The bioinformatics of genetic origins: how identities become embedded in the tools and practices of bioinformatics

Jan Van Baren-Nawrocka

doi:10.1186/2195-7819-9-7

Abstract

In the life sciences, where large data sets are increasingly setting the stage for research, the role of bioinformatics is expanding. This has far-reaching consequences, not only for the way research is done, but also for the way this research affects our understanding of human identity. Using two case studies of practices involving bioinformatics, the software program Structure and the Genome of the Netherlands project, I will argue that bioinformatics and its tools can be understood as ‘infrastructure’ as described by Bowker and Star. A number of value decisions are involved in the development of such tools. However, once the tools are ready for use, these values tend to blend into the background of the research. This may lead to the ‘naturalisation’ and ‘essentialisation’ of value-imbued aspects of population identities such as nationality, ethnicity and race.

Highlights

Bioinformatics is a core discipline of the life sciences in general and of genomics in particular
This case study shows how bioinformatics software can contribute to specific enactments of population identities through assumptions that become embedded in an algorithm
Fujimura and Rajagopalan have suggested a way of avoiding essentialisation of identity in the context of genomics

Summary

Introduction

Bioinformatics is a core discipline of the life sciences in general and of genomics in particular. Regardless of whether it is seen as ‘just’ a toolset or as a driving force for research, in view of the increasing complexity of the research of molecular connections, the role of bioinformatics as a technology and as a discipline is clearly intensifying. As (Rose 2007) has argued, human life is increasingly regarded as being shaped at the molecular level. (Zwart 2009) has argued that the knowledge produced by the life sciences on the basis of bioinformatics, restructures our understanding of human identities on three levels: the collective or species level, the genealogical or historical level and the individual or personal level. Whereas Zwart focuses on content, i.e. changing knowledge structures and knowledge claims that inform and restructure identities, I will focus on the research practices by which this knowledge is produced, looking at how certain specific population identities are shaped or ‘enacted’

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Conclusion