Genetics and the Unsettled Past: The Collision of Dna, Race, and History

Our genetic markers have come to be regarded as portals to the past. Analysis of these markers is increasingly used to tell the story of human migration
to investigate and judge issues of social membership and kinship
to rewrite history and collective memory
to right past wrongs and to arbitrate legal claims and human rights controversies
and to open new thinking about health and well-being. At the same time, in many societies genetic evidence is being called upon to perform a kind of racially charged cultural work: to repair the racial past and to transform scholarly and popular opinion about the "nature" of identity in the present.

Genetics and the Unsettled Past considers the alignment of genetic science with commercial genealogy, with legal and forensic developments, and with pharmaceutical innovation to examine how these trends lend renewed authority to biological understandings of race and history.

This unique collection brings together scholars from a wide range of disciplines--biology, history, cultural studies, law, medicine, anthropology, ethnic studies, sociology--to explore the emerging and often contested connections among race, DNA, and history. Written for a general audience, the book's essays touch upon a variety of topics, including the rise and implications of DNA in genealogy, law, and other fields
the cultural and political uses and misuses of genetic information
the way in which DNA testing is reshaping understandings of group identity for French Canadians, Native Americans, South Africans, and many others within and across cultural and national boundaries
and the sweeping implications of genetics for society today.