WE ARE ALL TRANS-RACIAL Direct-To-Consumer DNA Ancestry Testing in Light of the Melting Pot Symbol

WE ARE ALL TRANS-RACIAL Direct-to-Consumer DNA Ancestry Testing in Light of the Melting Pot Symbol

Master thesis in History: American Studies

Faculty of Humanities

Author: Annemiek Smelting

Student number: 10162801

E-mail address: [email protected]

Thesis advisor: George H. Blaustein

Second reader: Manon Parry

Date: 30-06-2016

Acknowledgements

What a journey this has been – I could not have imagined that so much work would go into a Master thesis. I have George Blaustein to blame and to thank for this. George, your guidance, motivational speeches and endless ideas have been able to keep me enthusiastic and motivated during this writing process, I am very thankful.

This thesis could not have come together without the support of Piet Vriend, who has been able to be my rock while writing an excellent thesis of his own. Last but not least I want to thank my parents for their uplifting words whenever I did not feel like finishing this work because my internship was getting the better of me. You have all helped me to carry and to present this final product.

“I am an Italian-American who doesn’t speak Italian, just as I am a French-American whose French ranges from tremulous to nonexistent, as well as a Russian- American who barely recognizes the sound of Russian and has never seen a street in Russia. Because of all these complex combinations, moreover, I am an American-American who spent years denying being American, years inhabiting a country (or perhaps countries) of hyphenation – maybe even a hyphen nation.”

- Sandra Gilbert “Mysteries of the Hyphen” (1997)

Table of Contents

Introduction p. 1

Chapter I Changing Your Grandfathers p. 8

Chapter II Scientific Identity p. 21

Chapter III Reversing the Middle Passage p. 39

Conclusion p. 50

Bibliography p. 53

iii Introduction

The twenty-first century has witnessed a DNA ancestry craze that has taken America by storm. Dozens of Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) DNA ancestry testing companies have popped up on the Internet, promising their customers fundamental insights into their identities. A single saliva sample will enlighten customers on a family history they never knew they had, and might even connect them to a celebrity cousin. The epic DNA narratives seem to make our existing national and individual identities seem less plausible and attractive, encouraging people to look for new narratives to define them.1 The DTC DNA ancestry companies mediate between the personal and the global past, enlightening their customers on both their individual history and how this unique past is interwoven in a grand historical narrative suitable for a globalized age.2 Instead of being defined by a small community, people are able to connect to a global community full of noteworthy relatives. The contemporary DTC DNA ancestry vogue is closely related to the melting pot myth, brought to life in the early twentieth century when 24 million people set sail for the American shores. These immigrants faced the question whether they should hold on to their own cultural traits or conform to the prevailing Anglo-Saxon identity. The melting pot myth was able to hold in suspension the contradicting realities of the quest for national unity and the immigration experience. The myth centers around the polemical discussion of the melting pot, of which the first account argued that immigrants had a responsibility to assimilate in order to create a homogeneous society. The immigrants would throw their cultural traits into the crucible, where they would be fused to create the ‘new American.’ The DTC DNA ancestry vogue argues that this melting process has already occurred and seeks to unearth what exactly went into the crucible. We can see the transition from the melting pot myth into the DTC DNA ancestry vogue in the rhetoric used in presidential speeches. President Theodore Roosevelt was the first to incorporate melting pot rhetoric in his political speeches and used it to argue against the hyphenated American: “We Americans are the children of the crucible. It has been our boast that out of the crucible, the melting pot of life in this free land, all the men and women of all the nations who come hither emerge as Americans and as nothing else (…).”3 Other

1 Philip Gleason, “The Melting Pot: Symbol of Fusion or Confusion?” American Quarterly 16 (1964): 13. 2 Hallam Stevens, “Genetimes and Lifetimes: DNA, New Media, and History,” Memory Studies 8 (2015): 13. 3 H.H. Webster, Americanization and citizenship: lessons in community and national ideals for new Americans (Whitefish, MT: Kessinger, 1919), 26. (emphasis added)

1 presidents also took a linking in this rhetoric, among whom Woodrow Wilson, John F. Kennedy, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. In his 2008 A More Perfect Union speech, Obama argues that the melting pot process has already occurred, pointing to his own mixed ancestry to prove the validity of this argument:

“I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II, and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slave-owners - an inheritance we passed on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible. It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional candidate, but it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts - that out of many, we are truly one.”4

More importantly, Obama directly links E Pluribus Unum, the widely known rendering of the melting pot, to the genetic makeup of America. Melting pot imagery is often used by public officials when discussing culture in American society, and specifically to celebrate the heritage of various groups. In the future, these speeches might combine the melting pot and DNA more often, for there is now scientific proof that American society is a product of the melting pot. This thesis will digest these two myths, seeking to point out in what ways perceptions of heritage and ancestry have changed in the past century. It aims to show that the DTC DNA ancestry vogue strongly resembles the melting pot symbol, and can even be seen as an extension of this myth. In order to make such claims, I will look at a great variety of sources, ranging from scholarly essays to DTC DNA ancestry websites.

Setting the stage Heritage and ancestry are a vital part of who we are and seem to compose the framework of our existence. Our ways of relating to the past can be complex, especially in the United States of America. National myths such as the melting pot and the DTC DNA ancestry vogue – but also others, such as the myth of the Promised Land, the myth of the Founding Fathers and the myth of the Self Made Man – provide an idealized representation of the nation, its membership, its defining features and of its fundamental values and principles. These myths are popular and powerful narratives of American national beginnings and have turned out to

4 Ben Railton, Redefining American identity: from Cabeza de Vaca to Barack Obama, (New York: Palgrave Macmillen, 2011) 156 - 157. (emphasis added)

2 be anchors and key references in discourses of ‘Americanness.’5 National myths are commonly created by the misrepresentation of historical facts and through the process of ‘shared forgetting, as well as shared remembering.’ The latter suggests the highlighting of certain aspects of the nation while downplaying others less favorable to the cause.6 The elite holds a key position in the creation of these myths. This group has the intellectual and material resources to promote the myths of collective ancestry and is therefore responsible for the spread of this ideology among ordinary group members.7 Interestingly, both the melting pot myth and the DTC DNA ancestry vogue thrived at times when the number of immigrants entering the United States peaked: between 1901 and 1910 8.8 million immigrants entered the country, and between 1991 and 2000 9.1 million immigrants set foot on American soil. This while the average number per decade between 1849 and 2000 was 4.2 million immigrants.8 Although there is no certainty whether there is a correlation between these national myths and changes in immigration flows, we can state that both the melting pot and DTC DNA ancestry vogue have roots in the immigration history of America. The first chapter will give the reader an updated version of the melting pot narrative, woven into a short account of the immigration history of the past century. The chapter will signpost several important themes that we will later encounter in the rhetoric of the DTC DNA ancestry companies. The second chapter dives into the world of the DTC DNA ancestry industry. Since the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, family lore, genealogy and popular narratives are adjusted to fit the genetic truth and the naturalness of biology unearthed by DNA tests. Scientists working on projects such as the genetic study of ‘human mixing events’ believe traditional historical methods to be outdated and argue that they can only compromise the outcome of the scientific findings: “There’s a great virtue in being objective: you put the data in and get the history out.”9 This new past has the potential to alter what we consider to

5 Heike Paul, The Myths that made America: an introduction to American Studies, (Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, 2014), 11. 6 Michael Smith, “The American Melting Pot: A National Myth in Public and Popular Discourse,” National Identities 14 (2012): 389. 7 Amílcar Antonio Barreto, “Constructing Identities: Ethnic Boundaries and Elite Preferences in Puerto Rico,” Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 7 (2001): 35. 8 Roger Daniels, Guarding the Golden Door: American Immigration Policy and Immigrants since 1882 (New York: Hill and Wang, 2005): 5-6. 9 Nicholas Wade, “Tracing Ancestry, Researchers Produce a Genetic Atlas of Human Mixing Events,” The New York Times, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/14/science/tracing-ancestry-team- produces-genetic-atlas-of-human-mixing-events.html.

3 be authentic, as we look more and more towards DNA to provide certified versions of memory, history and identity.10 This raises fascinating questions about what people find more important: historical evidence or scientific facts. This problem played out in the Jefferson-Hemings controversy. During his lifetime President Thomas Jefferson (1801 – 1908) was accused of having fathered several children of his slave Sally Hemings. This was the beginning of a long-standing scandal that persisted up until the late twentieth century, when Dr. Eugene Foster et al. attempted to establish the paternity of Eston Hemings through Y chromosome DNA tests. These results showed a match between the Jefferson male line and the Eston Hemings descendant. Despite these results, there are still parties that do not agree with this outcome, arguing that there is insufficient evidence to support the claim that Jefferson is indeed the father of Heming’s children. The DNA tests have been able to open a historical case that had long been closed by historians, and the DNA results have set the bar for future debate on this subject.11 DTC DNA testing does not confine itself to ancestry alone: there are tests available that provide health related information, and tests designed to improve their clients health in indirect ways, such as nutrition. As technology is improving, more and more companies are able to offer all three DNA tests, blurring the distinctions between the varieties of information.12 Examples are ventures such as SingldOut, an online-dating platform that matches based on the personality traits supposedly determined by DNA. The focus of this thesis will be on DTC DNA ancestry companies, and will only occasionally refer to DTC DNA health companies. Many details about the DTC DNA ancestry industry remain unclear. There is no data available on how many customers are purchasing DNA samples, the number of products available and what these products entail. These uncertainties are primarily caused by the absence of governmental restrictions: it is difficult to control companies on the crossroads of genetics, law and society.13 Although the FDA and the Government Accountability Office keep a close eye on companies providing DNA health tests, DNA ancestry companies seem to roam free. The philosophical question arises to how much weight individuals should give to

10 Stevens, “Genetimes and Lifetimes,” 11. (Emphasis added) 11 Ibidem, 10. 12 A. Nordgren, E. T. Juengst, “Can Genomics Tell Me Who I Am? Essentialistic Rhetoric in Direct-to- Consumer DNA Testing,” New Genetics and Society 28 (2009): 158. 13 Jennifer K Wagner, “Interpreting the Implications of DNA Ancestry Tests,” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 53 (2010): 231.

