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DNA and Racism
Have you seen the recent commercials that promote people having DNA tests? They show a man who is shocked to find out he should be dancing in kilts instead of lederhosen. And there is the woman who clearly has an American accent who says when she travels, people ask where she is from—and she assumes they are asking about her cellular history. Several people report that they now feel “complete,” knowing their personal DNA. It’s fascinating to see how people respond to their results.
One teacher at West Chester University in Pennsylvania has identified a creative and educational way to use DNA tests: to explore questions about racism. Her name is Anita Foeman; she was doing consulting work in the area of race mediation and was using DNA testing as one tool. Her goal, rather than causing confrontation, was to help people recognize their biases and create an environment where people could speak about race in a constructive and positive way. She brought her experiences into the university environment.
Overall, the student response has been enthusiastic.
‘Some people have never had a happy conversation about race,’ Foeman said. But in her class at West Chester University, there was laughter. Eagerness. And easy connections where there might have been chasms. ‘Our differences are fascinating,’ she said.
At a time when tensions over race and politics are so raw, the stakes, Foeman said, seem particularly high. Her students have been talking all fall about riots, building walls, terrorist attacks, immigration, the election. ‘You can feel it buzzing around the halls like electricity,’ Foeman said.
To introduce the process, Dr. Foeman has people complete a short survey about their ancestry. Then they spit into a vial and the vials are sent for testing. Weeks later they get an email with the results of their “ethnic make-up, a color coded map of their past.”
Students have reacted in amusing and thoughtful ways:
‘When I opened my results, the first thing that greeted me was 6 percent African,’ said a student with very pale skin in the back of the classroom, smacking herself in the forehead, mouth open wide, to re-create her reaction the night before: ‘Whaaaaat?’
‘I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised,’ she added. ‘I know a lot of African-American people have some white DNA, so I shouldn’t be surprised there’s some African in me.’
A student with bright-red hair sent her mother an image of her results, telling her, ‘We’re not Irish at all.’ Her first response was: ‘You must have the wrong data.’ And then: ‘Don’t tell your grandfather. It might kill him.’
There were also students who refused to be tested or denied the results:
Foeman has seen people drop out of the project after getting their results, including three people who identified as African-American who were upset to learn how much European ancestry they had. Some people refuse to take the test. A woman of Chinese descent told Foeman: ‘It’s okay for you – you already know you’re mixed up. I don’t want to find out I’m not pure.’
One of the most valuable aspects of this process is that the results create an opportunity to talk about race in a non-threatening, educational and intimate way:
In class, there were a few quiet moments. But mostly people were rushing to talk – to tell about the great-grandfather who was a Portuguese pirate, the grandfather who was a Black Panther, the grandmother who doesn’t like black people, the great-grandmother whose skin is so much lighter than her siblings’ and everyone will be very angry if anyone asks why that is. The grandmother who, on her deathbed at 99, insisted that the family’s roots went back to William the Conqueror, although no one thought the family was of British descent. (That student’s test results indicated they were, in fact, British. ‘Even up to the end, you gave Grandma no respect!’ Foeman teased.)
Emma Krentler, who has pale skin and brown hair, told the class she knew of Italian and German ancestors and expected some kind of a split between the two. Instead, she found a much more intricate tapestry: 2 percent North African, 13 percent West Asian, 2 percent Jewish. And when she saw Middle Eastern, ‘I was like, What? What?’ It was complete and utter surprise.”
‘Who are these people?!’ Foeman laughed with her.
Students are now volunteering for testing campus-wide.
We are in a period of history where many of us want to identify constructive, meaningful and intimate ways to talk about race. We can initiate conversations, but too often participants become upset, defensive, and angry. Discussions might be superficial because they are intellectual, theoretical and uneasy, not exploring the most fundamental aspects of our beliefs about race and culture. I support any method that can bridge the gaps that seem to be increasing over racial differences. If DNA testing is one step that can span those conflicts, creating an environment of curiosity, sincerity, and learning, then I think it could be a great tool for developing and deepening relationships in a society that is ripe for healing.
