DNA: THE SECRET OF LIFE
GENETIC CLAIMS AND THE UNSETTLED PAST AS THE AMERICAN GENETICIST ANTHROPOLOGIST AND TELEVISION PRESENTER SPENCER WELLS BOLDLY CLAIMS IN HIS 2003 PBS DOCUMENTARY THE JOURNEY OF MAN THE STUDY OF GENETIC VARIATION IN PEOPLE AROUND THE GLOBE OPENS AN UNPARALLELED VIEW INTO THE PAST ONE DROP OF BLOOD OR A FEW CELLS SWABBED FROM THE INSIDE OF THE CHEEK HE INSISTS NOT ONLY UNVEILS MANKIND S ORIGINS IN AFRICA BUT ALSO REVEALS THE PATHWAYS ALONG WHICH HUMAN BEINGS TRAVELED INTO EUROPE ASIA AND NORTH AND IT IS A COMPELLING NARRATIVE OF THE BODY AS A MICROCOSM OF THE PAST AND IN ANOTHER BOLD MOVE THAT MARRIES SCIENCE TO BUSINESS WELLS AND OTHERS LIKE HIM HAVE COMMERCIALIZED THIS VISION SUCCESSFULLY TRANSLATING LABORATORY INSIGHTS FROM POPULATION GENETICS INTO AN INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIVE SCIENCE ENDEAVOR THE GENOGRAPHIC PROJECT IN WHICH INDIVIDUAL CONSUMERS PURCHASE DNA TEST KITS THAT YIELD PERSONAL GENETIC RESULTS AND SCIENTIFIC DATA TOWARD THE FURTHER ELUCIDATION OF THE ULTIMATE HUMAN HISTORY WRITTEN IN OUR GENES 1 WELLS S RECENT VENTURE IS BUT ONE INSTANCE OF THE COUNTLESS WAYS THAT THIS NEW ERA OF GENETIC ANALYSIS HAS EXPANDED FAR BEYOND THE ARENA OF ORIGIN STORIES AND POPULAR SCIENCE OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS CONNECTING INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS TO IMAGINED ANCESTORS THESE RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN GENETIC ANALYSIS HAVE BEEN EMPLOYED TO UNCOVER NOT ONLY INDIVIDUAL ANCESTRY BUT ALSO GROUP HERITAGE GENETIC MARKERS REFERRING TO TINY SECTIONS WHERE MINISCULE VARIATIONS ON THE CHROMOSOMES ARE EVIDENT FROM PERSON TO PERSON TINY DATA POINTS STANDING OUT AGAINST THE OTHERWISE VAST UNIFORMITY ACROSS ALL HUMANITY HAVE COME TO BE REGARDED AS SCIENTIFIC POR TALS TO THE PAST ANALYSIS OF THESE MARKERS IS INCREASINGLY EMPLOYED TO INVESTIGATE AND ADJUDICATE ISSUES OF SOCIAL MEMBERSHIP AND KINSHIP REWRITE HISTORY AND COLLECTIVE MEMORY ARBITRATE LEGAL CLAIMS AND HUMAN RIGHTS CONTROVERSIES AND OPEN NEW THINKING ABOUT HEALTH AND WELLBEING 2 NOT SURPRISINGLY THESE LATEST APPLICATIONS HAVE ATTRACTED MUCH ATTENTION AND AT TIMES GENERATED INTENSE IN 2010 ALONE THE DEBATES AND ASSERTIONS ARISING OVER GENETIC ANALYSIS WERE ALMOST AS NUMEROUS AS THE GENETIC PRACTICES THEMSELVES IN APRIL THE HAVASUPAI INDIANS WHO RESIDE WITHIN THE GRAND CANYON WON THEIR FIGHT WITH ACADEMIC GENETICISTS OVER THE ANALYSES OF THEIR MEMBERS GENES AND HISTORY WHICH THE TRIBE HAD NEVER SANCTIONED IN MAY OF THIS SAME YEAR WALGREENS ANNOUNCED THAT IT WAS RECONSIDERING ITS PLAN TO SELL PATHWAY GENOMICS S DO IT YOURSELF AT HOME DNA KIT THAT INFERS GENETIC PREDISPOSITION FOR SEVERAL DISEASES AFTER THE FDA ORDERED TESTING COMPANIES TO PROVE THE VALIDITY OF SUCH PRODUCTS 3 IN JULY DNA ANALYSIS WAS CREDITED WITH LEADING TO THE ARREST OF A SUSPECT IN THE TWENTY FIVE YEAR OLD SO CALLED GRIM SLEEPER SERIAL MURDERS IN LOS ANGELES IN SEPTEMBER AS NEWS OUTLETS ANNOUNCED THAT THE GENOME OF AN IRISH MAN HAD BEEN FULLY SEQUENCED FOR THE FIRST TIME UNDER THE HEADLINE