4 genes when forming ethnical, racial and religious identities.14 Because far from providing startling insights that can liberate costumers from the constraints of social labels, genomic testing might simply inscribe those labels into our genes.15 This has not stopped memory from turning into a lucrative business. Ancestry.com is one of the biggest DTC DNA ancestry companies of the United States and has over three million paying subscribers. American based DTC DNA market leaders Ancestry.com, 23andMe and Family Tree DNA all sponsor popular national television series such as African American Lives and Finding Your Roots (FYR) to reach to as many potential customers as possible. The third chapter will look into Finding Your Roots, which has contributed to the high status of genomics as a powerful science, positioning it to legitimize claims about personal identity that phrenologists and psychoanalysts would envy.16 All in all, the combination of biology, ancestry and new media has turned out to be a successful venture, turning memory into a ‘best-seller in consumer society.’17 We will see that in the world of DTC DNA ancestry testing, identity and ancestry are almost always intrinsically connected. The term ‘identity’ can have multiple meanings depending on the context in which it is used. Sociologist and philosopher Christine Hauskeller has identified two types of identity: logical and psychological identity. Logical identity sees identity as sameness. When saying: “I have inherited the cancer-gene from my mother,” the two genes of mother and child are seen as identical in structure and function. This also points to the second meaning of identity: one gene is identified as an ancestor of the other. This interpretation of identity holds the assumption of biological relatedness, and along with this comes a range of identity-discourses. These discourses are the psychological notions of identity: the individual’s belonging to a family or group.18

The curious case of Rachel Dolezal A case on the intersection of science, identity and ancestry came to light in June 2015, when self-identified black Rachel Dolezal was ‘outed’ as white. Dolezal had been the president of the Spokane chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) and had represented herself as being black. When the news broke that Dolezal’s

14 Virginia Hughes, “23 and You: Does That Commercial DNA Test You Just Bought Violate Somebody Else’s Privacy?” Medium, accessed on June 24, 2016, https://medium.com/matter/23-and-you-66e87553d22c. 15 Nordgren and Juengst, “Can Genomics Tell Me Who I Am?” 169. 16 Ibidem, 163. 17 J. Le Goff, History and Memory (New York: Columbia University Press, 1992), 1. 18 Christine Hauskeller, “Genes, Genomes and Identity. Projections on Matter,” New Genetics and Society 23 (2004): 287.

5 father was not of African descent, the entire American community was outraged, discrediting her as a race faker. As a consequence of this incident, Dolezal was relieved her of her paid and unpaid positions in Spokane. In an era where multiculturalism and scientific developments have paved the way for a more inclusive and accepting society, it is evident that being trans-ethnic remains a problematic reality in America. After it was exposed that Dolezal had created a new identity for herself, she spoke up about the alleged misrepresentation of her race, stating that she does not feel that she mislead anybody for she has never claimed to be African American, but black. The rhetoric Dolezal uses to defend her choices has been subject of much debate, as it resembles the rhetoric used by transgenders, specifically the language of Caitlyn Jenner (formerly known as Bruce Jenner). Jenner’s public transformation from a man into a woman has been applauded by the American community, crowning Jenner Glamour magazine’s ‘woman of the year.’ Dolezal has claimed that she has always identified herself as black, stating that she drew self-portraits using a brown crayon instead of the peach crayon, and gave herself black curly hair.19 Transgenders likewise argue that they identify with the opposite sex and have experienced cross-identification since childhood.20 The hype that occurred after Dolezal was outed as white unveils a strange paradox: while transgenders change their biology when transitioning into the other sex, Rachel Dolezal has only changed the social construct known as race. To NBC Nightly News, Dolezal declared that she had not taken a DNA test, but that "there's been no biological proof that Larry and Ruthanne [Dolezal] are my biological parents."21 Her adoptive brother and her father have both challenged her to do a DNA test, turning this science into a lie-detector test. Dolezal’s rejection of the presupposition of biological relatedness reminds us of the same argument made by literary scholar Marc Shell. He argues that whether there is an unequivocal blood or DNA test to detect lineage or parentage and whether true parentage is other than consanguineous remain unsettled questions: “Like the child in Solomon’s judgment, we cannot truly know who our blood parents are -we could all be changelings switched in the cradle- and there is no unshakeable answer to the question of our true parents.”22 Furthermore, this argument can be linked to the

19 Samantha Allen, “Dolezal’s Damaging ‘Transracial’ Game,” The Daily Beast, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www. thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/16/dolezal-s-damaging-transracial-game.html. 20 Ibidem. 21 Diane Herbst, “Rachel Dolezal's Brother Ezra Challenges Her to Take DNA Test to Prove She Isn't Her Parents' Biological Child,” People, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.people.com/article/rachel-dolezl- ezra-dolezal-dna-test. 22 Marc Shell, Children of the Earth: Literature, Politics and Nationhood, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 196.

6 Freudian concept ‘Family Romance;’ the fantasy that our parents are merely our adoptive parents and that we are actually related to a highly idealized family. A captivating argument of Dolezal’s critics is that she claims a history she has not been part of. Of course, Dolezal could take a DTC DNA ancestry test to prove her DNA holds a certain percentage of African ancestry. But do these results give her the right to claim black heritage? In other words, will these results be conclusive? This remains doubtful as Dolezal rightly states that all humans originate from the African continent and that, in addition, plenty of self-identified white Americans have what Henry Louis Gates Jr. coined ‘hidden African Ancestry?’23 This curious case of Rachel Dolezal highlights several important aspects we will encounter in the following chapters.

23 Jenée Desmond-Harris, “How to make sense of Rachel Dolezal, the NAACP official accused of passing for black,” Vox, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.vox.com/2015/6/12/8770273/rachel-dolezal-white-black- naacp.

7 Chapter I – Changing Your Grandfathers

“My first ancestor, gentlemen, was an Indian- an early Indian. Your ancestors skinned him alive, and I am an orphan. (…) Later ancestors of mine were the Quakers William Robinson, Marmaduke Stevenson, et. al. Your tribe chased them out of the country for their religion’s sake; promised them death if they came back (…). All those Salem witches were ancestors of mine! Your people made it tropical for them. (…) The first slave brought into New England out of Africa by your progenitors was an ancestor of mine- for I am of a mixed breed, an infinitely shaded and exquisite Mongrel.”24

In his speech Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrims, Mark Twain mocked the fears of White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASP) regarding the arrival of greatly diverse peoples in America. Twain declared that the Pilgrims had taken good care of themselves, but had annihilated everybody else’s ancestors in the process. Twain claims these overpowered ancestors as his own and declares himself to be a product of the mixing of races. His ‘carnival of incrimination’ may be considered an extreme case of the general attitude with which the Pilgrims and their Plymouth Rock were greeted during the Gilded Age.25 Mark Twain wrote against the growing anxieties of the first settlers, who were struggling with the question how to create national unity when millions of immigrants brought with them a great diversity of cultural heritage. The melting pot symbol was one of the first myths to tackle such issues and offers different ways to perceive ancestry within the context of a cohesive American identity. One of the solutions offered by this symbol is the ability to claim your own ancestors, just as Twain had done in his Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrims speech. The following chapter will give an updated version of the melting pot narrative and will bring forth such themes, which we will later encounter in the DTC DNA ancestry vogue as well.

Claiming your ancestors Between 1890 and 1920 roughly 23 million immigrants arrived in America, challenging the existing WASP majority that had settled in the United States during the first American century. While the arrival of different immigrant populations transformed American national identity, it did not fundamentally challenge white hegemony because the European ethnics from Eastern and Southern Europe were soon able to blend into the white majority. Historian Matthew Frye Jacobson’s account of America’s racial odyssey suggests that the Irish, the

24 Mark Twain, Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrims: address at the first annual dinner, N.E. society, Philadelphia, December 22, 1881, from Mark Twain's Speeches (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1910): 17-24. 25 John D. Seelye, Memory’s Nation: The Place of Plymouth Rock, (North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press, 1998), 493.

8 Jews the Italians, the Slavs and the Greeks have all succeeded in America because the privilege of whiteness was extended to them in time. They became, in sociologist Nathan Glazer’s words, “if not Anglo-Saxon, at least Caucasian and certainly white.”26 Although these ‘new’ immigrants were able to become part of the white majority, they were both geographically and culturally removed from the Anglo-Saxon community.27 On the West Coast several hundreds of thousands of immigrants from China, Japan, Korea and later the Philippines entered the United States. These groups could not be absorbed by the Anglo-Saxon majority and their arrival provoked fears over “coolie” (locally sourced unskilled) labor, providing a more profound challenge to the national imaginary with regard to citizenship. Politicians responded to the growing public fears by limiting immigration based on race and national origin so to keep these potentially disruptive groups out of the country.28 During this period the U.S. census officially recognized three races: white, black and Asian. Of course, this racial classification did not represent true identities, especially not for people of mixed ancestry and for those whose appearance did not meet stereotypical racial expectations.29 Israel Zangwill’s Melting-Pot play offered a soothing answer to the conflicting realities of the immigration experience and the quest for national unity, with which both the WASPs and the immigrants were struggling.30 We have seen that the play argued that immigrants had a responsibility to assimilate in order to create a homogeneous society. They would throw their cultural traits into the crucible, where they would be fused to create the ‘new American.’ This transcendent vision allowed for flexible definitions and redefinitions, and offered a middle ground between ethnic believers, radical culture critics and American opponents of immigration.31 The Melting-Pot appeared in several big American cities and it is said that even the thousands of people who had not seen the production knew of its existence.32 One of the melting pot enthousiasts was author and Nobel Peace Prize winner

26 Nathan Glazer, “White Noise,” review of Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race, by Matthew Frye Jacobson, New Republic, October 12, 1998: 44. 27 Stephen Steinberg, “The Melting Pot and the Color Line,” in Reinventing the Melting Pot: the New Immigrants and What it Means to be American, ed. Tamar Jacoby (New York: Basic Books, 2004), 235. 28 Jolie A. Sheffer, The Romance of Race: Incest, Miscegenation, and Multiculturalism in the United States, 1880-1930 (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2013), 11. 29 Charles Hirschman, “Richard Alba and Reynolds Farley, The Meaning and Measurement of Race in the U.S. Census: Glimpses into the Future,” Demography 37 (2000), 381. 30 Smith, “The American Melting Pot,” 390. 31 Werner Sollors, Beyond Ethnicity, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986), 74. 32 Smith, “The American Melting Pot,” 390.

