Weekly Reading Reflection

In “The Science and Business of Genetic Ancestry Testing,” the authors offer a critical view of the individual DNA testing industry. The authors pointed out that information that comes of these tests can be incomplete, inaccurate, and misleading. Further, they perpetuate the problematic conception that race is a biological category, though it has been proven to be a social one. The two arguments this article made that I found most intriguing were (a) the idea that this sort of test could create a shift in self-reported race that would make it more difficult to study the social effects of race, (b) the concept that science, when combined with business, could be less accurate, and (c) the point that referring to this testing as “recreational” could be problematic given that people often take genetics tests for serious, personal reasons.

The article, “Native American DNA: Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of an Evolving Concept” delves further into the problems associated with assigning an ethnic label on the basis of a genetic test, with a specific attention placed on the problematic concept of “Native American DNA.” The author argues this is problematic due to the sheer concept that possessing certain genetic indicators gives one the right to suddenly claim membership in a culture one previously did not belong to. I agree with the author’s notion that this genetic test in fact gives individuals no claim to the Native American culture.

Finally the last article, “DNA and Native American Identity” discusses the idea that “to be Native American is to be simultaneously categorized according to racial, ethnic, and sometimes citizenship terms” and begins unpacking the consequences and downstream effects that these entangled identities have upon DNA testing. Like the first article, it discusses the potentially conflicting interests of businesses of genetic testing with the overall well-being of individuals and their culture.