The Social Life Of DNA by Alondra Nelson

The Social Life Of DNA by Alondra Nelson

The unexpected story of how genetic testing is affecting race in America

We know DNA is a master key that unlocks medical and forensic secrets, but its genealogical life is both revelatory and endlessly fascinating. Tracing genealogy is now the second-most popular hobby amongst Americans, as well as the second-most visited online category. This billion-dollar industry has spawned popular television shows, websites, and Internet communities, and a booming heritage tourism circuit.

The tsunami of interest in genetic ancestry tracing from the African American community has been especially overwhelming. In The Social Life of DNA, Alondra Nelson takes us on an unprecedented journey into how the double helix has wound its way into the heart of the most urgent contemporary social issues around race.

For over a decade, Nelson has deeply studied this phenomenon. Artfully weaving together keenly observed interactions with root-seekers alongside illuminating historical details and revealing personal narrative, she shows that genetic genealogy is a new tool for addressing old and enduring issues. In The Social Life of DNA, she explains how these cutting-edge DNA-based techniques are being used in myriad ways, including grappling with the unfinished business of slavery: to foster reconciliation, to establish ties with African ancestral homelands, to rethink and sometimes alter citizenship, and to make legal claims for slavery reparations specifically based on ancestry.

Nelson incisively shows that DNA is a portal to the past that yields insight for the present and future, shining a light on social traumas and historical injustices that still resonate today. Science can be a crucial ally to activism to spur social change and transform twenty-first-century racial politics. But Nelson warns her readers to be discerning: for the social repair we seek can't be found in even the most sophisticated science. Engrossing and highly original, The Social Life of DNA is a must-read for anyone interested in race, science, history and how our reckoning with the past may help us to chart a more just course for tomorrow.

The Social Science Research Council's president is Alondra Nelson, and Harold F. In the Institute for Advanced Studies, Linder is a professor. She is the author of The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation after the Genome, and is a major scholar of science, technology, and social inequality. Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Struggle Against Medical Discrimination, Genetics and the Unsettled Past: The Collision of DNA, Race, and History, and Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Daily Life are some of her other works.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780807033012
ISBN 10	0807033014
Title	The Social Life Of DNA
Author	Alondra Nelson
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Beacon Press
Year published	2016-01-12
Number of pages	216
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.