**4. Racialization**

In this paper, we refer to the concept of racialization as opposed to race. This is done to emphasize that the health outcomes we discuss are not the product of one's biology (i.e., their racial or ethnic make-up), but of the experience they have as a result of how they are perceived and treated in social settings. "Racialization is the process of manufacturing and utilizing the notion of race in any capacity [23] (p. 27)". It is the complex social and cultural process by which individuals and groups are ascribed a particular "race" and socially stratified based on that race. Racialization has been and continues to be a kind of inequitable social stratification, resulting in social and health disparities. As such, race is a social construct as opposed to a fundamental part of an individual or group. The use of race as a variable in human studies has been deemed questionable [24], and even

racist [25,26]. For example, Hunt and Megyesi (2008) conducted interviews with human genetic scientists who used race as a variable in their research. They found that the basis on which the researchers categorized individuals by race were nebulous and illogical, and that, despite claims of scientific neutrality, we live in a racist culture, which means that race is socially constructed [27]. The authors concluded that "persisting in constructing scientific arguments based on highly ambiguous variables that are clearly laden with dubious social meanings, is of deep concern [27] (p. 11)". Our paper contributes to the body of literature on racialized health disparities as opposed to racialized health outcomes by demonstrating that such health outcomes are unfair, avoidable, and socially produced, rather than an intrinsic component of an individual's biology [25,26].

#### **5. Literature Review Summary**

This section will summarize the findings of four key literature reviews that we have identified as critical to understanding the relationship between racism as a SDOH and newcomer health and wellness.