THE IRISH ARE DIFFERENT GENETICALLY THAT SAME MONTH A COURT IN ICELAND DEBATED THE VALIDITY OF DNA FINDINGS REGARDING THE CLAIMS OF A YOUNG FILIPINO WOMAN THAT HER DAUGHTER WAS THE CHILD OF DECEASED CHESS CHAMPION BOBBY FISCHER 4 THIS DIVERSE ARRAY OF CASES HIGHLIGHTS HOW DNA HAS BECOME CENTRAL TO THE CLAIMS AND COUNTERCLAIMS OF MANY STAKEHOLDERS FROM UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS TO ETHNIC COMMUNITIES FROM CONSUMERS TO ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPANIES TO DISTRICT ATTORNEYS AND FROM MOTHERS TO CITIZENS OF A NATION AS THE IRISH GENOME CASE SUGGESTS ONE CENTRAL ELEMENT IN THE NEW GENETICS HAS BEEN THE REMAKING OF INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE IDENTITY AND THE RETHINKING OF THE MEANING OF RACE AND ETHNICITY 5 THE IMPLICATIONS ARE NOT MERELY RHETORICAL AS HENRY GREELY HAS NOTED WITH ENOUGH DATA POPULATION GENETICISTS CAN ESTIMATE HOW CLOSELY RELATED DIFFERENT POPULATIONS OF HUMANS ARE TO EACH OTHER BUT GENETICALLY BASED HISTORICAL INFORMATION COULD HAVE MODERN POLITICAL IMPLICA TIONS 6 AS GREELY ANTICIPATED DNA ANALYSIS MUCH SOUGHT IN ORDER TO RESOLVE QUESTIONS OF ANCESTRY COMMUNITY AND JUSTICE AMONG OTHER MATTERS HAS BECOME A POTENT POLITICAL TOUCHSTONE AS WELL AS A SOCIAL LEGAL AND HISTORICAL ONE GENETICS TODAY HAS BECOME A STANDARD FOR SHAPING HOW WE THINK ABOUT OUR COLLECTIVE PAST AT THE SAME TIME THIS POLITICS OF GENETICS HAS REAL EFFECTS IN THE PRESENT FOR EXAMPLE BY IMPINGING CONCRETELY UPON THE RIGHTS OF GROUPS WITHIN A NATION STATE OR REDEFINING THE VERY BOUNDARIES OF KINSHIP AND NATIONALITY IN ADDI TION THESE GENETIC CLAIMS CAN SHAPE HOW FUTURE RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES TIED TO THESE RELATIONSHIPS ARE ARTICULATED THE MERE HINT THAT GENETIC MARKERS ARE DISTRIBUTED IN DIFFERENT FREQUENCIES ACROSS POPULATIONS HAS LED SOME PEOPLE TO QUICKLY TREAT SUCH VARIATION AS A PROXY FOR RACIAL AND ETHNIC DIFFERENCES LENDING RENEWED AUTHORITY TO BIOLOGICAL CONCEPTIONS OF HUMAN DIFFERENCE AND PROVIDING FODDER FOR NATIONAL DEBATES OVER BELONGING SELF DEFINITION AND POLITICAL POWER ALTHOUGH MANY SCHOLARS HAVE LONG AGREED THAT RACE IS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON RATHER THAN A BIOLOGICAL FACT THESE RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN DNA ANALYSIS HAVE BLURRED THIS DISTINCTION 8 IN THESE AND MANY OTHER WAYS THE RISE OF THIS SINGULARLY POTENT SCIENCE HAS TRANSFORMED SCHOLARLY AND POPULAR OPINION ABOUT THE NATURE SINCE THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY GENETICS SCIENTISTS HAVE HAD A ROCKY RELATION SHIP WITH THE POLITICS OF RACE AND NATIONALITY THE FLOWERING OF MODERN GENETICS AFTER THE REDISCOVERY OF MENDEL S WORK ON INHERITANCE OF TRAITS BROUGHT WITH IT BOLD AND SPECIOUS CLAIMS ABOUT HOW BIOLOGY AND HEREDITY DEFINED RACE AND RACIAL POSSIBILITIES BY THE MID TWENTIETH CENTURY IN RESPONSE TO THESE OVERBLOWN CLAIMS MOST SCIENTISTS INSISTED THAT RACES IN THE CLASSIC SENSE DO NOT EXIST 9 THEY REGARDED THE SUPPOSEDLY FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN DIVISIONS