9 Jane Addams, who stated that the title of the play “could be easily translated into a proper heading for sociological lectures or sermons.”33 The Melting-Pot play frames the immigrant’s existing heritage embedded in the Old World as a largely negative phenomenon. For example, when the protagonist of the play speaks of his old heritage he refers to it as “hate, vengeance and blood.” Zangwill used the opposition between hardness and softness to illustrate that immigrants were to move away from identities that kept them anchored in the Old World. Metallurgical and alchemical implications of the crucible are used to illustrate this contradiction, with the goal of melting away the hardness of old identities in the crucible:

“Celt and Latin, Slav and Teuton, Greek and Syrian, black and yellow -[Vera] Jew and Gentile- Yes, East and West, and North and South, (…) how the great Alchemist melts and fuses them with his purging flame! Here shall they all unite to build the Republic of Man and the Kingdom of God.”34

This indicates that American ideals are not transmitted by descent, but have to be embraced afresh, meaning that descent is secular and temporal, while consent is sacred and eternal.35 Again we encounter the idea that people can distance themselves from their existing ancestry and have the ability to choose new ancestors. Furthermore, Zangwill speaks of a “Republic of man and a Kingdom of God.” Later on we will see that Harvard Professor of African American Studies Henry Louis Gates Jr. will also call on a divine intervention when coming up with the idea for his television series African American Lives, in which eight prominent African Americans uncover their heritage through genealogical research and DNA tests. If God had been the alchemist who has mixed American society, does that make DTC DNA ancestry testing a tool to trace the workings of God? Closely linked to the melting pot symbol is the Pocahontas theme of Indianized and female allegories of America. This foundational myth likewise implies that Americans are able to choose their own ancestors. A great example is the poem “Our Mother Pocahontas,” by Vachel Lindsay:

“John Rolfe is not our ancestor We rise from out the soul of her Held in native wonderland While the sun’s rays kissed her hand In the springtime,

33 Jane Addams, Bitter Fruits of Religious Ignorance, Literary Digest, XXXVIII (1909): 691. 34 Israel Zangwill, The Melting-Pot. A Drama in Four Acts (New York: The Macmillan company, 1909), 198-99. 35 Sollors, Beyond Ethnicity, 70 and Zangwill, The Melting-Pot, 69.

10 In Virginia, Our mother, Pocahontas.”36

Both the melting pot and the Pocahontas theme weaken static descent-orientation: the Pocahontas theme gives the chosen people of white America a new fictional line of noble Indian ancestry, and the melting pot provides people with a new, shared American heritage to replace the old national heritage brought across the Atlantic Ocean.37 Around 1915 philosopher Horace Kallen and critic and essayist Randolph Bourne rallied against melting pot imagery, as they believed its intentions were to conform immigrants to the dominant Anglo-Saxon standard. In his 1915 essay “Democracy versus the Melting-Pot,” Kallen argued that the concept of melting away different nationalities and ethnicities went against the democratic ideals and core political principles of America.38 He stated: “Men may change their clothes, their politics, their wives, their religions, their philosophies, to a greater or lesser extent they cannot change their grandfathers.”39 He asserted that respecting ancestors and pride of race were “primary and ultimate standards” and regarded ethnicity to be the core of the individual.40 Concerning the nationality of immigrants Kallen wrote:

“Behind him in time and tremendously in him in quality, are his ancestors; around him in space are his relatives and kin, carrying in common with him in the inherited organic set from a remoter common ancestry. In all these he lives and moves and has his being. They constitute his, literally, natio, the inwardness of his nativity.”41

This account indicates that our ancestors constitute the self, and Kallen even hints that traces of these ancestors can be found in our genetic makeup. Kallen suggested a federation of nationalities, where cultural diversity would be celebrated and where people were bound by the English language and a common political and economic life.42 In the final paragraphs of the article Kallen described a harmonious musical fusion, in which the instruments personified the different ethnicities of the American peoples. In 1916 Bourne opted for a more cosmopolitan “Trans-national America,” advocating a unique American culture and national identity to which every group would contribute. Although this may sound similar to the concept of the melting pot, Bourne also argued that

36 Vachel Lindsay, Selected Poems, Ed. Mark Harris (New York: Macmillan, 1963), 116. 37 Sollors, Beyond Ethnicity, 79. 38 Smith, “The American Melting Pot,” 392. 39 Horace Meyer Kallen, Culture and Democracy in the United States, (New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 1970), 122-123. 40 Smith, “The American Melting Pot,” 392. 41 Horace Meyer Kallen, “Democracy versus the Melting Pot,” The Nation, February 18, 1915, 194. (Emphasis added) 42 Smith, “The American Melting Pot,” 392.

11 group distinctiveness and identification with countries from the Old World should be maintained in American society.43 Bourne went against the idea that indigenousness defined all peoples arriving in America and argued that these immigrants were not mere arrivals from the same family, but people who brought with them their own national and racial characters. Bourne believed it was the hyphenate who had kept American culture from turning into aggressive nationalism, but considered a nation of hyphenated Americans to be equally dangerous. In his view, people tied to Europe could maintain political allegiance to their mother country, and rivalry between different hyphenated groups could be a potential disruptive force. Bourne believed the answer to these problems could be found in Zionism, which he considered to be a benevolent self-conscious nationalism that longed for a spiritual homeland without “chauvinistic and dynastic aims.”44 Bourne was not the first to call on Zionism to ensure national cohesion in America. Zangwill, known as the founder of the Jewish Territorial Organization (JTO), had envisioned a political Zionism that would eradicate all barriers and distinctions between people through love and mercy. He believed he could achieve this goal in America, due to its liberal immigration policy. This political Zionism would create a human brotherhood that would not tolerate rivalries between nationalities. Kallen adopted Zionism in 1903 and perceived it to be a secular mode to preserve Jewish identity, for he believed the Jewish religious tradition to be incompatible with twentieth century America. Although the language of these three men seems to differ substantially, both the rhetoric of Kallen and Bourne have been linked to the Melting Pot play. Werner Sollors recognized that the musical fusion imagery presented by Kallen resembles much of the rhetoric of the Melting-Pot protagonist, and Bourne’s description of cosmopolitan dual citizenship used alchemical and metallurgical imagery similar to the Melting Pot play.45 In 1916 Henry Ford imposed the Anglo-Saxon interpretation of the melting pot symbol on his employees. He believed Anglo-Saxonism to be strong enough to absorb all immigrant qualities and create a uniform American. Immigrants working in his Ford Motor Company represented over 53 nationalities and spoke more than a hundred languages. Ford sought to ‘Americanize’ his employees by establishing the Ford English School, where his workers were taught English and were given practical lessons based on daily life and

43 Smith, “The American Melting Pot,” 392-293. 44 Bruce Clayton, Forgotten Prophet: The Life of Randolph Bourne (Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 1998), 198. 45 Sollors, Beyond Ethnicity, 97, 98.

12 routines.46 Upon completion of the curriculum, the students were to participate in the ‘Pageant of the Ford Melting Pot ceremony.’ During this ritual workers would act out the abandonment of distinct ethnic origins for a uniform ‘Americanness.’47 This rebirth was to demonstrate the loyalty of the immigrant workers during World War I. It is clear that the Ford English School regarded heritage as a negative phenomenon and that there was no place in society for a hyphenated American. Ford’s anti-universalist showing came to be associated with the melting pot symbol and is one of the reasons why the melting pot became offensive to immigrants and universalist intellectuals.48 During the 1920s Congress drastically reduced immigration flows from Europe and barred Asians from entering the country. The 1924 Johnson-Reed Act completed these restrictions and implemented the national origins system.49 This system established quota’s based on the natural origins of Americans who were in the country in 1980. The act further entailed that no alien ineligible to become a citizen could be admitted to the United States as an immigrant, and only those defined as white or of African origin could obtain American citizenship. Furthermore, the Supreme Court had ruled that neither Japanese nor those emanating from the Indian subcontinent could become an American.50 Claims have been made by historians such as Leonard Dinnerstein and David Reimes that the racially biased Immigration Act of 1924 was passed with the help of the intelligence testing community of the period. Psychologist Lewis Terman et al. had tested 1.700.000 army men, mostly originating from Eastern and Southern Europe, and reported that these soldiers had mentalities ranging downward from a thirteen to fourteen year old child to the level of a ten year old kid.51 This scientific racism supposedly influenced implementation of the act, but, in any case, this eugenics inspired division made Northern Europeans officially ‘Caucasians.’ After the act was implemented, and arguably before, race and immigration became inextricably linked. In 1929 a regulation introduced the standard text for the oath of allegiance, still taken by one million prospective U.S. citizens today. This oath of citizenship clearly shows that

46 “Transcript Henry Ford,” American Experience, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/henryford-transcript/. 47 Sarah Wilson, Melting-pot Modernism (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2010), 15 and “Transcript Henry Ford.” 48 Werner Sollors, Beyond Ethnicity, 91. 49 David M. Reimers, “Post-World War II Immigration to the United States: America's Latest Newcomers,” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 454 (1981), 1. 50 Kevin Yuill, “In the Shadow of the 1924 Immigration Act: FDR, Immigration and Race,” Immigrants & Minorities: Historical Studies in Ethnicity, Migration and Diaspora 32 (2014), 185. 51 Carol Silverberg, “IQ Testing and Tracking: The History of Scientific Racism in the American Public Schools: 1890—1924,” (PhD diss., University of Nevada, 2008), 47.

