Genetic Natureculture Anthropology and Science

Genetic Nature/Culture Genetic Nature/Culture Anthropology and Science beyond the Two-Culture Divide EDITED BY Alan H. Goodman, Deborah Heath, and M. Susan Lindee UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley Los Angeles London University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England © 2003 by the Regents of the University of California Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Genetic nature/culture : anthropology and science beyond the two-culture divide / edited by Alan H. Goodman, Deborah Heath, and M. Susan Lindee. 7p.cm. Papers presented at a Wenner-Gren Foundation international symposium, held June 11–19, 1999, in Teresópolis, Brazil. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–520–23792–7 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0–520–23793–5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Human population genetics—Congresses. 2. Human genetics—Research— Congresses. 3. Human genetics—Moral and ethical aspects—Congresses. 4. Anthropological ethics—Congresses. I. Goodman, Alan H. II. Heath, Deborah, 1952– III. Lindee, M. Susan. GN289 .G455 2003 599.93’5—dc21 2002152222 Manufactured in the United States of America 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 10987654 321 The paper used in this publication is both acid-free and totally chlorine-free (TCF). It meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper). contents list of illustrations / vii foreword Sydel Silverman / ix preface and acknowledgments / xv introduction. Anthropology in an Age of Genetics: Practice, Discourse, and Critique M. Susan Lindee, Alan Goodman, and Deborah Heath / 1 part i. nature/culture Section A. Human Populations/Genetic Resources 1. Indigenous Peoples, Changing Social and Political Landscapes, and Human Genetics in Amazonia Ricardo Ventura Santos / 23 2. Provenance and the Pedigree: Victor McKusick’s Fieldwork with the Old Order Amish M. Susan Lindee / 41 3. Flexible Eugenics: Technologies of the Self in the Age of Genetics Karen-Sue Taussig, Rayna Rapp, and Deborah Heath / 58 4. The Commodification of Virtual Reality: The Icelandic Health Sector Database Hilary Rose / 77 Section B. Animal Species/Genetic Resources 5. Kinship, Genes, and Cloning: Life after Dolly Sarah Franklin / 95 vi contents 6. For the Love of a Good Dog: Webs of Action in the World of Dog Genetics Donna Haraway / 111 7. 98% Chimpanzee and 35% Daffodil: The Human Genome in Evolutionary and Cultural Context Jonathan Marks / 132 part ii. culture/nature Section A. Political and Cultural Identity 8. From Pure Genes to GMOs: Transnationalized Gene Landscapes in the Biodiversity and Transgenic Food Networks Chaia Heller and Arturo Escobar / 155 9. Future Imaginaries: Genome Scientists as Sociocultural Entrepreneurs Joan H. Fujimura / 176 10. Reflections and Prospects for Anthropological Genetics in South Africa Himla Soodyall / 200 Section B. Race and Human Variation 11. The Genetics of African Americans: Implications for Disease Gene Mapping and Identity Rick Kittles and Charmaine Royal / 219 12. Human Races in the Context of Recent Human Evolution: A Molecular Genetic Perspective Alan R. Templeton / 234 13. Buried Alive: The Concept of Race in Science Troy Duster / 258 14. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Promise and Problems of Ancient DNA for Anthropology Frederika A. Kaestle / 278 list of contributors / 297 index / 299 illustrations FIGURES 2.1. The “Amish Madonna” / 47 2.2. A polydactylous dwarf / 52 7.1. Molecular homology / 142 7.2. Some diagnostic differences between human chromosomes / 144 7.3. Ape, fish, human comparison / 147 12.1. Models of recent human evolution / 240 12.2. Portrayals of human genetic distances / 243 12.3. Genetic distance and isolation by geographic distance / 245 TABLES 13.1. Selected high incidence of genetic disorders / 268 13.2. Ethnicities or groups primarily affected by disorders (U.S.) / 268 13.3. Ethnic or group variation with incidence of cystic fibrosis / 270 14.1. Anthropological applications of ancient DNA techniques / 280 vii foreword Sydel Silverman In the last decade of the twentieth century, anthropology, like many other disciplines, was deeply affected by the revolution in genetic science. Both as a set of methodological tools and as an object of study in its own right, genetics assumed an increasingly important place in anthropological research and practice, presenting new opportunities and new challenges. At the same time, public discourse around genetics intensified, touching on long-held concerns of anthropologists; yet the anthropological voice was not often heard, even when it was sorely needed. This confluence of developments led to the idea for a conference on anthropology and the new genetics. It came to fruition as a Wenner-Gren Foundation’s international