Sorting Apart: Sampling Practices and Shaping Publics in DNA Studies of “Roma”

• In Event: Collating Publics In Collections Of Human Biological Material And Data 1

Abstract

The paper examines the sampling procedures in genetic studies of “Roma” (peoples historically called as “Gypsies” by European majorities) published since 2000. All of these studies reinforce – or simply take for granted – the genetic coherence of this population group from the perspective of medical-, population- or forensic-genetics. However, as with other population genetic investigations, the sampling processes appear as crucial in constructing that population’s “groupness,” their history and identity.
In the paper, we discuss how geneticists compare “Roma” to “indigenous,” “Europeans” or the “white population,” using sampling guided by pragmatic considerations, especially alliances among geneticists, state actors and public figures that facilitate recruitment and overcome resistances of research subjects. We argue that claimed genetic isolation of “Roma” is an artifact resulting from the very design of these studies. The genetic coherence of the “Roma”– along with their seemingly stark genetic differences from the groups selected for comparison – is an outcome of sampling strategies (based, for instance, on exclusions of individuals of “mixed-” race and -ancestry in the field and in the lab), extrapolations from small, localized samples to large populations, circulation of assumption-charged and biased data sets, and the interpretation of findings in the light of genetic isolation and “foreign” Indian origin.
We conclude by suggesting that, for geneticists, the “Roma” provide an optimal tool for shaping publics, as they seemingly mirror a group that enables identity building by contradistinction with notions of biological citizenship and race.

Authors

• Veronika Lipphardt, University College Freiburg, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

• Mihai Surdu, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg,University College Freiburg