Published in Education
Now I have to know what a Yakut is, Doc. Glad you’ve got that pillage thing mostly under control. ;-)
A Dr. Seuss book about sneetches with and without stars on their bellies. The ones with stars were superior.
Spoiler alert: An entrepreneur arrives with a machine that gives stars to non-starred sneetches, which gave them access to the superiority. Then the star-bellied sneetches went through the machine to have their stars removed, and now non-starred bellies were better.
Around and around, star on, star off, until it was impossible to tell who should be superior and who not. Finally, the sneetches laughed and left their stars alone.
The entrepreneur, as I understood the story long ago, made a good bit of money from the enterprise and went on to the next set of irrationally superior imaginary creatures.
The stuff I know about in my ancestry is German, English, Dutch, and French. Talk about inner conflict…
Great post, Susan. I’ve heard of this kind of testing but it rings alarm bells for me. I want to ask who determines what North African DNA is, or Jewish DNA, or any other kind. I’m sure there is some science behind it, but also a whole lot of extrapolating.
It reminds me of those whole body scans that were popular for awhile. Pay for a procedure that promised something big but often produced dubious results.
By the way, I’m 100% Dutch…wink!
I actually posted that video in the midst of the Trump/NeverTrump divide here.
It’s a Norse thing. You wouldn’t understand.
That is what I put on my census form.
Regardless of the motivation, it still ultimately encourages people to see themselves as the product of their racial makeup. I’m not sure that the fact that people may emerge with a different racial “list” takes down barriers as opposed to substituting new ones. But, at bottom, any objection I’d have would be that the process is still “about” race, as opposed to casting race aside as insignificant/irrelevant.
I once thought as you. Then I realized that no sooner will people finally realize there is no racial purity, which is why claims of racism are generally silly on their face, a new preference will be established for “purity”. Race/Color won’t matter at all; it will be the “pures” vs. the “mixed” or put in more blunt terms: “clean” vs. “soiled”. Same game as always; different round .
I think the attractiveness of the us vs. them social construct is deeply related to a primal survival instinct which is why it will always exist at some level. I think the best we can do is keep it non-violent (rule of law) and in line with the American ethos: I’m ok, you’re ok; we can all get along.
What we should stop doing is repeatedly allow the Bad Guys to consistently, successfully, re-phrase what is likely a natural societal/tribal survival instinct into a situation of victims versus oppressors ; that is, stop them from using natural proclivities as excuses to promote power struggles/re-distributions/entitlements/reparations and civil unrest. We need to stop them from re-characterizing natural instincts as something evil.
Another DNA site for $79.
https://www.myheritage.com/
This is best reason I’ve read so far to get one’s DNA tested.
I’m 100% Native American and darned proud of it. BTW the way that just means I was born in the USA. That’s the actual, real, historical meaning of the term ‘Native’.
DNA testing can be very helpful in certain cases. This summer when I got my mammogram, the technician said there was a new question on the form for her to ask. Did I have Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry? She was surprised when I said yes. All four grandparents. Many genetic diseases are found most often in our group, so it’s important as a risk factor.
Hitler obviously wasn’t familiar with the concept of “hybrid vigor”. Neither was Tom Riddle (Voldemort).
BHO is half black, and he chose to emphasize that part of his ancestry, to the detriment of race relations in our country the last 8 years.
On the medical side, it can be a matter of trying to solve a problem of long standing. That’s what we did the tests for. It’s nice to know whether we should watch for hemochromatosis (yes) or CF (no) in our kids. It’s also… extremely weird… to know that I carry a gene that allegedly grants me immunity to HIV.
Finding out a little about our purported ancestry was a sideshow, and by itself wouldn’t be enough to motivate us. The reason we did these tests in the first place was because of bigger things to worry about than some company or even the gov’t ending up with our genetic information: I wouldn’t expect those without such worries to feel or act as we did.
The irony in my case is, the heriditary condition that has looked increasingly likely is one they don’t know the gene for yet! But if it’s what’s suspected, and if adding my info to the pool could help discover it… I’ve had some things happen that I wouldn’t wish on anyone, and maybe just maybe sharing this information could help turn what I wouldn’t wish into reality.
