Genealogy research and identity
Dutch-ness in Genes and Genealogy: following genetic diversity around science and society
10 years after the publication of the DNA sequence of the human genome, the acquired knowledge is gradually leaving the laboratory and entering the social arena. Genealogy (family tree research) and archaeology are among the beneficiaries. With the aid of DNA, it is becoming ever easier to determine a person's origins, to who they are related, and create a map of an individual's family and genealogical history. Racial terms are increasingly being used to express a person's genealogical history.
In this project, researchers study what the consequences are of the DNA research in terms of a person's identity and how it is experienced. If people know what their genealogical history looks like, will they also start behaving more along those social-ethnic lines? And what relationship does this genetic profiling of identity and past have with the current debate about the existence or nonexistence of a Dutch identity? Does DNA provide an answer?
This study starts off with a quick scan of the Dutch debate about descent and identity. Then, the researchers focused on four cases in which archaeology and genetics played a role in genealogy. Besides an analysis of the added value that genetics has for archaeology and genealogy, the researchers also want to find out whether the embracing of genetic differences is a new way of expressing racial differences. And, what social consequences do the genetic and biologic profiling of identities have on how we think about ourselves and others?
The researchers hope to provide insight into the contribution that contemporary genomics makes to social issues and the influence of technological progress on the manner in which we look at ourselves and those around us.