23andMe

The readings for the week on DNA testing triggered a memory for me. A year or so back, a good friend of mine from back home had posted a picture of herself on Facebook with a caption saying that she had used a genetic testing agency to trace back her ancestral roots. Being a Chinese adoptee to white parents in the States, the DNA test was part of her journey in re-finding her identity and her origins since her attempts at finding her biological parents were not successful. Curious as to what the status back then said (since I didn’t remember it clearly) and about the company she used for her genetic testing, I scrolled back on her timeline to find the picture.

The caption stated that after doing genetic testing through a company called 23AndMe, she has found out that she has ancestral roots in China, Korea, and Europe and that “science in freaking awesome!” I remember in a conversation with her after she had gone through the testing, she had said that doing the DNA test helped fill in some of the missing links of her past. To my friend, this test made her identity feel validated. And although in my last post I questioned the credibility of these genetic tests and talked about how it is based on the West’s socially constructed categories, I can definitely understand the appeal and significance it may have for people like my friend with unknown backgrounds who are just trying to find any bit of information about themselves. While I am still skeptical about what it means to say that my friend is x% Chinese, y% Korean, and z% European, I can appreciate the comfort that this information must have brought to my friend to realize that she does in fact have some kind of origin and ancestry in Asia. In this case, the DNA technology was able to bring to her a verification of her identity that would not have been available to someone in her position twenty years ago. I do still think, though, information like this should be taken with a grain of salt.

Here is the website link if anyone wants to check it out: www.23andme.com