes of heat and cold and differences in amount of
ultra-violet radiation (and different diseases and amounts of oxygen in the
air, etc.) in different parts of the world. It is also the case that humans
are able to expand outside their ancestral zones through cultural
adaptations. I am not saying that people shouldn't live outside their
'ancestral zones.' But if your body is designed for one climatic zone and
you move to another, then you need to be aware of what the consequences are
and how to deal with them culturally -- thus, some form of Vitamin D
supplementation for children at risk of rickets from too little ultra-violet
radiation (because of a mismatch between their skin color and the amount of
UV radiation in their environment), and sunblock for children at risk of
various kinds of damage from too much ultra-violet radiation because of a
mismatch between their skin color and the amount of UV radiation in their
environment), regardless of the circumstances.
Of course, as my husband pointed out, because there are no female Sudanese
refugees being relocated to the US, if these young boys and men grow up and
marry, it will probably be to women of lighter skin color than they are, so
their children may not suffer as much from rickets as if they had the skin
color of their fathers in North Dakota. And of course, they don't have to
stay in North Dakota!
Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Nutrition
Texas A&M University
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