The Social Uses of DNA Reading Response

This week’s reading built off of Duana Fullwiley’s “The Biologistical Construction of Race” that we discussed last week in class. This week, however, the reading specifically focused on the uses of DNA surrounding the Native American community.

One of my greatest takeaways from the readings was how, again, we are trying to reinforce our (the West’s, I should say) racial categories and our version of what it means to be a member of a certain group. As Kimberly TallBear said in her article “DNA and Native American Identity,” we “give priority to techno-scientific knowledge of certain kinship relations over other types of knowledge and relationships.” Although biological factors are indeed an important part of ancestry and community, there are many more factors other than DNA, such as history, culture, and tradition, that make up other aspects of heritage and identity. So why do we seem to focus so much on the DNA part of race and ethnicity?

Like race in general, the concept of “Native American DNA” is a social construction, and as Jessica Bardill mentions in her article, the use of DNA tests to confer identity within the group can have unforeseen consequences. The DNA construction of race does not necessarily align with how Native Americans have “construct[ed], socially and otherwise, their identities and the terms of tribal belonging,” and these tests can have possible negative ramifications on individuals within and outside the tribe, and also on the tribe itself.

Although DNA testing can give very certain results in certain cases, such as paternity tests, I think when it gets broader than that scope—such as where you originated from, who your ancestors are—the science can get muddled into what people may want to see. Our DNA sequence is long, so how do scientist decide which places in our genome to specifically study? Could studying different markers within our DNA give different results? Also, how do we choose our sample size—and to what degree are the people sampled the “indigenous” people of where they live now? With so much variation within the same groups of people (in fact, more variation than between different groups) and all the migration that has happened throughout history, I think it is almost impossible to get a clear and full picture of our ancestral origins and what so-called category we may belong to. Our lived experiences are equally, if not more, important in giving us our identity. I don’t think it is fair nor correct for a student seeking advantage in college admissions to “prove” his Native American heritage through DNA testing because his/her lived experiences are markedly different than actual tribal members who had been living in that community for their entire lives.

That being said, I think it is important for scientists to carefully consider all aspects of their work and the effects it can cause when conducting research. Objective analysis and ethical responsibility for their work could help guide scientists into focusing on the critical questions that our society faces today.