13 during the beginning of the twentieth century maintaining a hyphenated identity was seen as undesirable, as candidates are to renounce allegiance to their former countries:

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same (…).”52

However, the United States Government stopped denouncing hyphenated Americans when soldiers were needed to liberate Europe from Nazi Germany. By appealing to former ethnicities of its inhabitants, the American Government tried to evoke patriotic sentiments to inspire people to enlist. The 1960s and the 1970s marked the beginning of an increasing multi-cultural society. During this period America abolished the national immigration quotas and acknowledged equal treatment of all nations and all races.53 A white ethnic revival swept the nation, in which ethnic pride and a newfound appreciation for genealogy were central. What started as a roots phenomenon turned into a true roots craze with books such as Roots and period news agencies like Time magazine providing their readership with instructions for genealogical research. The white ethnic revival was a huge commercial success, with companies selling ethnic merchandise such as kitsch shamrock keychains and “discover your homeland” touring packages across Europe. Matthew Jacobson’s account of the white ethnic revival suggests that it relocated the normative whiteness what might be called Plymouth Rock whiteness to Ellis Island whiteness.54 The white ethnic revival and emphasis on multiculturalism have evolved rapidly from the 1980s onwards, directed against what the intellectual historian David Hollinger has described as the “narrowness of the prevailing culture of the United States.” Hollinger makes a case for a “postethnic America” which moves beyond multiculturalism. This postethnic perspective recognizes diversity but also offers the adhesive of a national culture that enables diverse Americans to act on problems of common concern.55 Hollinger argues that because we have recognized the importance of group membership, we live in an age of affiliations

52 “Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America,” US citizenship and Immigration services, accessed on June 24, 2016, https://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship/naturalization-test/naturalization-oath- allegiance-united-states-america. 53 Nathan Glazer, “Assimilation today: is one identity enough?” in Reinventing the Melting Pot: the New Immigrants and What it Means to be American, ed. Tamar Jacoby (New York: Basic Books, 2004), 66. 54 Matthew Frye Jacobson, Roots too: White Ethnic Revival in Post-Civil Rights America, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006), 4-7. 55 Review of Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism, by David A. Hollinger, Kirkus Reviews, July 5, 1995, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/david-a-hollinger/postethnic-america/.

14 rather than identities. He sees the concept of identity as something that can hide that the achievement of identity is a social process. Moreover, identity implies a fixity and givenness, while the word affiliation suggests a greater measure of flexibility consistent with a postethnic eagerness to promote communities of consent: “individuals should be allowed to affiliate or disaffiliate with their own communities of descent to an extent that they choose, while affiliating with whatever non-descent communities are available and appealing to them.”56 Hollinger’s postethnic perspective derives from his distinction between Kallen’s conceptions of pluralism and Bourne’s cosmopolitanism. Hollinger describes the former as an American society consisting of permanent static groups based on ancestry, while the latter is a dynamic intermixture which transforms old stock and immigrants alike. His postethnic perspective holds a rooted cosmopolitanism, which respects ethnicity but insists upon voluntary and reversible affiliations. Hollinger believes that the major obstacle for this postethnic America is the assignment of persons to involuntary communities of descent.57 The melting pot symbol has become one of the foundational myths of America because people have not been able to reach consensus about the definition of this symbol. Although the image has been used on contradictory grounds, a new American identity was envisioned, either created through an assimilation process or through the maintenance of cultural diversity. Even critics of the melting pot imagined some kind of transcendent creation of a new American self-hood.

Blackanese, Filatino and Chicanese The year 2000 marked the first occasion where Americans were allowed to tick more than one racial box on the U.S. census questionnaire, which roughly seven million Americans chose to do. Only ten years later, this number went up by 32 percent, making it one of the fastest growing categories.58 These additional options on the U.S. census have been welcomed by people frustrated by the limitations of the racial categories established by German scientist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach in the late eighteenth century. Blumenbach had divided the human race into five varieties: red, yellow, brown, black and white. Author Lise Funderburg’s account of America’s racial intermixture suggests that the current multiple-race option on the

56 David Hollinger, Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism, (New York: Basic Books, 1995), 116. 57 Rudolph J. Vecoli, “Review: From Pennsylvania Dutch to California Ethnic: The Odyssey of David Hollinger,” review of Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism by David Hollinger, Reviews in American History 24 (1996), 521. 58 Lise Funderburg, “The changing face of America,” National Geographic, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/changing-faces/funderburg-text.

15 U.S. census is still rooted in that taxonomy. However, Funderburg believes that these changes are a step towards fixing this categorization system that is both erroneous (because geneticists have shown that race is a biological construct and not scientific reality) and essential (since living with race and racism is). She further argues that the Census Bureau is aware that its racial categories are flawed because they distance themselves from any intention “to define race biologically, anthropologically, or genetically.” Then again, racial categories are always flawed because race is merely a social construct. In our presumably more accepting world we see that people have become more flexible with how they call themselves. Funderburg has seen that on playgrounds and college campuses, you can find terms as Blackanese, Filatino, Chicanese, and Korgentinian.59 Furthermore, we see that attitudes towards interracial marriage have become more positive than ever and the 2012 census showed that white births were no longer the majority in the U.S. Over the course of twelve months Asians, blacks, Hispanics and mixed races made up 50.4 percent of all births.60 But America is not yet a pluralist nation: the Census Bureau has predicted that only in 2060 non-Hispanic whites will no longer be the majority. Moreover, on average, whites have double the income and six times the wealth of blacks and Hispanics, with young black men twice as likely as whites to being unemployed.61

The Hyphen as a Bond of Union This chapter has signposted several topics we will later encounter in the DTC DNA ancestry industry. The following section will highlight these themes and link them to the DTC DNA ancestry industry, of which a more elaborate explanation will be given in the next chapter. We have seen that perceptions of ancestry have changed drastically over the past century. While a hyphenated American was perceived to be a threat up until the second World War, the hyphen has now come to be the definition of a true American:

59 Funderburg, “The changing face of America.” 60 “U.S. Census Timeline,” Infoplease.com, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0905361.html. 61 Funderburg, “The changing face of America.”

16 countries) of hyphenation – maybe even a hyphen nation.”62

It seems as if this hyphen is what distinguishes America from the rest of the world: it is the only place where melting of nationalities and cultures has occurred and from which an enriched hyphenate has emerged. Although we have seen that the white ethnic craze has its roots in the 1960s, the twenty-first century marks the first time that the entire American community is able to participate in the roots craze. By taking a DTC DNA ancestry test, Americans are able to add the desired hyphen to their existing identity – and more. These websites offer to make childhood dreams come true: being related to Queen Elizabeth is no longer a fantasy, but can become a reality simply by sending in some saliva. In their own right, both the melting pot and the DTC DNA ancestry vogue reconcile the two essential components of nationalism in light of the American immigration experience: diversity and the need for national unity.63 All contributions to the diverse melting pot symbol envision a unique kind of brotherhood amongst Americans. Zangwill believed that an American brotherhood would be created if all immigrants would embrace the American ideals afresh: he considered descent secular and temporal, and consent to be sacred and eternal. Kallen’s pluralism attaches greater importance to ancestry and suggests a federation of nationalities, where cultural diversity and various nationalities would be celebrated rather than frowned upon:

“A society’s existence is strengthened, its life enriched, in the degree that its members may pass unhindered from it to any other, making free exchange of the thought and things of each, in the degree that the members are hyphenated, and the hyphen is a bond of union, a bridge from each to each and all to all.”64

Bourne’s cosmopolitanism was more dynamic and was meant to transform the WASPs and the immigrants alike. He advocated a new unique American community and national identity to which every group would contribute. And of course Ford, interpreting the melting pot as an assimilation device, thought a new American community was in the making. In Hollinger’s case, American would bond through the making of new affiliations. This sense of a human brotherhood is central to the DTC DNA industry, as they use science that suggests that every human on this earth is no further removed than a 100th cousin, and we all share 99.9% of our

62 Sandra Gilbert, “Mysteries of the Hyphen: Poetry, Pasta and Identity Politics.” Beyond the Godfather: Italian American writers on the Real Italian American experience. Eds. Kenneth Giongoli and Jay Parini. (Hannover: UP of New England, 1997), 52. 63 Smith, “The American Melting Pot,” 388. 64 Milton Ridvas Konvitz, The Legacy of Horace M. Kallen, (Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1987), 26. (Emphasis added)

17 DNA. Ironically, they use this science while conveying to their customers that a DNA test provides you with a unique set of ancestors. This notion of a human brotherhood is closely linked to the idea that the American is able to choose its own grandfathers. Only Kallen, literally arguing that one cannot change grandfathers, chooses descent over consent. However, many of Kallen’s ideas are consistent with the rhetoric of the DTC DNA ancestry industry. Both agree that respecting ancestors and pride of race are of key importance, and that your ancestors constitute the self. The DTC DNA ancestry vogue has enforced the idea of claiming your own ancestry and created a new ethnic craze, enabling every American to add a hyphen to their existing identity. Claiming your own ancestors implies that the existing narrative identity is easily replaced in order to fit the American ideal. We will see that the rhetoric of DNA ancestry companies implies that the narrative identity should be dismissed if this science proves it to be incorrect or incomplete. Although the Melting Pot play seems to dispose of the individual identity by arguing that a uniform American would emerge from the mixing of all nationalities and ethnicities, subsequent additions to the narrative do emphasize the importance of an individual identity in American society. Both Kallen and Bourne believed ethnicity to be of great importance to the self. The unalterable nature of ethnicity is prominent in Kallen’s sketch of an American symphony: each instrument is an ethnic group and contributes to the American symphony of civilization. In his turn, Bourne longed for a continuation of group distinctiveness and identification with the mother country. The DTC DNA ancestry industry likewise links ethnicity to identity, and argues that only once you know what ethnicities you consist of, you can truly know yourself. For example, Full Genomes’ homepage reads:

“Full Genomes is dedicated to bringing you the best sequencing experience possible, by combining next generation sequencing technology with an easy to use, feature-rich web experience—to allow you to explore yourself—your history, your ancestry, your genealogy.”

