The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconcil…

This is one of those books whose impact feels more significant as I get further from the reading of it. Nelson delves into the multifaceted world of personal DNA testing by African-Americans, examining both how this intersects with personal identity, and legal truths needed to progress reparations processes.
Most discussions of race and DNA testing revolve around the potential damage that bad, or overly simplified, science in this area can do to people of colour. Nelson is one of the few publishing around the ways that people of colour engage actively with genetic testing., and how DNA might be used to combat, rather than exacerbate, racism. In Genetics and the Unsettled Past: The Collision of DNA, Race, and History Nelson looked at processes ranging from identifying victims of Apartheid, through to the mixed role of DNA in criminal justice processes. Here, she zeros in on the use of the DNA to re-establish links with an African past. This is, in many ways, a more nuanced topic, because while DNA testing for the above uses is scientifically straightforward, its use to understand ancestral connection is much more scientifically ambiguous.
Nelson's approach is grounded in the sociology of the community engaging with the tests. She balances explanations of the science, and the challenges, with exploration of the motivations and processes of those involved in this. The result may not always be a smooth read, but it is always an engaging one, and left me more unsettled than I expected.
In one of the clearest explanations of the limitations of matrilineal and Y-DNA testing, Nelson explains:

"Each genetic lineage is estimated to provide less than 1 percent of one’s total ancestry. Put another way, these analyses follow ancestry of a single individual back ten generations and more than one thousand ancestors, yet matrilineage and patrilineage testing only offer information about a portion of these. If we think of one’s ancestry as an upside-down triangle, these forms of ancestry tracing follow the lines to the left and right of the triangle point, but offer no details about the shape’s filling."

"... contemporary racial politics have begun to move into the terra nova—if not the terra firma—of genetic genealogy.

*Many will have European ancestors as well, and most will have cross-over in lineages, making the overall total less.

**2019 Reading Challenge #8. A book about a hobby

This book takes a look at genetic genealogy (specifically in tracing African American roots), at it's positive and negative aspects, and at it's capabilities and limitations. Dr. Nelson explores how DNA testing effects the discussion of race in America, and brings the discussion back into the public sphere. She also briefly reviews the history of attempts for African Americans to gain reparations for enslavement of themselves and there ancestors (A fight that has never truly stopped). She looks at it's functions as a means of providing a social connection, personal identity, and inclusion in a group. She examines how it effects the politics of race in the U.S. and around the world. She looks at it's impact on reconciliation of individuals' identities and between "races". It was a very interesting read.

We think of DNA as clear-cut scientific evidence, but this book shows how in many cases the data are incomplete and, in any case, we often see only what we are hoping to find. Even so, DNA analysis can provide a valuable sense of social inclusion. The book is very dryly written and clearly aimed at academicians, but as a lay reader I still gained a deeper understanding of the politics of DNA and of the importance of the social role it plays in reconciliation for African Americans. I will no longer be surprised by the fervor with which ancient burial grounds are disputed or the strength of identification with unseen ancestral homelands, actual or presumed.

Fascinating book about the marketing of genetic tracing by private companies to African Americans looking for reconciliation with Africa and healing from slavery. It raises so many, many questions - the book could have been three time as long: Does biology tell us who we are? Is family the source of our identity? A view into very thorny questions about the ethics of placing science at the service of commerce.

Academic, but full of fascinating anecdotes about (OK as the title says) the role of DNA in understandings of race, reparations, and reconciliation. Looking forward to hearing her speak in a couple of weeks.

"The Social Life of DNA" is an academic/historic look into how DNA genealogies have been used by African Americans interested in identifying the African nations from which their ancestors were taken in the transatlantic slave trade. There's also a good bit on the legal efforts to seek reparations from both the U.S. government and various business that profited from and enabled slavery in the U.S., which was fascinating (high school history classes sure didn't cover the role of Aetna's life insurance policies on enslaved people's lives in making slavery economically viable!).

While this is an impeccable work of scholarship, it wasn't as fun to read as our previous book club choice, "Superior" by Angela Saini. It's pretty dense! I don't think I've ever read a legitimate nonfiction social science/African American studies book like this, so that's entirely reflective of my own reading history and not the book itself!

