The social life of ancient DNA. How can scientists and citizens better interpret the past in light of ancient DNA research? A dual ethnographic study in Germany and Vanuatu

ongoing

More than ever before, humans have access to new specialist knowledge involving genetics (e.g., ancestry genomics, social epigenomics). Crucial questions are at stakes as this newly accessible knowledge grants individuals with an objectifying image of their ‘identity’. Knowing the ‘real’ or potential biological endowment of oneself & others has tremendous social, political, & ethical consequences. This project extends my investigation of practices whereby genetics & the construction of identities intersect in a field little studied by SSH & STS: ancient DNA (aDNA) research. At the crossroads of archaeology, bioanthropology, & population genetics, aDNA research entered a golden age in its contribution to untold facts on past societies & the way it changes how past populations are perceived. While this field is growing rapidly, in-depth understanding of social & political consequences arising from practices & knowledge produced are crucially needed. We still lack robust ethnographic understanding of how aDNA researchers incorporate the knowledge they produce into narratives about origins, ancestry, social relationships. Meanwhile, little is known about what exactly citizens or community stakeholders (CS) do with genomic histories they receive from aDNA researchers. The main goal is to study how scientists & CS interpret the past in light of this new knowledge. This project involves two research sites: researchers producing aDNA knowledge in an unprecedented case-study located in a leading research facility in Germany & the postcolonial context of Vanuatu where knowledge produced from ancient remains raises significant issues for CS’s ancestry narratives. Studying the production & circulation of aDNA knowledge in interaction between identity & from an ethnographic perspective is not only highly original & greatly needed, but timely. This project is utterly innovative, invents new collaborations & involves fields that spans across social & natural sciences.