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.

Preface -- Introduction : some givens -- Perspectives on anisogamy -- First families -- Paleoecology and emergence of genus homo -- Paleolithic dinner pairings : red or white? -- Signature hominin traits -- Kinship and paleolithic legends -- Kinship as social technology -- Epilogue.

What set our ancestors off on a separate evolutionary trajectory was the ability to flex their reproductive and social strategies in response to changing environmental conditions. Exploring new cross-disciplinary research that links this capacity to critical changes in the organization of the primate brain, Social DNA presents a new synthesis of ideas on human social origins – challenging models that trace our beginnings to traits shaped by ancient hunting economies, or to genetic platforms shared with contemporary apes.

A provocative and timely case for how the science of genetics can help create a more just and equal society In recent years, scientists like Kathryn Paige Harden have shown that DNA makes us different, in our personalities and in our health—and in ways that matter for educational and economic success in our current society. In The Genetic Lottery, Harden introduces readers to the latest genetic science, dismantling dangerous ideas about racial superiority and challenging us to grapple with what equality really means in a world where people are born different. Weaving together personal stories with scientific evidence, Harden shows why our refusal to recognize the power of DNA perpetuates the myth of meritocracy, and argues that we must acknowledge the role of genetic luck if we are ever to create a fair society. Reclaiming genetic science from the legacy of eugenics, this groundbreaking book offers a bold new vision of society where everyone thrives, regardless of how one fares in the genetic lottery.

The first decade of the new millennium has been an exciting time for the family historian. The increasing availability of online resources has transformed the genealogical research process. DNA testing and the new generation of social networking websites have developed in parallel and are becoming increasingly useful tools. DNA testing can now be used to prove or disprove genealogical connections and will put you in touch with your genetic cousins around the world. It can also take you back beyond the paper trail into your pre-surname history. Social networking tools can help you to find and stay in touch with friends and relatives, and provide new ways to share and collaborate with other researchers. This book looks at all the latest advances in DNA testing from the Y-chromosome tests used in surname projects through to the latest autosomal DNA tests. Debbie Kennett explores the use of new social media, including Facebook, Twitter, blogs and wikis, along with more traditional networking methods. DNA and Social Networking is an indispensable guide to the use of twenty-first-century technology in family history research.

Genetic Alchemy summarizes and clarifies the background of policy and ethical issues, the debates engendered by uncertain risks to researchers and the population at large, and the roles played by scientists involved in one of the most prominent and controversial new technologies, gene splicing. The author, Assistant Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy at Tufts University, brings to the topic his experience on the Cambridge Review Board as it considered the siting of a recombinant DNA research facility, and on the NIH's Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee.

Genetic Databases offers a timely analysis of the underlying tensions, contradictions and limitations of the current regulatory frameworks for, and policy debates about, genetic databases. Drawing on original empirical research and theoretical debates in the fields of sociology, anthropology and legal studies, the contributors to this book challenge the prevailing orthodoxy of informed consent and explore the relationship between personal privacy and the public good. They also consider the multiple meanings attached to human tissue and the role of public consultations and commercial involvement in the creation and use of genetic databases. The authors argue that policy and regulatory frameworks produce a representation of participation that is often at odds with the experiences and understandings of those taking part. The findings present a serious challenge for public policy to provide mechanisms to safeguard the welfare of individuals participating in genetic databases.