I did really enjoy reading the anecdotes from various people Nelson had interviewed over her many years studying this scene. And though Nelson does reveal her personal feelings obliquely throughout the book, she only explicitly lays out what's what in the final chapter (which was probably my favorite). Her position was put most simply on page 165 of the paperback version (emphasis mine), "Reconciliation projects spurred by DNA testing may be starting points for such dialogues, but we cannot rely on science to propel social change."

My favorite passage was on the previous page (emphasis mine), "Those instances in which genetic science fails to fully resolve these concerns suggests that what is sought are not genetic facts as proof in injury or vectors of repair, but rather reconciliation in its fullest sense. The repair that is sought cannot necessarily be found in genetic science solely. DNA can offer an avenue toward recognition, but cannot stand in for reconciliation: voice, acknowledgment, mourning, forgiveness, and healing. These reconciliation efforts also raise interesting and fraught contradictions: they threaten to reify race in the pursuit of repair for injury; they suggest how the pursuit of justice can be easily intertwined with commercial enterprises; they may substitute genetic data for the just outcomes that are sought; and, indeed, they demonstrate well that facts may not, in and of themselves, secure justice."

Note: read for fall 2020 IDEA book club.

Loved this - fits squarely in my favourite genre of science/tech/non-fiction writing, ie. accessible, well-researched, human stories, while explaining and illustrating the (often complex) tech issues at hand.

I learned a lot about the intersection of genetic genealogy, social justice, and the continued fight for reparations. Would definitely recommend to anyone even slightly interested in this topic. Incredibly well-written and engaging!

I was very eager to read The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations and Reconciliation After the Genome. I requested it from the library several months ago and have waited impatiently for my hold request to rise to the top. I am interested in genetics and the socio-political implications of DNA research and testing. I also endeavor to be an ally in the struggle against racism. I am aware of the troublesome history of science being exploited and misused to further racist agendas from Charles Murray’s infamous The Bell Curve to the 2014 publication of A Troublesome Inheritance by Nicholas Wade, a piece of work so egregious it was denounced by the very geneticists he uses to support his assertion that natural selection has led to worldwide racial difference in IQ, political stability, and economic advancements.

Alondra Nelson has a very disciplined framework for The Social Life of DNA. She writes about the history of ethnic genotyping through research mitochondrial DNA (maternal) and Y-chromosome DNA *paternal” and some of the ambiguities that arise. For example, the African DNA samples come from where people are living today in Africa, not where they may have lived in the 17th,18th, and 19th centuries. The entire database of African DNA identifies about 250 tribal groups in total, but one country may have that many tribal groups, so it is more general than precise. There are often bitter discoveries, too, since many find significant European ancestry, a genetic witness to the frequent rape of black women by their slaveowners.

Nelson also looks at how DNA has been used around the world in reconciliation projects such as restoring the stolen children of Argentina to their grandparents and their biological families. DNA has also been used in seeking reparations. Some of the most interesting chapters of the book detail the history, the research and legal strategies of more than 100 years of seeking reparations for the crimes of slavery. The suits against the insurance and banking companies that profited as supporting industries of slavery by insuring slave ships and slaves and lending money for loan purchases are fascinating even though stymied by sovereign immunity and the ridiculous requirement that plaintiffs prove a direct descent from individual slaves insured by these companies knowing full well that censuses did not names slaves in the census records.

Another interesting section looked at the current movement of reconciliation through DNA testing to find one’s ethnic affiliation in Africa, to travel and connect with “kin” and form bonds. Some people, like the actor Isaiah Washington, have even applied for and been granted dual citizenship as many countries will award dual citizenship based on DNA evidence that African Americans are children of this most consequential involuntary diaspora. Nelson suggests it is possible that this growing interest in returning to the motherland may arise out of disappointment with the retrenchment of civil rights advancements and the frustration of the reparations movement.

The rest of the review can be read on my blog

What an insightful and informative read! For the most part, until the end, it read as an extensive collection of essays on various instances where DNA played a role in African Americans’ seeking reparations or attempts to affiliate with an existing African ethnic group. I got a better look into the difficult position the history of chattel slavery puts African Americans, whose “injury,” as Farmer-Paellmann explained, is that they “don’t know who [they] are” (169) with regard to their ancestry. Different responses to genetic test results were interesting to read about, as they spanned from those who were ecstatic and desired to bridge the gap between themselves and what they believe is their “homeland” to those who sensed a significant disconnect and didn’t feel affiliated with African politics.