The goal of these companies is to connect their customers to a genetic community, consisting of people with the same variation in their DNA. Kallen, Bourne and DTC DNA ancestry companies all argue that there is no uniform American ethnicity or identity, as they believe diversity defines what it means to be an American. The two narratives have been able to appeal to the American public due to two generic traits characteristic to most national myths. The first trait is simplicity: melting pot imagery is used to represent a highly complex process of immigration and ethnic relations that necessarily excludes much detail. In other words, the simplistic nature of melting pot

18 symbolism does not correspond with the complexity of the phenomenon it describes.65 The DTC DNA ancestry industry similarly uses simplicity by dumbing down the highly complex biological background of DNA testing in order to make strong identity claims.66 The narrative does not seem to take in account the tensions surrounding ethnicity in American society as they urge people to uncover and celebrate their heritage. In the third chapter we will see that television series Finding Your Roots does acknowledge differences in structural assimilation between ethnic, racial and religious minorities, but that it oversimplifies statements about society just like the melting pot symbol has done. The second trait characteristic to most national myths is ambiguity. The melting pot narrative cannot be precise and comprehensive because it is a multi-dimensional phenomenon with multiple outcomes. Sociologist Milton M. Gordon explains: “The symbol is one which singularly lends itself to expression in vague rhetoric, which, however noble it aims, gives minimal clues as to the exact implications of the term for the manifold spheres of societal organization and behavior.”67 The melting pot is applicable to a number of different positions regarding immigration matters, from Anglo-conformity to more liberal policies of unrestricted immigration and laissez-faire integration policies. The consequence is that the symbol has been adopted for both justification of immigration restrictions in the 1920s, as well as its reversal in the 1960s. Another vague aspect of the melting pot was the supposed outcome of the symbol: was it supposed to transform both the old stock and the immigrants alike or was it Anglo-conformist view in which the immigrant were to dissolve in existing society?68 Ambiguity is likewise central in the DTC DNA ancestry narrative. There has been much debate on how to interpret the results of DTC DNA tests and it is similarly a multi- dimensional phenomenon with multiple outcomes. The DNA ancestry industry lies at the crossroads of genetics, law and society, which raises much discussion on the implications of these DNA tests on American society. The narrative is malleable to a number of views on the future of ‘race,’ ranging from predicting a new discriminatory era to expecting a beneficial outcome for society.69 Both narratives combine the unique immigration experience of the U.S. with the nationalist ideal of homogeneity. They stress the belief that the immigrant should play an active role in obtaining the American identity: the melting pot narrative conveys that

65 Konvitz, The Legacy of Horace M. Kallen, 398. 66 Nordgren and Juengst. “Can Genomics Tell Me Who I Am?,” 163. 67 M. M. Gordon, Assimilation in American life: The role of race, religion, and national origins, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1964), 124. 68 Smith, “The American Melting Pot,” 399. 69 Wagner and Weiss, “Attitudes on Ancestry DNA Tests,” 43.

19 immigrants have to play an active role in their own assimilation process, and the DTC DNA ancestry companies argue that the American identity can only be fully understood once people look into their ancestry. Both narratives imply that immigrants and their culture contribute to what it means to be an American. We have seen that claims have been made that the 1924 immigration restrictions were the result of scientific racism. In the following years, scientific discoveries have contributed to the multicultural self-image of America by turning racial categories upside down and demonstrating that race as a scientific concept holds no water. The irony is that scientists such as Francis Galton and James Watson, who respectively introduced the world to genetics and DNA, both voiced racist comments based on scientific grounds. In 1883 Galton coined the term eugenics: the set of beliefs and practices aimed at improving the genetic quality of the human population. Almost a century later in 1953, Watson and his colleague Francis Crick discovered the double helix structure of DNA. In 2007, Watson told the Sunday Times that while people may like to think that all races are born with equal intelligence, those “who have to deal with black employees find this not true.”70 This is the danger of DTC DNA ancestry testing: the outcome of the tests can be interpreted in both ways. It proves that we are more alike and more intertwined than we could have ever imagined, but it also shows that different ethnicities have different markers in their DNA.

70 Adam Rutherford, “He may have unraveled DNA, but James Watson deserves to be shunned,” The Guardian, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/01/dna-james-watson- scientist-selling-nobel-prize-medal.

20 Chapter II – Scientific Identity

Are we able to truly know are ancestors? And more importantly, is our ancestry monetizable? The DTC DNA ancestry vogue taking the nation by storm sure leads to believe so. While the white ethnic revival in the 1960s and 1970s was limited to people whose genealogical records showed ancestors of various ethnicities, the DNA ancestry vogue has enabled the entire American population to participate in the new heritage craze. These DNA ancestry tests guarantee to unveil your genetically mixed heritage, even when genealogical records show no sign of these unique attributes to your identity. The beauty of the DNA ancestry industry is that it offers the appealing notion that our identity is not a matter of existential choice but rather one of empirical discovery.71 This means our identity is a product of nature and that it is therefore only a matter of uncovering the hidden facts in our genes to come to our true ‘self.’ This genetic essentialism suggests that our genomes define our behavior, condition and personal identity in the same way our soul has done prior to technological innovations.72 Because the newfound DNA identity is framed as a biological discovery, ancestry companies imply that the results of their tests are the equivalent of scientific facts. The majority of the customers accept this belief, as stories show that test results have the power to change existing narrative identities.73 Even Henry Louis Gates Jr. wondered “Am I still black?” after discovering that he has European ancestors on both his maternal and paternal side. Such outbursts lead to the belief that fundamental changes have occurred, while in fact nothing has actually changed. All in all, the test results indicate that people turn away from their own existing narrative community created around common location, religion or language and accept new global communities formed through the outcomes of DNA tests.74 In a 2014 press release Ancestry.com enlightens consumers on the workings of AncestryDNA, a new genetic testing service offered by the company. This tool enables African Americans to identify their ethnicity beyond just a continent. During the Middle Passage and upon arrival in America, former inhabitants of the African continent were stripped of their individual heritage and were simply coined ‘Africans,’ or better yet, ‘slaves.’ The DTC DNA ancestry industry offers African-Americans a unique opportunity to reverse migration to see from which lands their ancestors have sprung. Ancestry.com’s press release reads: “New discoveries around culture, identity and family history reveals African

71 Nordgren and Juengst. “Can Genomics Tell Me Who I Am?,” 162. 72 Ibidem, 157. 73 Stevens, “Genetimes and Lifetimes,” 11. 74 Ibidem.

21 Americans are their own ‘melting pot’ with an average of three or more African regions as part of their family history.”75 It is implied that this science can uncover the regions where African ancestors have come from and how ancestors from these regions have intermixed during the melting pot process. We see that unlike most earlier statements of the melting pot, the DTC DNA ancestry industry assumes that the melting process of the new American is not something projected into an American future; rather, it has already occurred. The melting-pot has created a multi- ethnic society through intermarriage and assimilation and we are now witnessing a trend to uncover what went into the crucible. I must note that there are some contributions to the melting pot narrative that also believed that the melting process had already occurred. An example is Ralph Waldo Emerson’s ‘Smelting Pot.’ In 1845, Emerson responded to the descent-orientated Know-Nothings by imagining an utopian product of a culturally and racially mixed society.76 And of course Mark Twain, who declared himself to be a product of the melting pot by proclaiming to be an “exquisite mongrel.” Ancestry.com’s statement further argues that different ethnic groups are melting pots in their own right. Examples of such sub-melting pots have been given by Abraham Cahan and Alain Locke. The first described the Lower East Side of New York in 1896 as an all- Jewish melting pot: “a seething human sea fed by streams, streamlets and rills of immigration flowing from all the Yiddish-speaking centers of Europe.”77 Locke applied the rhetoric of the ‘new man’ to the ‘New Negro’ deriving from the alchemical laboratory in Harlem where African Americans were reborn: “what began in terms of segregation becomes more and more, as its elements mix and react, the laboratory of great race-welding.”78 Contrary to the overarching American melting pot, these subgroups could challenge national cohesion.

Science behind Direct-to-Consumer DNA ancestry testing The science behind genetic genealogy is extremely complex, but a basic understanding of our 23 chromosome pairs is essential to comprehend the rhetoric of the DTC DNA ancestry companies. Almost everyone has 23 pairs of chromosomes, consisting of 22 autosomal chromosome pairs and one sex-linked chromosome pair. Both males and females have

75 “AncestryDNA Advances Exploration of African American Ethnic Origins by Coupling Genetic Science with Historical Records,” Ancestry.com, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://corporate.ancestry.com/press/press- releases/2014/2/AncestryDNA-Advances-Exploration-of-African-American-Ethnic-Origins-by-Coupling- Genetic-Science-with-Historical-Records/. 76 Sollors, Beyond Ethnicity, 95. 77 Abraham Cahan, Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1896), 13. 78 Alain Locke, The New Negro (New York: Albert and Charles Boni, Inc. 1925), 7.

