There have been a series of well-reproduced studies, in animals and humans, looking at methylation of genes related to stress hormone receptors in the hippocampus of subjects exposed to stress/abuse.
This may be a pop science article, but the steady stream of these findings suggests that there's some pretty ground-breaking stuff happening here. One of my mentors in residency was betting that Michael Meany will pick up a Nobel Prize for this work.
First let me say that I don't intend to speak for anyone but myself here.
As a black man who grew up in America (though not African-American) I have to say that my immediate reaction to the idea of similar study being done to explain the effects of slavery, Jim Crow, and other forms of institutional racism on the black population makes me nervous.
On one hand I'd love to welcome such studies because they would (could?) explain to many people the lasting effects of over 100 years of horrific oppression on millions of people.
On the other hand it makes me nervous because blacks in this country spent decades fighting not just for freedom but for equality. And not just equality in the eyes of the law but in the hearts of their neighbors. I fear, perhaps irrationally, that a study like this could serve to convince people that blacks are in fact different. That our brains are not in fact the same as other people in this country. That we are not equal.
And if it were possible to have a third hand I'd also have another thought that may be somewhat controversial, particularly in the black community, and it is that I'd be worried that the results of a study like this one would serve to absolve many people today of their responsibility to essentially be good people. The victimization of black people in America is well-documented but I have to say I've often felt uncomfortable by how frequently it is used as something to point to when we are just straight up unwilling to take care of our own communities.
I'm rambling now so I'll stop but I hope some of that made sense.
Methylation is super interesting, but I prefer to keep a broad focus on "what differences in the prenatal/postnatal environment?" for explaining most generation-spanning environmental effects.
http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v10/n4/full/nrn2629.html
These changes can persist to their offspring.
This may be a pop science article, but the steady stream of these findings suggests that there's some pretty ground-breaking stuff happening here. One of my mentors in residency was betting that Michael Meany will pick up a Nobel Prize for this work.