As a second-generation American who lacks the desire to connect to her country of ethnic origin amidst a generation intent on associating with something other than the U.S., I resonated with these thoughts from Simpkins, an African American who had traveled to several countries in Africa and was well-versed in its history and politics:

“I don’t think it’s necessary for all of us to become involved in [African] politics because if you don’t live there, I don’t think you know what’s going on in their politics. The other complication is that in Africa, ethnicity is a serious issue. Now, I took the [African ancestry] test and was half Zeframani and Tikar from Cameroon. I know what that means historically, but I don’t have the same feelings as a Tikar about his or her place in society… We’re cousins, we’re not brothers and sisters… Even when you’ve got proof, it would take you some time to adjust to the fact that this is your relative now; you’re cousins… The feeling of kinship doesn’t normally follow. It takes time to establish… You can establish kinship with anyone… But it’s going to take some time; it’s going to take some work.” (204)

“I think I’ve been to like twenty-eight countries... And I don’t try to pretend that I’m African. I’m a descendant, but I’m not an African, I am an American. You know, I get along much better, the people who come and pretend that they’re exactly the same; they have a problem, because you’re not.” (204)

“While attention on genetics is today understandably focused on the potential for its medical application, it is by attending to the social life of DNA that we can appreciate—and truly assess—our collective condition. Reconciliation projects spurred by DNA testing may be starting points for such dialogues, but we cannot rely on science to propel social change.” (219)

Alondra Nelson’s Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome is thoughtful provoking, timely, and forward thinking. It embodies the power in interdisciplinarity scholarship, building bridges between the historic and the sociological, between African American political discourse and scientific inquiry, between everyday conversations and social movements and those archival and ‘scholarly’ spaces. The book’s power is evident (and was felt) in the fact that as I finished I was reminded almost daily about its dialogical engagement with the world around me: the commercial about ancestry; the discussion and airing of Roots; discussions about reparations and Diaspora. Written over 10+ years, it is a testament to the strength of the scholarship, the depth of the research, and the power of the writing that the work is as relevant and timely today as it was when Dr. Nelson started the work. Offering a powerful framework for interdisciplinary community-relevant scholarship, this work also models the type of prose that elevates intellectual discourse. At its core, Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome tells a story: of identity; of history; of racism and scientific racism; of the liberatory possibilities of science; of capitalism; of Diaspora; of the complex debates about the power and limitations in/of science; of reparations and racial reconciliation; and so much more. It is written in a way that not only walks readers through the debates and themes but also introduces readers to many powerful voices. It draws readers into the discourses and the social dimensions of science, DNA, and so many debates over many years; it brings together so many stories with beauty, depth, and ease. “The boom in genetic ancestry testing over the last decade has been extraordinary. It’s every-rising and decade-plus of staying power continues that this pursuit is neither a fad nor a trend,” writes Nelson, Dean of Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology at Columbia University (165). “For good and for naught, we use DNA as a portal to the past that yields insights for the present and the future. We use DNA to shine a light on the social trauma and to show how historic injustices continue to resonate today…. Genetic ancestry testing is but one implement in an entire tool kit of tactics that, marshaled together, must be brought to the project of building racial reconciliation and social justice.” Exceptional on so many levels

One of the best books I've read recently. Highly, highly recommend. It was excellent in terms of research, writing, and, most of all, content! I learned quite a bit about the place genealogy holds in Black American/African-American communities. (There's a whole world of history that we never learn in school...) Add to that recent breakthroughs in matrilineal and patrilineal DNA testing after the mapping of the human genome, and you have an exceptional book. I tend to be pretty critical of non-fiction books, but Nelson did an incredible job and took great pains to present this history in a balanced and objective away. Apparently Alondra Nelson works at Columbia. I can only hope I'll have the chance to hear her speak one day!

I read this for its loose relevance both to my graduate studies in genetics and my own genetic ancestry results (or 4% thereof). I think it was a beneficial read. I'd previously accepted the limitations of the data you can glean from DTC ancestry tests, and sort of dismissed their value as being loosely interpretable at best. So I think the importance to me of reading this book was pulling my mind out of the technical granularity and considering what social value these tests bring to people who feel disconnected from their personal history. Thank you to the author for reminding a scientist of the human perspective. It also lead me to reflect on the potential value of expanding the databases of DNA samples available from the different African populations, so I hope that does improve. It was a good reminder to be cognizant that such databases need to be truly reflective of the needs of all the potential beneficiaries of the technology--beyond ancestry testing and inclusive of health applications. Oh and one more insight from the book--DNA has this somewhat hallowed status in popular culture, probably thanks to its precision in forensic applications. It's important to keep in mind this perception, given that it's highly misleading to think of all DNA technologies in the same way.