OMG! Yes! Check all the boxes that apply…it would be wonderful.
I found myself, for reasons I’ve forgotten, staying at the hotel adjacent to the Bangor Airport. Going down to the hotel bar for supper, I found it was was absolutely stuffed with stranded soldiers, whose plane to Iraq had developed engine trouble. Squishing my way through the crowd, I found myself face to face with a very broad chest bearing a nametag—and the name was one of my family names! (My mother’s maiden, or I would write it here). “Hey!” I said, looking up. “We’re related!” The owner of the chest and name tag looked down at me—nice, African-American face—and laughed.
Well, we could have been related, by any number of ways. Some are historically awful—did some cousin of my great-grandfather’s move out of New England and buy a slave?—or historically nice (maybe this guy’s great-grandfather and mine were friends) or biologically ordinary, like maybe one of my ancestors sired one of his. Whatever; he’s my bro.
Reminds me of:
“My family is American, and has been for generations, in all its branches, direct and collateral.”
While I take the point of Professor Foeman’s course, and its popularity (most of us are curious to know the formula of our ancestry), I personally prefer Grant’s (and Okie Sailor’s) perspective as one seemingly with little use for these past “old world” associations.
Stars upon thars!
I bought Gizmo-Guy (aka. Dad) a DNA kit for Christmas a couple of years ago. He dropped the swab before sending it in so I was waiting for finding of 14%=Mickey Mouse….
This makes sense, Midge. For those people who have genetic concerns, testing might be helpful. Then again, unless a person is guaranteed to inherit or pass on a debilitating gene, it might be one more thing to needlessly worry about. (Not referring to your situation at all.)
Indeed.
Since @frontseatcat asked, and if anyone is interested, Professor Foeman just wrote back and said they send their vials to ancestry.com.
Hm…I wonder how they identify what % in your DNA is German, Russian, etc. This implies there is some standard which they ‘know’ is German, Russian, etc. But all living people can in principle be ‘mixtures’. So, what is their standard? Anyone know?
I doubt that the university set a standard. Since ancestry.com does the analysis, and I think there’s been quite a bit of research on establishing this information, ancestry.com may have the answer.
ancestry.com has quite a bit of information about how the DNA testing works. But in brief:
The AncestryDNA test uses microarray-based autosomal DNA testing, which surveys a person’s entire genome at over 700,000 locations, all with a simple saliva sample. Additionally, the new online interface integrates state-of-the art tools for you to utilize your DNA results for family history research.
My husband has always emphasized his Irish background, but being adopted he wasn’t totally sure. A couple of years ago he was contacted by a previously unknown sister to determine if he was her brother (he is). So he went from being an only child to being part of a large (2 sisters, 3 brothers) Irish family. He and the sisters did the DNA thing – just for family background, not to prove they’re related – and sure enough they have a good percentage more Irish than he because of his birth father being unknown. It was interesting.
I have sent for the kit but haven’t done it yet. I’m just mildly curious to see if family oral history is correct. I was born in the South , both sides having lived in their towns for a couple of generations at least. I would not be surprised to have some African DNA. I don’t want to do genealogy – just see where my ancestors came from.
I think it’s done by comparing with DNA pieces that are common in regions. So they don’t really say “Russian”. They would instead tell you that you have a certain portion of DNA that is common to a region of Russia, or something along those lines. But when people talk about it, they tend to say “Russian DNA.”
Haven’t got my own report yet, though.
I’ve found a new motto!
The wife bought us kits from 23andme for Christmas. It takes some weeks to get results so I’m still waiting. I am curious to see what they tell me – I’m aware of German and English but there’s probably a lot of other stuff in there are well. We’re all mutts.
I share the hope that more interracial marriage will encourage people to give up on seeing racial groups as separate entities. Then again, if they’re willing to try to keep track of 37 genders, they may be willing to keep track of 237 race combinations.
Unfortunately this would be the typical commitment of the Left to diversity. I’m for KISS.
If we try to keep track of 237 race combinations, they’ll bully us into keeping it simple. If we try to keep it simple, they’ll bully us into keeping track of 237 race combinations.