CONCEIVED BY THEIR NINETEENTH CENTURY PREDECESSORS SUCH AS CAUCASIAN MONGOLOID OR ASIAN AND NEGROID AS PROBLEM ATIC BECAUSE THESE CATEGORIES WERE BASED ON SUPERFICIAL DIFFERENCES ONLY BUT IN RECENT DECADES GENETIC SCIENCE HAS CHANGED ITS TUNE TO BE SURE MANY GENETICISTS WOULD INSIST THAT IN REVISITING RACE THEY ARE NOT ENDORSING OLD RACIAL THINKING BUT ONLY CREATING MORE FINE GRAINED STATISTICAL GROUPINGS OF GENE FREQUENCIES AND POPULATIONS WHICH BY CHANCE AND SCIENCE OVERLAP CONSIDERABLY WITH OLDER RACIAL CATEGORIES 10 YET THEIR ANALYSES OF GENES ACROSS HUMAN POPULATIONS HAVE PROVOKED A RESURGENCE IN RACE THINKING AND FOSTERED EFFORTS NOT ONLY TO LOCATE RACE IN BIOLOGY BUT ALSO TO CONNECT PEOPLE TODAY TO THEIR OWN SCIENTIFIC ANCESTORS IN THESE WAYS GENETICS HAS RETURNED TO ITS OWN CONTROVERSIAL PAST USING GENE LEVEL DIFFERENCES ACROSS GROUPS ENORMOUS SIMILARITIES AND A RELATIVE HANDFUL OF VARIATIONS ACROSS GENOMES AS A TEMPLATE FOR RECONFIGURING GROUPS AND FOR BUILDING NEW NOTIONS OF RACIAL DIFFERENCE FOR A NEW ERA GIVEN THE FIELD S CONTENTIOUS HISTORY IT SHOULD NOT SURPRISE US THAT EACH NEW ASSERTION ABOUT GENETIC OR BIOLOGICAL GROUP IDENTITY BECOMES A COLLISION POINT A NEXUS OF OFTEN HEATED DISCUSSION ABOUT EVIDENCE SCIENCE AND POLITICAL AUTHORITY PRESS HEADLINES THAT READILY DRAW CONCLUSIONS ABOUT ANCESTRY AND BEHAVIOR INTEL LIGENCE OR DRUG METABOLISM SUGGEST THAT THE SOCIAL CONCEPTUALIZATION OF RACE MAY BE LOSING GROUND IN THE ERA OF GENETICS OR THEY MIGHT BE SEEN AS ILLUSTRATING THE POINT THAT SOME S CIENTISTS NEVER DID GIVE UP ON ITS BIOLOGICAL MEANING AS SOCIOLOGIST JENNY REARDON PROPOSED 11 FURTHERMORE A NUMBER OF GENETICISTS AND BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGISTS AS WELL AS SOCIOLOGISTS AND POLITICAL SCIENTISTS HAVE BEGUN MAKING BOLD CLAIMS BASED ON VARIATIONS OF SEEMINGLY DISTINCTIVE GENE MARKERS ACROSS POPULATIONS RANGING FROM CONTENTIONS ABOUT RACIAL PREDISPOSITION TO CANCER TO THE GENETIC TRANSMISSION OF POLITICAL ORIENTATION 12 ANALYZING THESE FLASHPOINTS AND TENSIONS OVER THE CLAIMS AND CREDIBILITY OF GENETIC SCIENCE ARE AMONG THIS BOOK S CENTRAL CONCERNS FOR THEY HAVE DRAMATIC IMPLICATIONS FOR THE AMERICAN DISCOURSES ABOUT RACE AND BIOLOGICAL DIFFERENCE AND POSE POTENTIALLY FAR REACHING IMPLICATIONS IN MEDIA AND POLICY SETTINGS GENETICS TODAY HAS BECOME A NOVEL YET THORNY ENTERPRISE A SET OF LABORATORY PRACTICES PACKAGED AS COMMODITIES THAT ARE UNDERGIRDED BY FAR REACHING INTELLEC TUAL SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT HUMAN DIFFERENCE THIS BOOK SEEKS TO CHART THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOW THESE ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT HUMAN DIFFERENCE ARE OFTEN BUNDLED SOMETIMES UNWITTINGLY INTO DIVERSE GENETIC ENDEAVORS IN SOME INSTANCES GENETICS AND DNA ANALYSIS ARE BEING DEPLOYED AS NEW TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES TO ADDRESS OLD LONGSTANDING QUESTIONS ABOUT IDENTITY AND HISTORY IN OTHER INSTANCES WE ARE WITNESSING THE EMERGENCE OF NEW QUESTIONS AND CLAIMS ABOUT THE MEANING OF HUMAN DIFFERENCE AND