I received a copy of this book from LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very interesting topic and Nelson covers it well. Overall, I liked the book. I think the sections on reparations were especially interesting in the brief history given and how DNA has been used in connection with reparations.

I like how Nelson combined her own personal experience with the history of DNA and how it has been used in matters regarding race. This added an individualized tone to the text, which helped to balance out the science and history.

While I found the information in the book useful, the text was often very dense and the amount of information was overwhelming. It took me almost a month to get through this book, which is significantly longer than it usually takes me to finish a book, especially considering how short the book is. This is not a book one can just speed read through. I liked the book, but some of the chapters are kind of hard to get through because of their density.

This book brings together racial politics and DNA-based science in a startling and original way: Nelson shows us how DNA is being used by genealogists to discover the roots of African Americans whose ancestors were enslaved.

The book includes interviews with "kin-keepers" (family members who research and keep alive family histories); intros to scientist-activists such as Rick A. Kittles; and a trip through the legal minefield of reparations lawsuits. Nelson's grasp of the science and its socio-political uses is admirable and her explanations accessible.

This story is far from finished. As the science becomes more advanced, we'll be able to go back further and with more accuracy. Will these developments herald an age of greater justice and acknowledgement of the sins of the past? It's unlikely. Such a reckoning would involve major admissions of guilt on behalf of families, communities, companies, states and the national government. Whatever the outcomes, Nelson's excellent book shows us the truth is out there, and someone in a lab coat may one day help us find it.

"...the double helix works a spyglass that telescopes back in time allowing us to see the healing that remains to be achieved in American society."

The Social Life of DNA is a wonderful book that explores the history/significance of DNA testing for African-Americans and at the same introduces a much-needed critique of the ways in which it's been received and put to use. It is at once an academic and personal journey with interesting twists and turns.

If I have any complaint, it's that the whole thing was far too condensed. It was evident from every page that Nelson had a LOT more to say (heck she was introducing new terms and dropping footnotes in the last paragraph of the book). So I'd hope one day to read the "Directors Cut", since I'm certain there's lots more fascinating material on the cutting room floor!

I want to thank goodreads first reads and the author for allowing me this opportunity in winning a free copy of The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome for an honest review.
I found this to be a fascinating book on the dna genetic genealogy of race,politics and identity.the author her unique insight into the genetic science and history of our dna.I find that gives people a more clear and understanding of how our dna transforms us all and how we too can understand our own history.
I again would like to express my joy in reading this book and for anyone,like myself,who wants to understand and look into their own DNA this is a book to start that process.

It was okay. I have complex feelings about reparations, and about DNA testing to find out where in Africa my ancestors MAY have come from. My younger sister got one of the free tests offered a few years ago, and we are matrilinially descended from a "Bantu speaking Congolese" woman. It's nice to have a big piece of the puzzle from before the abduction from Africa, and the sale of our ancestors in this hemisphere. There is so much more to our story between there and here.

I can't add any insights or thoughts about that book that hasn't already been said in previous reviews. I have a background in Black History and Archaeology and I was thrilled when I received this book. It brought up some issues I'd not thought of regarding DNA studies and Reparation in clear just-technical-enough prose. Kudos to Ms. Nelson. She has a winner here.

This is a Goodreads win review. This is the first book I have read about DNA. I have always wondered about my own DNA roots but cannot do a family tracing. It is a complex book to reconcile our racial origins.

Very heavy reading but interesting.

Very accessible text, kind of all over the place in tracing DNA testing vis a vis race (and potentially social justice? This part felt underdeveloped).

