Population genetics and belonging : a cultural analysis of genetic ancestry

"This book explores how human population genetics has emerged as a means of imagining and enacting belonging in contemporary society. Venla Oikkonen approaches population genetics as an evolving set of technological, material, narrative and affective practices, arguing that these practices are engaged in multiple forms of belonging that are often mutually contradictory. Considering scientific, popular and fictional texts, with several carefully selected case studies spanning three decades, the author traces shifts in the affective, material and gendered preconditions of population genetic visions of belonging. Topics encompass the debate about Mitochondrial Eve, ancient human DNA, temporality and nostalgia, commercial genetic ancestry tests, and tensions between continental and national genetic inheritance. The book will be of particular interest to scholars and students of science and technology studies, cultural studies, sociology, and gender studies."-- Read more... Abstract: This book explores how human population genetics has emerged as a means of imagining and enacting belonging in contemporary society. Read more... Acknowledgments 5 Contents 7 1: Studying Population Genetics and Belonging 8 Situating the Book 10 On Population Genetics 15 On Culture 17 On Belonging 20 Materials 22 Structure of the Book 24 References 26 2: Mitochondrial Eve and the Affective Politics of Scientific Technologies 29 Population Genetics and Molecular Evolution 32 The 1987 Mitochondrial Paper and Its Reception 36 The Proto-Feminist Eve 41 Eve’s Fall 44 The Original Couple 47 Eve and Adam as Affective Objects 52 The Threat of Maternal Rebellion 56 From Global Unity to Tribal Specificity 60 Emerging Trajectories of Belonging 66 References 71 3: Imagining Origins Through Ancient Human DNA 78 The Emergence of the Study of Ancient Human DNA 83 From mtDNA to Nuclear DNA 88 Narrating American Roots 92 The Kennewick Controversy 97 Kennewick Man’s DNA 103 Cheddar Man as a Historical Object 107 Competing Forms of Genetic Belonging 110 The Affective Rhetoric of Class and Masculinity 114 Origins Inside Us 118 Affective Trajectories 121 References 126 4: Evolutionary Nostalgia and the Temporality of Belonging 136 Temporality of Genes 139 Queering Time 144 Evolutionary History as Collective Memory 147 Evolutionary Nostalgia and the Prosthetic Dynamic of Longing 151 Longing for the Future in the Past 153 Unfolding Temporalities, Intersecting Differences 158 The Obamas, and the Making of Unity Through Genetic Trajectories 165 The Many Sides of Evolutionary Temporality 171 References 175 5: Genetic Communities and the Boundaries of Belonging 177 Population and Community 181 Commercial Genetic Ancestry Tests 186 Gendered Communities 188 Temporal Distance, and the Making and Unmaking of Communal Boundaries 195 Continental Genes, Transcontinental Migrations 199 Constructing Finnish Genetic Inheritance 203 Ambiguous Communities 208 Populations, Communities, and the Politics of Difference 213 References 219 6: Reflections on Methodology and Biotechnological Change 225 The Making of Belonging Through Evolutionary Temporality 228 Tracing Biotechnological Change 231 Index 235 "This book explores how human population genetics has emerged as a means of imagining and enacting belonging in contemporary society. Venla Oikkonen approaches population genetics as an evolving set of technological, material, narrative and affective practices, arguing that these practices are engaged in multiple forms of belonging that are often mutually contradictory. Considering scientific, popular and fictional texts, with several carefully selected case studies spanning three decades, the author traces shifts in the affective, material and gendered preconditions of population genetic visions of belonging. Topics encompass the debate about Mitochondrial Eve, ancient human DNA, temporality and nostalgia, commercial genetic ancestry tests, and tensions between continental and national genetic inheritance. The book will be of particular interest to scholars and students of science and technology studies, cultural studies, sociology, and gender studies."-- Provided by publisher Front Matter ....Pages i-vii Studying Population Genetics and Belonging (Venla Oikkonen)....Pages 1-21 Mitochondrial Eve and the Affective Politics of Scientific Technologies (Venla Oikkonen)....Pages 23-71 Imagining Origins Through Ancient Human DNA (Venla Oikkonen)....Pages 73-130 Evolutionary Nostalgia and the Temporality of Belonging (Venla Oikkonen)....Pages 131-171 Genetic Communities and the Boundaries of Belonging (Venla Oikkonen)....Pages 173-220 Reflections on Methodology and Biotechnological Change (Venla Oikkonen)....Pages 221-230 Back Matter ....Pages 231-240