Advanced Genetic Genealogy: Techniques and Case Studies is a textbook for an advanced DNA course for genealogist. It takes those with an intermediate-level understanding of genetic genealogy to the next level. Case studies demonstrate how to analyze the DNA test results, correlate with documentary evidence, and write about findings.

"For all those who fear they cannot understand the science of DNA -- they will soon find that they can and it's fascinating." -- Matt Ridley, author of Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters DNA, once the exclusive domain of scientists in research labs, is now the darling of popular and social media. With personal genetic testing kits in homes and GMO foods in stores, DNA is an increasingly familiar term. Unfortunately, what people know, or think they know, about DNA and genetics is often confused or incorrect. Contrary to popular belief, for instance, genes don't "skip a generation" and, no, human DNA is not "different" from DNA of other species. With popular misconceptions proliferating in the news and on the internet, how can anyone sort fact from fiction? DNA Demystified satisfies the public appetite for and curiosity about DNA and genetics. Alan McHughen, an accomplished academic and public science advocate, brings the reader up-to-speed on what we know, what we don't, and where genetic technologies are taking us. The book begins with the basic groundwork and a brief history of DNA and genetics. Chapters then cover newsworthy topics, including DNA fingerprinting, using DNA in forensic analyses, and identifying cold-case criminals. For readers intrigued by the proliferation of at-home DNA tests, the text includes fascinating explorations of genetic genealogy and family tree construction-crucial for people seeking their biological ancestry. Other chapters describe genetic engineering in medicine and pharmaceuticals, and the use of those same technologies in creating the far more controversial GMOs in food and agriculture. Throughout, the book raises provocative ethical and privacy issues arising from DNA and genetic technologies. With the author's comprehensive expertise, DNA Demystified offers an informal yet authoritative guide to the genetic marvel of DNA.

A unique guide that combines traditional genealogy with magical practices to deepen your relationship with ancestors. Have you been searching for a way to find deeper connection with your ancestors? Or would you like to learn how to reach your spirit guides? Author Cairelle Crow utilizes science, spells, and rituals to create a very profound book of ancestor working. Magic in Your Genes offers a route to becoming more in tune with your personal genealogical background so that you can begin to understand more about your ancestors. The book offers a primer on the basics of DNA and genetic genealogy practices, so no prior knowledge is required to put the book to use. Magical tips and techniques are placed throughout to help the reader utilize both technical and magical resources as appropriate to the content in each chapter. Written in a conversational style, its content is easily understandable by those with limited knowledge of genetics and genealogy, yet the book's technical aspects on DNA and genetic testing are based on current standards as set forth by professional associations. Included are: Real life stories and insights from a variety of pagans, wiccans, and witches who have done genetic genealogy testing and have used their personal results to explore their own magical identity and deepen their relationship with their ancestors The author's own experiences with DNA testing and genealogy and how it is utilized by her in various forms of art, writing, and her own spiritual and magical practice Correspondences, recipes, rituals, and spells Recommended resources, a glossary of terms, and information regarding major genealogical groups and societies wrap up the content It is geared to those with a known recent genealogical history (parents, grandparents) but is also appropriate for those who are adopted or who have other situations, such as a misattributed parentage event.

In Race After the Internet, Lisa Nakamura and Peter Chow-White bring together a collection of interdisciplinary, forward-looking essays exploring the complex role that digital media technologies play in shaping our ideas about race. Contributors interrogate changing ideas of race within the context of an increasingly digitally mediatized cultural and informational landscape. Using social scientific, rhetorical, textual, and ethnographic approaches, these essays show how new and old styles of race as code, interaction, and image are played out within digital networks of power and privilege. Race After the Internet includes essays on the shifting terrain of racial identity and its connections to social media technologies like Facebook and MySpace, popular online games like World of Warcraft, YouTube and viral video, WiFi infrastructure, the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program, genetic ancestry testing, and DNA databases in health and law enforcement. Contributors also investigate the ways in which racial profiling and a culture of racialized surveillance arise from the confluence of digital data and rapid developments in biotechnology. This collection aims to broaden the definition of the "digital divide" in order to convey a more nuanced understanding of access, usage, meaning, participation, and production of digital media technology in light of racial inequality. Contributors: danah boyd, Peter Chow-White, Wendy Chun, Sasha Costanza-Chock, Troy Duster, Anna Everett, Rayvon Fouché, Alexander Galloway, Oscar Gandy, Eszter Hargittai, Jeong Won Hwang, Curtis Marez, Tara McPherson, Alondra Nelson, Christian Sandvig, Ernest Wilson

What might be wrong with genetic accounts of personal or shared ancestry and origins? Genetic studies are often presented as valuable ways of understanding where we come from and how people are related. In Genetic Geographies, Catherine Nash pursues their troubling implications for our perception of sexual and national, as well as racial, difference. Bringing an incisive geographical focus to bear on new genetic histories and genetic genealogy, Nash explores the making of ideas of genetic ancestry, indigeneity, and origins; the global human family; and national genetic heritage. In particular, she engages with the science, culture, and commerce of ancestry in the United States and the United Kingdom, including National Geographic’s Genographic Project and the People of the British Isles project. Tracing the tensions and contradictions between the emphasis on human genetic similarity and shared ancestry, and the attention given to distinctive patterns of relatedness and different ancestral origins, Nash challenges the assumption that the concepts of shared ancestry are necessarily progressive. She extends this scrutiny to claims about the “natural” differences between the sexes and the “nature” of reproduction in studies of the geography of human genetic variation. Through its focus on sex, nation, and race, and its novel spatial lens, Genetic Geographies provides a timely critical guide to what happens when genetic science maps relatedness.

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.

Genealogy has become a widely popular pursuit, as millions of people now research their family history, trace their forebears, attend family reunions and travel to ancestral home sites. Geographers have much to contribute to the serious study of the family history phenomenon. Land records, maps and even GIS are increasingly used by genealogical investigators. As a cultural practice, it encompasses peoples' emotional attachments to ancestral places and is widely manifest on the ground as personal heritage travel. Family history research also has significant potential to challenge accepted geographical views of migration, ethnicity, socio-economic class and place-based identities. This volume is possibly the first ever book to address the geographical and scholarly aspects of this increasingly popular social phenomenon. It highlights tools and information sources used by geographers and their application to family history research. Furthermore, it examines family history as a socio-cultural practice, including the activities of tourism, archival research and DNA testing.