I learned a great deal about the past, present, and potential uses of genetic genealogy testing through this book. The narrative through which the individual connection of blacks to their African ancestry becomes such a powerful force in social justice is quite inspiring. Nelson shows that, when a few people are able to reclaim the knowledge of who they were before slavery, centuries of depth and breadth are added to the black experience in America. Although the potential for genetic testing to create more movement in the case for reparations is questionable, the persistence of those like Deadria Farmer-Paellmann who created her own opportunities to make her case is a source of the movement's strength. One of the most surprising analogies for me in this regard was that by bringing the consequences of slavery to the forefront, blacks turn from victims to creditors. To owe someone an apology is one thing, but to owe them land or money or other material resources is another. If that debt is paid, then perhaps you could argue that the wrongs and its consequences were truly acknowledged.
The book's title is particularly catchy and it was interesting to see Nelson allude to it as a means of "anthropomorphizing" DNA, explaining how DNA’s social life refers to how it circulates in society. I place the word anthropomorphize in quotes because I think it's a little ironic and paradoxical how DNA, known by the public as the building blocks of life, is actually characterized in a very inanimate way in the basic sciences. By following the journey DNA takes through society, Nelson is able to imbue it with life.
I appreciated the interplay between the discussions of scientific skepticism and scientific advancement in the text. The idea that profiting off of genetic testing takes advantage of people's search for an identity seems valid. Adding to the nuance, is the fact that, through the discovery of the human genome as a whole, people made the case that race is either an irrelevant or salient feature of existence. Data and facts are not themselves objective; rather, they are discovered, produced, analyzed, and interpreted with a particular objective. The entire discussion of DNA testing read, in part, as an example of these concepts.
As with any sociological text, the amount of names, dates, and events that are packed onto a single page can be overwhelming. Since I was not concerned with committing all the details to memory, I was able to read past them and focus on the trends and connections that those details offer. Overall, The Social Life of DNA was a relatively easy and quick read that poses important questions about science, slavery, technological innovation, racial politics, and identity. For these reasons, I would recommend it to anyone interested in the history and implications of these concepts.

This book was rad! I loved learning about Dr.Kittles who is an African American geneticist and biologist. He specializes in human genetics and has also done a multitude of research on tracing the ancestry of African Americans.

In a world in which African Americans are an amalgamation of lineages, it was interesting to read a book that shows how individuals are attempting to trace their lineage through DNA. The book also shows that although it is a scientific method of discovering lineage, there can me a multitude of results and this does not necessarily mean that it is reliable.

Learning about further cases that used DNA as a stance for reparations was also fun to engage with.

Although it was written quite academically it was a tangible source of information and I am excited to read more books about DNA and ethics.

This past academic year I took a class called Biotechnology and Society, which quickly became one of the best classes of my entire academic career. The capstone of the class was based on Nelson's book, and I'm so glad it was. Nelson's insightful writing style asks the reader to reflect on every page. We read different attitudes and perspectives on DNA ancestry testing, not just one argument pushed throughout the whole book. I loved the nuance and care Nelson used when writing The Social Life of DNA, acknowledging diverse opinions and allowing the readers to put together a conclusion themselves.

This book starts off sounding much more academic than it really is, and I think it’s written in such a way the main thesis is accessible to a broad audience. I thought the argument put forward that DNA holds a social meaning life beyond its physical composition of atoms and meaning within biology and genetics is compelling, and any scientist should think critically about how their work, and research more generally, can hold meaning beyond the lab. A few chapters dragged and made the middle 1/3 feel meander, but the end pulled everything together quite nicely.

A nice change of pace and a relatively short read.

I've been meaning to finish this book for literal years and I've finally done it.

Nelson traces the development of genetic ancestry testing (the genealogy of genetic ancestry testing?) over the last few decades to reflect on how ideas about DNA are implicated in efforts to unpack histories of slavery in the US. I've been doing a lot of reading and thinking about genetics, kinship, and race, and this book offered an interesting legal perspective on this issue by linking it to the American reparations movement.

An extremely important topic, and helps to highlight many of the nuances of talking about DNA and race vs ancestry, etc.

I feel like there are many people who would want to be - and should be - part of this conversation, however the the style of writing (I personally found it pedantic) would make it inaccessible to many people - it read more like a PhD thesis and if it weren't for the fact that this was for a book club for work, I would have put it down.

While impressive in its scope and ability to show interconnections between science and politics in very different areas like reparations, the book could have been longer and substantiated more instead of using stories. It wavered between being a sociology book or a pop culture book and in the end, didn't really satisfy either.

Really valuable book, especially for white folks working in clinical genetics who, like me, may not have thought a lot about what DNA can mean for Black/African American people. Dr. Nelson’s detailed, journalist style provides a lot of detail into the recent historical social events, and her personal and thoughtful insight pulls everything together and makes a compelling read.