Genetic Ancestry Testing and the Reification of Race

• In Event: 345 - Regular Session. Race and Ethnicity: Race, Ancestry, and Genetics

Abstract

More than a million DNA ancestry tests have been sold directly to the public over the Internet. The popularity of DNA ancestry testing has important implications for how individuals conceptualize the meaning of race. Although social scientists have long asserted that race is socially constructed, many fear that DNA ancestry testing will reinforce an essentialized view of race. Alternatively, some have speculated that the tests may have the opposite effect, by revealing the lack of genetic determination to the social identifications people have long held. In this paper, I examine whether DNA ancestry tests help to reify or challenge the concept of race. I use a longitudinal, qualitative study of 115 people who had taken DNA ancestry tests and who identified themselves before testing as, fully or partially, White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American. The study finds that respondents perceive the tests to reinforce both essentialist and constructionist views of race and experience little change in those views over time. Many respondents’ views of race are shaped by historical norms of classification within their racial communities. The tests serve as a genetic Rorschach test, allowing users to perceive in them a variety of meanings based on those historical norms. However, what little change does occur runs in the direction of a shift from essentialist to constructionist view of race, rather than the widely feared reverse.

Author

• Wendy D. Roth, University of British Columbia