22 autosomal chromosomes and each pair includes one copy inherited from each parent. The sex- linked chromosome is different: men inherit a Y chromosome from their father and an X chromosome from their mother. Women, in contrast, receive an X chromosome from both their mother and father.79 Only the Y chromosome is passed almost identically from father to son, son to grandson, and so on. When genetic change occurs in a Y chromosome, it can be passed down to male descendants through time, serving as a consistent marker of their paternal lineage.80 While the Y chromosome is chaste, the X chromosome of the mother and father physically cross during the formation of egg and sperm. Ancestry tests see the genome as a set of markers. Each marker consists of a specific pattern of As, Cs, Gs and Ts and can be found at a specific location on the genome (e.g. TAACGGA). These letters represent the chemical code of DNA. These tests assume that the ancestors of all living humans once shared a set of markers. At some point in history an individual experienced a mutation in this specific pattern (e.g. TAACGGA = TATCGCA: an A is mutated into a T). This individual would pass on this mutation to his descendants, producing a slightly modified version of the marker. These descendants might also experience mutations of their specific pattern, leading to changes in other markers of the genome. If the group of descendants is isolated from rest of the human population, e.g. through migration, the modified markers become group characteristics. It is possible that others outside of this group experience the same mutations in their DNA, but statistically speaking, a specific mutation of the marker is more likely to appear in one group rather than in the human population as a whole. The more markers you test and compare to human migration and evolution theories, the more precise the outcome will be.81 Most of the DTC DNA ancestry companies offer one or more of the following three tests: autosomal marker tests, mitochondrial DNA tests (also known as mtDNA) and Y chromosome tests. Autosomal tests focus on the 22 non-sex-chromosome pairs inherited from both parents. These DNA tests measure the likelihood of matches against biogeographic regions of the world. Within autosomal testing, we can identify two different tests: the first type uses the framework of racial and ethnic divisions and turns to ancient world migrations to calculate ‘genetic percentages’ of racial or ethnic admixture.82 These tests use categories that roughly respond to the commonly perceived ‘races’: East Asian, European, Native

79 Hughes, “23andYou.” 80 Ibidem. 81 Stevens, “Genetimes and Lifetimes,” 4. 82 Anders Nordgren, “The Rhetoric Appeal to Identity on Websites of Companies Offering Non-Health-Related DNA Testing,” Identity in the Information Society 3 (2010): 478, 479.

23 American and Sub –Saharan African. The second type calculates the likelihood of matches against objectively identified contemporary populations. These tests identify the ethnic groups and populations where the person’s DNA profile is most common, for every distinct ethnic group has one mutation in its genome that sets it apart from other groups.83 While some companies portray their DNA test results as conclusive, other companies point out that very few people are ‘pure-race:’ many people have multiple mutations in their DNA and can be connected to many groups.84 The remaining two tests are sex-linked and only follow one line of descent. The mtDNA test traces the matrilineal line of a person’s ancestry. This mitochondrial DNA is passed down almost unchanged from mother to child. Y chromosome tests follow the paternal line of someone’s ancestry. We have seen that the Y chromosome does not occur in female DNA, which means that these tests are only available to men. Individuals are categorized into haplogroups by these sex-linked DNA tests, which are populations defined by certain single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs): locations where one nucleotide has mutated to a different one. These mutations have occurred at specific points in human history and these tests are based on the knowledge of ancient world migrations and evolutionary theory.85

A Human Brotherhood Since the completion of the Human Genome Project in the early 2000s, dozens of DTC DNA ancestry companies have been popping up online.86 Most of these companies are American based and offer consumers with roots elsewhere a useful tool to follow their origins across the Atlantic Ocean. Bioethicist Anders Nordgren has ascribed the rapid growth of DTC DNA companies in America to the leading position of the U.S. in the field of genetic research and its strong tradition of private business.87 These companies are Silicon Valley’s sweethearts, a place often hailed with terms such as ‘the Epicenter of the information Age’ and the ‘Birthplace of the Digital Age.’88 However, the current American trend to connect to ancestral roots is not solely a contemporary phenomenon. Alexis de Tocqueville had identified the same phenomenon in 1835: “Almost every American wishes to claim some connection by birth to the first founders

83 Nordgren, “The Rhetoric Appeal,” 479. 84 “The Ancestral Origins™ DNA test,” DNA Force, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.dnaforce.ca/test/ancestral-origins.html. 85 Nordgren, “The Rhetoric Appeal,” 478. 86 Ibidem, 484. 87 Nordgren, “The Rhetoric Appeal,” 484. 88 Jessica Livingston, ‘Silicon Valley,’ in Class in America: Q-Z, Ed. Robert E. Weir (Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2007), 766.

24 of the colonies and America is awash, as far as I can see, with offshoots of great English families.”89 One of Tocqueville’s generalizations about America in light of Europe is that America was a land without clear ancestral roots or socioeconomic distinction. American society had to build an industry that offered an artificial version of aristocratic roots left behind in Europe. In this sense, America would be a land of ‘invented traditions:’ traditions which appear or claim to be old, but are quite recent in origin and sometimes invented.90 The question which arises is whether the DTC DNA ancestry vogue is writing the true history of America or if it is simply inventing a new tradition. Although impossible to generalize sentiments regarding ancestry and heritage in other parts of the world, it seems as if many countries who have not faced a break in their ancestral past are less eager to find their heritage through DNA. An example is Japan, where the Supreme Court has recently ruled that DNA test results cannot revoke paternal status of a child’s father. The ruling entailed that DNA tests are not sufficient to overturn familial paternal relations, even if the test results show no signs of blood relation to the assumed father. This means that children are legally recognized to be the offspring of their mother’s husbands, instead of their biological fathers.91 Not every country values tradition as much as Japan, but this case shows that scientific findings do not necessarily trump traditional narrative identities like they do in America. As Hollinger has argued: “mixed race people are a powerful symbol for an opportunity long said to distinguish American society from most societies in Europe and Asia: the making of new affiliations.”92 We do see that there is a market for DTC DNA ancestry testing in Europe and other continents, as the biggest American DTC DNA ancestry companies have expanded their business overseas. In order to have a sufficient research sample, I consulted the following seventeen DTC DNA ancestry websites: African Ancestry (2015), Ancestry.com (2015), Determigene (2015), DNA Ancestry Project (2015), DNA Consultants (2015), Family Tree DNA (2015), DNA Tribes (2015), Home DNA Direct (2015), NIMBLE Diagnostics (2015), The Genographic Project (2015), 23andMe (2015), African DNA (2015), Ancestry by DNA (2015), Full Genomes (2015), TribeCode (2015), DNA Solutions (2015) and Easy-DNA (2015) (see

89 Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (London, Penguin Books, 2003). 660. 90 Eric Hobsbawm and Terence O Ranger, The Invention of Tradition (London: Cambridge University Press. 1983), 1. 91 “Supreme Court rules DNA test results cannot revoke paternal status of child's father,” Japan Today, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/supreme-court-rules-dna-test-results- cannot-revoke-paternal-status-of-childs-father. 92 Hollinger, Postethnic America, 166.

25 bibliography for web addresses). For the purpose of this study, only American based DTC DNA ancestry companies have been taken under consideration. Family Tree DNA was the first to sell DTC genetic ancestry tests in 2000, and in 2002 DNA-print Genomics followed their lead by selling the first genomic ancestry tests.93 Genetics and genomics are not interchangeable terms: genetics is the study of heredity while genomics is the study of genes and their functions.94 Reports indicate that while there were only eleven DTC ancestry companies in 2004, as of 2011 at least 35 companies are actively selling DTC DNA ancestry tests.95 A testimony of this signified growth is Ancestry.com, Inc.’s increase in revenues from $225 million in 2009 to $620 million in 2014.96 Although these numbers indicate that the DTC DNA ancestry industry is rapidly growing, it is difficult to come to actual conclusions about the development of the DNA ancestry industry since little corporate information is disclosed. Ancestry has evolved from being perceived as a dull pastime for people with too much time on their hands into a national hobby, ranking only second to gardening. It is no wonder that many companies are eager to hop on the money train, creating a fiercely competitive marketplace. In 2010 Nordgren examined 27 of these companies and six years later, only fourteen of these companies are still in business. Ten companies have vanished in thin air and three have merged with bigger companies. There is no certainty to why a third of these companies have disappeared. Perhaps some of these corporations had to forfeit in the battle against bigger DNA ancestry companies, or maybe customers were not satisfied with the accuracy of received results. As the second most searched topic online after pornography, and with more and more ancestry companies emerging, DNA ancestry companies have to make sure their services stand out in the crowd. Nordgren found that we can distinguish two types of rhetoric in the DTC DNA ancestry industry: individualistic or communitarian rhetoric. The individualistic vision views our one-of-a-kind DNA profile as the backbone of our uniqueness, while the communitarian vision of identity regards the genetic community as the basis of the ‘self.’ This genetic community can consist of relatives living in the present as well as ancestors going back thousands of years.97

93 Jennifer K. Wagner and Kenneth M. Weiss, “Attitudes on DNA Ancestry Tests,” Human Genetics 131 (2011): 41. 94 “WHO definitions of genetics and genomics,” WHO, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.who.int/genomics/geneticsVSgenomics/en/. 95 Wagner and Weiss, “Attitudes on DNA Ancestry Tests,” 41. 96 “About Ancestry,” Ancestry.com, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://corporate.ancestry.com/about-ancestry/. 97 Nordgren, “The Rhetoric Appeal,” 477.

26 Along with geneticist E.T. Juengst, Nordgren had recognized that the growing suite of DTC DNA ancestry companies prefer to underscore the role of family lineage and group membership in personal identity by encouraging their customers to frame their identity issues in terms of questions such as ‘Who is your tribe.’98 They found that the opposite is true for DTC DNA health companies, which often use genetic individualism to promote tests that offer personalized health information.99 These companies all use the first pronoun — 23andMe, deCODEme, Knome, Mycellf and Mygenome — suggesting that DNA and the individual identity are intrinsically connected.100 In 2006 the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigated the DTC DNA health industry by sending in ten ‘different’ DNA samples originating from five individuals to four companies. The companies received two samples from five individuals: one sample accompanied by factual information about the donor and one with fictitious information. All four companies offered different test results and information about the donors’ health, indicating that identical DNA samples yield contradictory results. One donor was told that he was at below-average, average, and above- average risk for prostate cancer and hypertension. The GAO report concluded that these companies made medically unproven disease predictions.101 Faulty information provided by these companies can lead to people adopting a ‘sick role’ upon receiving news that they have a higher risk of developing a certain illness, without there being anything medically wrong. DTC DNA ancestry companies shy away from individualistic terminology used by DNA health companies and focus on communitarian, heritage-laden terms such as family (tree), roots and tribe. They emphasize the ease with which customers can find hidden facts about their ancestors and themselves – in fact, thirteen out of the seventeen consulted websites even use the word ‘simple’ to describe their procedure. The sophisticated DTC DNA ancestry industry makes sure they do not scare away consumers less familiar with DNA testing by turning to oversimplified workings of DNA to promote their products. But Nordgren has observed that these companies also flirt with the customer who is aware of the essentialism of DNA marketing but still participates in the irreverent, self-confident culture of the internet. He gives the example of 23andMe, which assumes its readers will catch the oversight if it neglects to mention the mitochondrial DNA along the 23 chromosome pairs,

98 Nordgren and Juengst. “Can Genomics Tell Me Who I Am?,” 160. 99 Ibidem, 159. 100 Ibidem, 157. 101 “Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Tests: Misleading Test Results Are Further Complicated by Deceptive Marketing and Other Questionable Practices,” GAO US Government Accountability Office, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-847T.

