Dutch-ness in Genes and Genealogy: Following genetic diversity around in science and society

 

What is Dutch-ness and where can it be located? Two decades after the initiation of the Human Genome Project, genetic knowledge has left the walls of the laboratory to come to play a key role in how we see ourselves. But how do genetic versions of identity relate to other modes of doing identity? This project aims to study emergent identities in the interaction between science and socio-cultural practices. In the Netherlands, and within the context of a debate on the (non)existence of a Dutch identity, an increasing interest in genetic origin can be witnessed. Take for example the growing number of articles published in national news papers, with titles such as “Hollandse Genen” [Dutch Genes], “De Jager in de Nederlandse Man” [The Hunter in the Dutch Man], “Ben ik een Alaan in het diepst van mijn Genen?” [am I an Alaan deep down in my genes?] .

In this project we examine empirical cases in which genetic technologies are mobilized to contribute with knowledge about national, local, individual, familial, or ethnic identities. Our results will be analyzed in the context of current public debates in which the natural (or the gene) is ascribed an ever growing role in determining who we are. A special focus will be paid to how these identities relate to race and how specific identities become racialized.

Four cases in which genetic diversity researchers have become involved in archaeological and genealogical projects will help to answer the following questions: (1) What is Dutch-ness made to be in emergent research and research practices? (2) How does Dutch-ness relate to other identities produced? (3) What is the relation between genetic and more socio-cultural identities? (4) How and in which specific contexts are identities naturalized and performed as race? In two of the cases, in which geneticists and archaeologists are working together, the focus is and how genes contribute to the writing and rewriting of history and to the making of Dutch-ness. The other two cases, where geneticist collaborate in genealogical projects, the focus will be on the making and unmaking of lineage and the racialization of identities. The overall goal of this project is to articulate different modes of doing identity that are salient in our current day society, to unravel how identities are made and unmade when different ‘technologies’ come together, and to examine the politics of the geneticization of identities especially with reference to race and national belonging.

The project is financed by the Center for Society and Genomics and will be carried out in collaboration with proffessor Mieke Aerts (Leerstoelgroep Nederlands Geschiedenis, UvA) en professor Peter de Knijff (Forensisch Laboratorium voor DNA Onderzoek, LUMC).

 

See also Research - Externally Funded Programs