Abstract
AbstractDNA ancestry testing may seem frivolous, but it points to two crucial questions: First, what is the relationship, if any, between biology and race? Second, how much and why do people prefer clear, singular racial identities over blurred, mixed racial self-understandings, or the reverse? We posit that individuals of different racial or ethnic backgrounds will have different levels of support for this new technology. In particular, despite the history of harm caused by the biologization of race, we theorize that African Americans will be receptive to the use of DNA ancestry testing because conventional genealogical searches for ancestral roots are mostly unavailable to them. This “broken chain” theory leads to two hypotheses, of disproportionately high Black interest in DNA ancestry testing—thus an implicit acceptance of a link between biology and race—and high acceptance among Blacks of multiple heritages despite a preference for evidence of roots in Africa.To test these hypotheses, we analyze two databases of U.S. newspaper articles, one with almost 6,000 items and a second with 700. We also analyze two new public opinion surveys of nationally representative samples of adult Americans. Most of the evidence comes from the second survey, which uses vignettes to obtain views about varied results of DNA ancestry testing. We find that the media increasingly report on the links between genetic inheritance and race, and emphasize singular racial ancestry more than multiple heritages. The surveys show, consistent with our theory, that Blacks (and Hispanics, to some degree) are especially receptive to DNA ancestry testing, and are pleased with not only a finding of group singularity but also a finding of multiple points of origin. Qualitative readings of media reports illuminate some of the reasons behind these survey findings. We conclude with a brief discussion of the broader importance of DNA ancestry testing.
Highlights
Abstract DNA ancestry testing may seem frivolous, but it points to two crucial questions: First, what is the relationship, if any, between biology and race? Second, how much and why do people prefer clear, singular racial identities over blurred, mixed racial self-understandings, or the reverse? We posit that individuals of different racial or ethnic backgrounds will have different levels of support for this new technology. ,In particular, despite the history of harm caused by the biologization of race, we theorize that African Americans will be receptive to the use of DNA ancestry testing because conventional genealogical searches for ancestral roots are mostly unavailable to them
As coming too close to the old and discredited “racial science,” or do they embrace it as a new tool for learning more about their own and others’ heritage? Do Americans prefer to understand themselves through a clean, clear single group lineage or do they embrace the messy contingencies of multiracialism? Since both of these questions have been especially fraught throughout the long history of Blacks in America, we focus on the views of African Americans, comparing their views to the viewsthose of others in order to see what is distinctive and what is shared across groups
We know of no systematic theories, never mind a developed literature, on why people might endorse, accept, or resist the idea of an association between race and biology, so we provide the initial outline of such a theory and its links to DNA ancestry testing and African Americans below
Summary
“This is business, and the business is genetic astrology” (Collins 2013).1 Viewed from another angle, and regardless of whether or not the science is any better than astrology, DNA ancestry testing raises profound questionsissues, potentially affecting everything from a person’s identity to a society’s strategy for categorizing racespurported racial groups. Two such questions issues are whether and how to incorporate biological elements into the meaning of “race” or the distinctions among groups, and how to evaluate the relative merits of single-race ancestry and multiple group heritages. As coming too close to the old and discredited “racial science,” or do they embrace it as a new tool for learning more about their own and others’ heritage? Do Americans prefer to understand themselves through a clean, clear single group lineage or do they embrace the messy contingencies of multiracialism? Since both of these questions have been especially fraught throughout the long history of Blacks in America, we focus on the views of African Americans, comparing their views to the viewsthose of others in order to see what is distinctive and what is shared across groups
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