27 and states that “your observable traits, also known as your phenotypes, result from the interaction between your genes and the environment.”102 This communitarian rhetoric is used to persuade the consumer that the existing narrative identity is no longer adequate because we are connected to a much greater community than we have based our identities on. Home DNA Direct states “Your DNA holds the answers to your true ancestry” and African Ancestry proclaims “Discover the missing part in your identity.” It suggests that your current knowledge of your heritage is either lacking or faulty according to the factual evidence of DNA. The link between ancestry and identity is of key importance in this respect, as the companies suggest that the results of their DNA tests can illuminate their customers on identity-laden ‘heritage’ rather than the simple fact of ancestry.103 Identity is a powerful organizing presence in social life and by looking at the number of people claiming, cultivating, expressing or bemoaning the lack of identity and the amount of attention devoted to it by institutions, we can see that the sense of belonging to a certain group has become vital to our self-understanding.104 We have seen that these companies use science that suggests that we are all connected, but there are few companies that mention this. AfricanDNA does mention that we all share a common maternal ancestor and a common paternal ancestor:

“Think of the Whitest person you know: someone with blond hair, blue eyes and almost translucent skin, not a drop of Black ancestry in them. Now think of the darkest person you know: someone richly endowed with traditional African features, not even a drop of White ancestry in their past. Well, guess what? Scientists now trace the origins of both of these people-and of all human beings who have ever walked the face of the earth-to Black Africa, to the region around what is now Ethiopia.” 105

The paternal line can be traced back to the “Y chromosome Adam” who lived in Africa 60.000- 80.000 years ago and a “Mitochondrial Eve” who lived in Africa 150.000 – 200.000 years ago.106 They were not the only male and female living during these periods, but they are the only ones who have offspring living until the present day. In this we see the universalist vision that everyone is related, which makes siblinghood or kinship the primary identity. AfricanDNA is able to refer to a human brotherhood because their primary focus is to enlighten Africans on the heritage they have lost during the Middle Passage. There is an important difference in people trying to find details on their family history that have been lost over the years, and people whose ancestry has been taken from them in the Middle Passage.

102 Nordgren and Juengst. “Can Genomics Tell Me Who I Am?,” 164. 103 Ibidem, 162. 104 Lauren Leve, “Identity,” Current Anthropology 52 (2011): 531. 105 “Historical overview,” AfricanDNA, accessed on June 24, 2016, https://www.africandna.com/history.aspx. 106 Nordgren, “The Rhetoric Appeal,” 478.

28 The first will probably try to find exciting details about their family history, such as a famous ancestry, while the latter will want to learn more about their ancestors than the simple fact of them being African. With the idea of a human brotherhood in mind, a Global Family Reunion was organized in the summer of 2015, to which you, me and all other seven billion members of the human family were invited. In his TED talk on this subject, journalist and lecturer A.J. Jacobs mocks the idea of being related to famous celebrities. He gives the example of his “cousin’ president Barack Obama, who is his ‘aunt’s fifth great aunt’s husband’s father’s wife’s seventh great nephew.” However, he enlightens his audience on reasons why he considers this science to be of importance: 1. It has scientific value for it can help research heritable diseases and migration patterns. 2. It brings history alive; Albert Einstein is not only the weird guy with the white hair, but uncle Albert! 3. It gives a sense of interconnectedness because everyone is related through Y chromosome Adam and Mitochondrial Eve. This could potentially lead to a kinder world, as Jacobs believes the bias to treat your family better than strangers has now become impossible: we are all related. And last but not least 5: it has a democratizing effect. While some genealogy has an elitist strain, this has become difficult to maintain because everybody is related. Jacobs states: “The more inclusive the idea of family is, you have more potential caretakers.”107 Since the cause of the event was to fight Alzheimer’s disease, using the rhetoric of a human brotherhood has been a very clever move. Since DTC DNA ancestry tests start selling at $ 100, not everybody is able to participate in this expensive hype. People who are able to purchase a test can claim that they are related to Cleopatra, while others do not have the results of a DTC ancestry test to back such claims. This indicates that contrary to Jacobs’ statement, this form of genealogical research does have an elitist strain. Moreover, DTC DNA ancestry testing is indeed based on the idea that everybody is related, but this science also shows that there are genetic differences between ethnic groups. This could lead to a new discriminatory era, rather than a more inclusive idea of family.

Family Romance The Global Family Reunion and several DTC DNA ancestry websites rely heavily on the Freudian notion of Family Romance. This concept is a deep-seated wish formed in childhood

107 “TED: the world’s largest family reunion… and you’re invited!” A.J. Jacobs, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://ajjacobs.com.

29 to become a member of a highly idealized family.108 In this fantasy the humble people presumed to be our parents are merely our adoptive parents and our biological parents stem from aristocratic and royal families. These adoption fantasies are a step in a child’s process of developing an independent identity, which Freud considered to be a healthy and common phenomenon. For example, Rachel Dolezal refers to her childhood family romance: “I would have these imaginary scenarios in my mind where I was really a princess in Egypt and [my parents] kidnapped and adopted me. I had this thing about just making it through this childhood and then I’ll be OK.” Her account further shows that DNA has the ability to prolong the childhood family romance into adolescence: "I haven't had a DNA test, there's been no biological proof that Larry and Ruthanne [Dolezal] are my biological parents." The popularity of DTC DNA ancestry testing indicates that other adolescents share this desire to be related to a certain idealized person or group. Even Henry Louis Gates Jr. admits he had fantasies about his heritage:

“I even allowed myself to dream about learning the name of the very tribe we had come from in Africa. (I have to confess to certain delusions of grandeur: I was hoping that we were descended from African chiefs, not just any old Africans! And who wouldn’t want to be? If not an African chief, then most certainly an Indian chief!)”109

DTC DNA ancestry testing can make childhood dreams a reality, and aid in developing a new personal identity independent of the narrative identity better fit for a globalized society. DTC DNA ancestry companies promise to uncover ones ties to royalty and legendary figures. For example, the DNA Ancestry Project states on its website: “Using revolutionary DNA analysis, find out how you are related to Marie Antoinette – one of the most illustrious women in European history.” Even if connecting to this notorious woman is not deemed satisfactory, customers are urged to check back often as “more famous figures are frequently added.”110 When companies do not offer these specific tests, their websites do flirt with the idea that everyone could be connected to a historically notable figure. Ancestry.com’s homepage features Kyle, who states: “who knew a kid from Queens was descended from royalty?” If this next-door neighbor type is related to royalty, why can’t you? Scientists have branded these tests linking people to notable historical figures or societies as ‘meaningless.’ The statements ancestry companies make about being related to famous people are aimed at the individual, while they are general enough to resonate with a

108 Edward Erwin, The Freud Encyclopedia: Theory, Therapy, and Culture, (New York: Routledge, 2002), 187. 109 Henry Louis Gates Jr., Finding Oprah’s Roots: Finding Your Own (New York, Crown Publishers, 2007), 22- 23. 110 “What’s New,” DNA Ancestry Project, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.dnaancestryproject.com.

30 large number of people. Geneticist Mark Thomas has likened this phenomenon and the psychological Forer effect: the observation that individuals tend to believe that descriptions about their personality are tailor made, while they are actually vague enough to apply to a vast array of people. This effect is used to explain the attraction to pseudo-sciences such as astrology, palm reading and fortune telling, which have scientifically been proven to be poor measures of personality assessments. But why hasn’t this stopped people from seeking guidance from these pseudo-sciences? Forer’s explanation was that people are simply gullible. Contemporary psychologists offer a more nuanced view and include wishful thinking, sanguineness, vanity and a general human tendency to make sense out of personal experience. In doing so, clients link their belief in the truth of a psychic’s claim to their desire that such a claim be true, instead of evidence on behalf of the claim, especially if the claim is self-flattering.111 Thomas further argues that companies do not substantiate their tests with published scientific research and coined the tests in the ancestry industry as ‘genetic astrology.’112 A strategy closely linked to the idea of family romance commonly used by DTC DNA ancestry companies is attracting customers by flaunting celebrities that have taken a DNA ancestry test provided by the company in question. In this way, ancestry companies appeal to consumers who are less motivated or less capable to carefully read advertisements. They appeal to simple heuristics, such as ‘I agree with people I like,’ and ‘the quality of a product is established by the amount of people buying it.’113 For example, Africanancestry.com has added a ‘Wall of return’ to their testimonials section on the website. This wall consists of nine different categories, ranging from famous musicians to political leaders, showing the African roots of these prominent Americans.114 Every potential customer browsing the website to uncover his or her African roots is bound to identify with one of these celebrities, increasing the chances that this customer will buy an ancestry test from that specific website. This all

111 M. Andrew Holowchak, Critical Reasoning and Science: Looking at Science with an Investigative Eye (Maryland: University Press of America, 2007), 267. 112 Mark Thomas, “To claim someone has 'Viking ancestors' is no better than astrology,” The Guardian, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2013/feb/25/viking-ancestors-astrology. 113 Renske van Enschot - van Dijk, “Retoriek in reclame, waardering voor schema’s en tropen in tekst en beeld,” (PhD diss. Radbout Universiteit Nijmegen, 2006), 9-10: In advertisement people can employ three different processing strategies when confronted with an advertisement: the systematic, heuristic and experiential strategy. The first strategy entails that people carefully read an advertisement and compare this information to their existing knowledge on the subject. The second strategy is used by people who are less motivated or less capable of processing an advertisement and in the third strategy an opinion is formed about the commercial by evoking positive or negative feelings when reading the advertisement. These sentiments are then connected to a judgement about the product and the brand. 114 “See what others are saying about African Ancestry,” African Ancestry, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.africanancestry.com/testimonials/.