RELATIONS OF SHARED OR BROKEN HISTORY BASED ON THE PREMISE THAT GENETICS CAN OFFER ANSWERS AND REMEDIES OUR AIM IS NOT TO SPECIFY PRECISELY WHEN GENETICS PROVIDES ACCESS TO THE TRUTH AND WHEN IT DOES NOT ALTHOUGH OUR ESSAYS HAVE MUCH TO SAY ABOUT THE CREDIBILITY OF GENETIC EVI DENCE IN LAW MEDICINE POLITICS AND CONSUMER CULTURE WE SEEK PRIMARILY TO DESCRIBE AND ANALYZE THOSE SOCIAL CONTEXTS AND POLITICAL SETTINGS IN SO DOING WE EXPLORE HOW THE AUTHORITY OF GENETIC EVIDENCE ABOUT RACE AND HISTORY ARE LINKED TO THE SOCIAL POLITICAL AND CULTURAL UTILITY OF RACIALIZATION AS THE ESSAYS IN THIS VOLUME MAKE CLEAR GENETIC SCIENCE DOES NOT EXIST APART FROM ITS CONTEXT AND USES NOR CAN ITS CLAIMS BE FULLY UNDERSTOOD APART FROM THESE CONTEXTS AND USES WHAT IS PARTICULARLY NOTABLE IS THE WAY IN WHICH THE GENETIC VENTURES EXAMINED IN THE PAGES AHEAD ARE ENACTING RACIAL PROJECTS 13 IN WHICH RACE INCLUDING WHITENESS AND ALSO TO SOME EXTENT ETHNICITY IS BEING RECONSTI TUTED AND IN WHICH NOTIONS OF RACE AND THE PAST OFFER BOTH LIBERATING POSSIBILITIES FOR EXAMPLE A FEELING OF BELONGING TO THE NATION RELEASE FROM FALSE IMPRISON MENT THE PROMISE OF BETTER HEALTH SOCIAL HEALING AND ALSO CONFINEMENT FOR EXAMPLE RACIAL REIFICATION AND THE BIOLOGICAL ESSENTIALIZATION OF THE FAMILY AND GROUPS HEREIN LIES ONE PARADOX OF GENETICS AND THE UNSETTLED PAST IN RELYING UPON GENETIC ANALYSIS TO RESOLVE HISTORICAL MYSTERIES OR CLEAR THE WAY FOR RESTITU TION AND HEALING WE ARE AT THE SAME TIME MANIPULATING AND TRANSFORMING ALREADY POLITICIZED NOTIONS OF RACE AND THE PAST AND IMPLICITLY MAKING CLAIMS ABOUT THE SOCIAL POLITICAL AND PERSONAL SIGNIFICANCE OF BIOLOGICAL HUMAN DIFFERENCE THROUGHOUT THIS VOLUME WE ALSO ASK HOW ANCESTRY TESTING HAS TRANSFORMED OUR NOTIONS OF KINSHIP PLACING EN FAMILLE THOSE INDIVIDUALS WHOSE ASSOCIATION IS BASED ON GENETIC MARKERS AND PUSHING ASIDE NOTIONS OF FAMILY THAT ARE BASED ON SOCIAL NORMS INTERACTION OR CULTURAL CODES TO WHAT EXTENT IS GENETICALLY FASHIONED GENEALOGY OVERTAKING OTHER LONG PRACTICED WAYS OF RENDERING THE FAMILY AND IN TURN THE COMMUNITY AND THE NATION AT THE END OF THE DAY WE ARGUE ONLY A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH CAN ILLUMI NATE THIS COLLISION OF DNA RACE AND HISTORY AND HELP US TO IDENTIFY AND EXPOSE THE CULTURAL ETHICAL SOCIAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL CHALLENGES AND POSSIBILITIES POSED BY GENETICS UNDERSTANDING AND DISSECTING THE IMPLICATIONS OF DNA IN MULTIPLE REALMS IS A COMPLEX UNDERTAKING FOR ITS USES SPAN ACROSS THE REALMS OF POLITICS THE COURTROOM THE LABORATORY THE CLINIC AND THE MEDIA 14 THE PAGES AHEAD THEREFORE BRING TOGETHER SCHOLARS FROM HISTORY SOCIOLOGY ANTHROPOLOGY MOLECULAR BIOLOGY LAW MEDICINE CULTURAL STUDIES ETHNIC STUDIES AND OTHER FIELDS TO EXAMINE THE EMERGING AND OFTEN CONTESTED CONNECTIONS AMONG RACE GENETICS AND HISTORY IN THESE CHAPTERS READERS FIND DISCUSSIONS OF THE HISTORICAL USE OF DNA AND CLAIMS MADE ABOUT DNA IN BIOMEDICINE IN GENEALOGY IN THE LAW IN EPIDEMIOLOGY AND IN THE COMPLEX PROCESSES OF MEMORY REPARATION AND NATION BUILDING THESE