Abstract
The advent and exponential popularity of direct-to-consumer DNA ancestry testing has motivated a burst of activity in social sciences research with study subjects ranging from the behaviors of genomic researchers to the moral conundrums faced by end consumers. At the same time, humanists have for decades been discussing with increasing urgency theories about the nature and consequences of social identities. In this online lightning talk, I present a portion of my research at the intersection of these sociological and humanistic discourses, and argue that—at a minimum—there is manifest in the technology and utilization of DNA ancestry testing racialist and nationalist epistemologies and social realities that are inadequately, and harmfully, apparently hidden from the perceptions of many researchers and end consumers. How are the boundaries between different ancestral groups being drawn? Whose knowledges contribute to the determination of these boundaries? What dynamics of social power are present? This relatively nascent science, technology, and consumer service arguably signals a new biotechnological epoch with regards to our access, as humans, to this sort of data about ourselves as beings that may be understood in a myriad of ways from the genetic to the political. These questions about the boundaries of social identities impact not only how we understand the nature or composition of society, but also what kinds of claims these identities warrant their claimants to make.
Presenters
Eve J. Carlisle PolleyLecturer and Doctoral Candidate, Departments of Comparative Humanities and Philosophy, University of Louisville, Kentucky, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
DNA Ancestry Testing, Identity, Epistemology, Ethics, Technology, Race, Ethnicity, Nationality
