Population Genetics and Belonging: A Cultural Analysis of Genetic Ancestry (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9783319628806)

This book explores how human population genetics has emerged as a means of imagining and enacting belonging in contemporary society. Venla Oikkonen approaches population genetics as an evolving set of technological, material, narrative and affective practices, arguing that these practices are engaged in multiple forms of belonging that are often mutually contradictory. Considering scientific, popular and fictional texts, with several carefully selected case studies spanning three decades, the author traces shifts in the affective, material and gendered preconditions of population genetic visions of belonging. Topics encompass the debate about Mitochondrial Eve, ancient human DNA, temporality and nostalgia, commercial genetic ancestry tests, and tensions between continental and national genetic inheritance. The book will be of particular interest to scholars and students of science and technology studies, cultural studies, sociology, and gender studies.


Author: Venla Oikkonen
ISBN-10: 3319628801
ISBN-13: 9783319628806
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Language: English
Published: 09/28/2017
Pages: 240
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.97lbs
Size: 8.74h x 6.53w x 0.73d