Report on Research Stay at the University of Chicago
by Katharina Schramm
26.02.2007 - 07.04.2007
My six-weeks stay at the Department of Anthropology of the University of Chicago served as preparation for my new research project on “Roots and Genes”. On the one hand, I could make use of the excellent library facilities at the University of Chicago and thereby gain a good overview of the existing social sciences literature on the interrelation between genetics and notions of race/ethnicity, kinship and identity on which my own research questions are based. On the other hand, I was able to discuss my work with distinguished colleagues in relevant fields (Anthropology, African Studies, African American Studies, Political Sciences). Moreover, I could gain some insights into the popular discourse on genetic ancestry-testing and the associated constructions of belonging as it is prevalent in the United States. It turned out that it represents a much bigger trend than I had first assumed: a TV-series had just been aired where the “roots” of eight prominent African Americans were traced through genealogy as well as genetic testing; Henry Louis Gates Jr., the producer of the series, also published a book on “Finding Oprah’s Roots”, dealing with the case of Oprah Winfrey; during Black History Month commercials advertising genetic ancestry testing were screened on BET (Black Entertainment Television) etc. I could also establish first research contacts with genetic practitioners, genealogists and users of such tests. In addition, I participated in the general academic life at the University of Chicago (attending workshops and lectures as well as a conference on “Communicating legitimacy”, which touched on my own interest in ideas of citizenship and statehood). Towards the end of my stay I also had the chance to present a paper (“Negotiating Race”) at the African Studies Workshop, which provided an excellent opportunity to introduce my research to a wider audience and also to establish further research contacts.
The first three weeks of my stay were mainly devoted to bibliographical research and study. I had several meetings with my sponsor, Prof. Stephan Palmié, who will also be a participant in the workshop on “Race, ethnicity, genetics: Re/creating categories of difference and belonging”, which I am organising as part of the workshop series of the GSAA. I also had first email-contact with Dr. Rick Kittles, an African American geneticist working at the University of Chicago who runs one of the most popular agencies providing genetic ancestry testing for African Americans (africanancestry.com).
Between March 17 and March19 I went to Washington DC, where I stayed with Mrs. P.F., with whom I had already got in touch while I was still in Germany. She is a member of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society and actively involved in Black politics. Through her genealogical work, she was very familiar with debates on DNA-ancestry-testing among African Americans. She also arranged for a meeting with Gina Paige, who is the business-executive of africanancestry.com. Gina Paige provided me with basic information on the company (foundation, outlook and scope, sponsorship, turnover etc.) and its customers (age, background, motifs, reactions etc.).
After my return from Washington DC I had several meetings with faculty members of the three big universities in Chicago: University of Chicago, Northwestern and DePaul. Thus I discussed my project with Prof. Ralph Austen (Dept. of History, UofC, expert on the slave trade), Prof. Michael Dawson (Dept. of Political Science, UofC, expert on Black politics, race and reparations), Prof. Sandra Richards (Dept. of Performing Arts and Dept. of African American Studies, Northwestern University, expert on slave memory who has also done research on the slave sites in Ghana), Prof. Sandra Jackson (Center for Black Diaspora, DePaul University), Profs. John and Jean Comaroff (Dept. of Anthropology, UofC), Dr. Neil Roos (Fulbright scholar at UofC, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Pretoria). I got in touch with Dr. Alondra Nelson (Dept. of Science and Technology Studies, Yale University) who is presently writing a book on DNA ancestry testing among African Americans (including a comparative perspective with the Caribbean and the UK). This discussion was very important as it helped me to delimit my own research interest, to concretize my theoretical focus and to think about possible methodological approaches (prospective research locations, interlocutors, media etc.).
In terms of concrete insights into the practice of DNA ancestry testing, my meeting with Dr. Kittles and several members his team proved very fruitful – most importantly I was able to create a personal foundation on which to base future research.
From my stay in Chicago a preliminary picture of the scope and impact of genetic ancestry testing among African Americans emerges: it is a middle-class phenomenon which is also differentiated along generational lines. It is embedded in/connected to various spheres: a) the historical relationship of African Americans to Africa (in terms of its symbolic and political significance); b) the politics of race and the ongoing history of US-racism; c) multiculturalism and the ethnicization of belonging within the United States (and thus the overlap with the discourses and practices of other diasporic groups); d) a neoliberal discourse of individualization and the connected commodification of bodies and identities; e) popular discourse on the human genome as the “book of life”, on the location of “truths” in our genes – going hand in hand with positivist conceptions of science – and on the relationship between nature and nurture.
In order to fully grasp these connections, it will be necessary to include a longer period of fieldwork in the United States in my future research plan. As it turns out that some people take the results of their gene-tests (however constructed those may be) as guidance for visiting African countries and “ancestral groups”, additional fieldwork in Africa will have to follow. Interestingly, I was told by Gina Paige (of africanancestry.com), that Ghana, the country that has attracted most of the homecoming-drive of the past twenty years, only had a minor share in the results of the DNA-tests. Given the fact that Ghana poses herself as the central point of reference for African Americans plus her offering to produce “gene maps” for diasporan visitors – both aspects going hand in hand with claims for sovereignty and control on part of the Ghanaian state – this contrast deserves further attention. What is the impact of genetic testing on political decision-making in affected countries? Do the tests transform existing notions of diasporan connectivity and if yes, how do such transformations take place? How are notions of symbolic and biological kinship interconnected and how does their relationship change through genetics? The most important and overarching question concerns processes of meaning-making: a) in the realm of the scientific discourse on genetics and origins; b) in the narratives and practices of the users of such tests; and c) on the level of political institutions. During my trip to Ghana this summer I will be able to follow some of these questions in greater detail. From Chicago, I was able to get in touch with one organised tour group of African Americans who will be going to Ghana around the same time as me. I have also contacted another group whose organiser based her country-choice on the result of her genetest. Moreover, I will get in touch with the geneticist who assisted Dr. Kittles in providing the DNA-samples for his database (on which the testing is founded) as well as with the person in charge of the “gene-mapping” that has been announced as part of the “Joseph Project” by the Ghanaian Ministry of Tourism and Diasporan Affairs.