symposium, “Anthropology in the Age of Genetics: Practice, Discourse, Critique,” which took place in June 1999, in Teresópolis, Brazil. This volume is a product of that conference. I had become aware of the reverberations of the new genetics in anthropology primarily from reading the nearly one thousand grant proposals sub- mitted to Wenner-Gren each year. This perspective afforded a significant— albeit only partial—window on the discipline. From this window I could see enormous potential for research in all areas of anthropology but also some danger signs. For each of the subfields, the developments in genetics opened up new problems for study and new approaches to old problems, but they also brought new difficulties. The anthropological study of living nonhuman primates was profoundly affected by the advent of new genetic methods. For some time in this field, the predominant goal had been to identify the evolutionary significance of behaviors and social patterns. A key question, of course, was whether genes actually did get replicated in accordance with the predictions; but until recently, this question could be addressed only by inference. The invention ix x sydel silverman of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) allowed for the amplification of small amounts of DNA sufficient for the kind of analysis that could deter- mine paternity. With the possibility of making that determination directly, more and more research designs tested hypotheses about the selective advantage of food getting, mating, infant care, and other social behaviors. Almost every project on some aspect of primate social behavior now included DNA analysis to establish the “relatedness” of individuals whose interactions were observed. Some of the early results were surprising, and they called into question prevailing theories concerning mate selection, aggression, coalition for- mation, and other patterns of primate sociality. This powerful tool had a downside, however, to the extent that it tilted research toward a search for genetic explanation. A major danger in this new primatology stemmed from its very success with genetics: the misconstrual of implications for understanding human behavior. All too often, grant applications for projects to demonstrate the evolutionary significance (selective advantage) of certain behaviors in mon- keys or apes (a goal now more attainable with the new genetic technology) would conclude with the promise that this would shed light on “comparable” behavior in modern humans. But infanticide in langurs or chimpanzees is not the same thing as child abuse; dominance patterns in baboons do not equate with sexual harassment in the workplace; “demonic male” behavior in great apes does not explain proclivities to war. This problem relates to the “98% issue,” discussed by Jonathan Marks (see chapter 7, this volume), the supposed genetic commonality between chimpanzees and humans. Commonality, of course, invites comparison. The pitfall comes from using a method of comparison that takes two end points and connects them directly to a common origin. What comparative analysis of human and nonhuman primates requires is a grasp of the tra- jectories of human cultural evolution and historical change that account for the diversity of patterns known through the archaeological and ethno- graphic records. Trends in anthropology that separate primatology from archaeology and cultural anthropology can only encourage misuse of primate studies. Signs of a rapprochement between paleoanthropology and the new genetics came first to Wenner-Gren when a few young biological anthropologists expressed interest in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis. This interest grew rapidly in the field, opening up new research areas and proposing new, often controversial, answers to old questions. Both nuclear and mtDNA methods soon established themselves not only as powerful adjuncts to the time-honored morphological study of fossils but sometimes also as direct challenges to it. While most researchers asserted that the two approaches were complementary, the problem of bringing them together was not easily solved. foreword xi Three major landmarks in paleoanthropology resulting from the genetics revolution stand out. The first, drawing on an earlier idea of a non- Darwinian molecular clock, was the acceptance of a drastic shortening of the time period since the chimpanzee-hominid divergence, to around 5 million years. The second was the establishment of mitochondrial DNA methods of chronology to propound the “Eve” and “Out of Africa” hypotheses, initiating a new phase in an older debate over single-lineage versus multiregional models of human origins. Both breakthroughs were based on methods of inference from extant populations. The third landmark was

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