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The Impact of Skin and Hair Disease in Ethnic Skin

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Ethnic Skin and Hair and Other Cultural Considerations

Part of the book series: Updates in Clinical Dermatology ((UCD))

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Abstract

In scientific literature, the term ethnicity has been the subject of profound critical consideration, which has rightly stressed the casual and irresponsible use of terms such as ethnicity and ethnic by researchers and media outlets to explain everything relating to social and cultural dynamic of populations of the so-called developing countries or in any case “other” populations different from us. Today we know that race, which however we’ve shown earlier doesn’t even exist, does not determine the colour of skin, just as skin colour does not define races. Pigmentation in mammals is genetically determined, since genes act at different levels in the formation and distribution of the pigment granules. The different populations around the planet show a broad variety of colours, from the dark in western Africa and southern India inhabitants to the olive-coloured skin of Pakistan people and the pale white of populations in the northern areas of the world. Another feature of recent history, paralleling the phenomenon of immigration, is the growing interest in ethnomedicine in the West countries. This discipline protects and reclaims the medicinal culture of developing countries. The forms and qualities of natural or traditional therapies used by people in tropical or “distant” countries continually stimulate anthropological and medical curiosity and interest in Europe.

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Morrone, A. (2021). The Impact of Skin and Hair Disease in Ethnic Skin. In: Li, B.S., Maibach, H.I. (eds) Ethnic Skin and Hair and Other Cultural Considerations. Updates in Clinical Dermatology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64830-5_14

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