Genes, Race, Ancestry, and Identity in Forensic Anthropology: Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Concerns

Abstract

Forensic anthropology is in the midst of its latest reckoning with the concept of ancestry, particularly insofar as its role in the development of biological profiles for unidentified decedents and the effects that these estimations have on broader investigative processes. As anthropologists who collaborate with forensic genomics experts, we are interested in considering how debates within anthropological circles might inform—or be informed by—detailed biogeographical ancestry estimates generated as part of forensic genomic analyses. Although such analyses are clearly rooted in the natural sciences, we believe that explorations of what practitioners and the public do with this genomic data—and how this relates to issues of identity—must ultimately be a social science pursuit. In this article, we summarize the history of the race concept in anthropology and contemporary debates about ancestry estimation occurring more specifically among forensic anthropologists. We will also review some of the literature from the emerging field of social science perspectives on genomics and identity.