31 under the pretext: ‘if the test was good enough for Oprah Winfrey, it must be good enough for me.’

Pudd’nhead Wilson DTC DNA ancestry companies all utilize imagery that corroborate their claims of providing scientific evidence. Ten out of the seventeen consulted websites have incorporated either a DNA helix or an image of a chromosome in their company logos. These subtle images link DTC DNA testing to science, convincing customers they are dealing with a scientific institutions which will deliver factual evidence. Popular American television series such as Crime Scene Investigation and Bones only strengthen this idea. In these series scientific procedures are able to solve every crime and catch every offender. Even Henry Louis Gates Jr. links the science of the DTC DNA industry to these shows by stating that “The process is a bit like matching fingerprints on CSI.”115 The fingerprint is a very powerful identity symbol, and just as DTC DNA ancestry testing, this was once a new and strange science. When Mark Twain wrote his novels Life on the Mississippi (1883) and The tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894), this science was yet to be developed fully. Nonetheless, Twain used fingerprinting in both novels to solve a murder case and to settle a court trail. In The tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson Twain described the fingerprint as a stable factor through time, making a case for the fingerprint to serve as a scientific identity:

“Every human being carries with him from his cradle to his grave certain physical marks which do not change their character, and by which he can always be identified—and that without shade of doubt or question. These marks are his signature, his physiological autograph, so to speak, and this autograph cannot be counterfeited, nor can he disguise it or hide it away, nor can it become illegible by the wear and the mutations of time. This signature is not his face—age can change that beyond recognition; it is not his hair, for that can fall out; it is not his height, for duplicates of that exist; it is not his form, for duplicates of that exist, also, whereas this signature is each man's very own—there is no duplicate of it among the swarming populations of the globe!”116

We see that Twain’s plea resembles much the rhetoric of the DTC DNA ancestry companies, arguing that this scientific identity can be found in the self. Furthermore, Pudd’nhead Wilson exposes the difficult relationship between heritage and identity. The book tells the story of a slave who switched her baby boy for her master baby to keep him safe in racially divided America. The slave’s son is only 1/32 black and is able to pass for white. In the late nineteenth century the one-drop rule was still in full effect

115 “History,” African DNA, accessed on June 24, 2016, https://www.africandna.com/history.aspx. 116 Mark Twain, The tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson (New York: Charles L. Webster & Company 1894), 108.

32 and crossing the colorline a taboo. Interestingly, the current DTC DNA ancestry vogue also evokes the one-drop rule, only to argue that once your DNA shows a certain percentage of ethnicity, you can immediately claim to be part of this group. While for a long period of time claiming a certain ancestry was unthinkable, we are currently witnessing a burning desire to highlight ancestral roots.

Limits of DTC DNA Ancestry Testing The DTC DNA ancestry industry turns to rather old and oversimplified notions of the role of genes in human psychology in order to sell their products. Genomics itself has shown that DNA is no longer the ‘master-molecule’ in human biology. For example, it has been discovered that humans have about the same amount of genes as mice – 25.000 – unlike the 100.000 scientists had expected. What distinguishes human genes from other organisms is their ability to multi-task: these multi-tasking genes are able to produce a much greater variety of proteins. These findings underscore that our genes are not stable factors through time, but rather variable as cells can operate different functional genomes throughout our lives.117 Furthermore, much about DNA remains a mystery: approximately 95 percent of the human genome was considered to be ‘Junk DNA,’ as its functions have had not yet been established. Only recently it has been discovered that at least 80 percent of this DNA is active and needed.118 Christine Hauskeller has remarked that any insights we attempt to draw from the complexity of DNA will be as much “projections on nature” as other socially constructed frames we have traditionally used for self-identification.119 Mark Thomas has also warned not to read too much meaning in the results of DNA ancestry tests. According to him, speculations made by the DTC DNA industry when connecting people to a certain ethnic group almost invariably come from the “murky world of interpretative phylogeography.” This approach to reading our genetic history is easily steered by subjective biases and has never been scientifically shown to work.120 He explains that there are different sections of DNA we have inherited from different ancestors over time. But the number of ancestors doubles with every generation, meaning that you have more ancestors than DNA sections. Furthermore, he points out that around 3.500 years ago someone lived who is the common ancestor of everybody living today.

117 Nordgren and Juengst. “Can Genomics Tell Me Who I Am?,” 163-164. 118 Gina Kolata, “Bits of Mystery DNA, Far From ‘Junk,’ Play Crucial Role,” The New York Times, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/science/far-from-junk-dna-dark-matter-proves-crucial-to- health.html?_r=1. 119 Nordgren and Juengst. “Can Genomics Tell Me Who I Am?,” 164. 120 Thomas, “To claim someone has 'Viking ancestors' is no better than astrology.”

33 Thomas is not the only scholar voicing criticism towards the DTC DNA ancestry industry. Publications have been printed with clever titles such as Romancing the Gene: making myth from ‘hard science’ by Elizabeth C. Hirschman and Donald Panther-Yates, Genetic essentialism: On the Deceptive Determinism of DNA by Ilan Dar-Nimrod and Steven Heine, and of course Can Genomics tell me who I am? Essentialist rhetoric in Direct-to- Consumer DNA testing by Nordgren and Juengst. All of these authors go against the claims of the DTC DNA ancestry companies that their tests determine a person’s identity. These publications do not only appear in academic journals, but are also printed in popular media outlets such as the Guardian. This muckraking journalism is all around us, but seems to be disregarded by the majority of the consumers. Perhaps Forer was right in claiming the public is simply gullible? We have seen that the haplogroups people are assigned to after taking an Y chromosome or mitochondrial DNA tests do not represent a specific tribe, people or population. Furthermore, these tests only look at one line of descent out of all the people who have contributed to our genetic make-up. Even autosomal test results can be misinterpreted, since many potential ancestral patterns may be consistent with a particular result.121 For example, an individual whose genetic make-up consists of 75 percent West African roots and 25 percent Western European ancestry could have three grandparents from West Africa and one from Western Europe, or all grandparents could originate from East Africa.122 The statistics are inconclusive and can easily be prone to misinterpretation. Moreover, the 75 percent of African ancestry is based on a collection of samples from people who have been coined representatives of that group. This means that you are not told what ethnicity you are, but how similar you are to people in the database. If you change this database, you change your results.123 Since DNA testing is associated with the ‘objectivity’ of science and the ‘naturalness’ of biology, it is very difficult to question DTC DNA ancestry testing. The American public is told that their identity has already been determined by nature: they only have to look for it in their DNA. The ‘factual’ evidence provided by the DNA tests is often inconsistent with the narrative identity, which raises questions about how to weigh this genetic information against

121 Nordgren and Juengst. “Can Genomics Tell Me Who I Am?,” 168. 122 M. D. Shriver, and R.A Kittles, “Genetic ancestry and the search for personalized genetic histories,” Nature Reviews Genetics 5 (2004), 615. 123 Rebecca Skloot, “Putting the GENE Back in Genealogy,” Popular Science, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2003-12/putting-gene-back-genealogy.

34 historical evidence.124 Consumers are easily prone to believe that genetic information trumps historical evidence, since the scientists responsible for the DNA ancestry tests believe that historical evidence will only temper with the factual DNA evidence, rather than correct or enrich it. Histories that do not coincide with the scientific findings are dismissed or reinterpreted to fit the evidence provided by the DNA test.125 It is a troubling thought that DNA can alter history simply because people take this science for fact. Although the DTC DNA industry seemingly contributes to a more inclusive and multicultural society, it appears to enforce old racial categorization we have seen in early U.S. censuses. When sociologist Samuel M. Richards gave his students at Pennsylvania State University a genetic ancestry test to determine that socially constructed racial categories are inaccurate, he found that the results actually reinforce racial categories.126 Dr. Richards explained: “Before, it was, ‘I’m white because I have white skin and grew up in white culture, now it’s, ‘I really know I’m white, so white is this big neon sign hanging over my head.’ It’s like, oh, no, come on. That wasn’t the point.” The scientific community has warned that the long-discredited notion of race will be embedded in society once more when new evidence is brought to light that indicates that there are indeed differences between people of different ethnicities. These developments might even spark a new a new era of racism if not explained more carefully.127 By dividing people into ethnic groups resembling racial categories, these companies -perhaps unintended- foreground race as a biological construct rather than a social one. Some companies such as DNA Tribes do acknowledge that race is a social construct and that identity is formed by more than just DNA results:

“Identity is a complex construct defined by a very personal combination history, geography, and culture. While a DNA test alone cannot define a person's identity, results from our analysis can provide important clues to your ancestral origins within major world regions and individual ethnic groups. Alongside genealogical, historical and cultural information, our analysis can contribute another important piece to the puzzle of your personal identity.”128

The website appears to take a stand against other DNA companies who use non-scientific racial categories by defining the world using “objective mathematical criteria.” However, most of these regions correspond to cultural or linguistic groups, groups we often refer to as

124 Stevens, “Genetimes and Lifetimes,” 10. 125 Ibidem, 11. 126 Amy Harmon, “In DNA Era, New Worries About Prejudice,” The New York Times, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/us/11dna.html?_r=0. 127 Ibidem. 128 “FAQ,” DNA Tribes, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.dnatribes.com/faq.php.

35 ethnic groups.129 We can see that DTC DNA ancestry companies struggle not to tumble into the pitfalls of outdated worldviews, but are rarely able to do so due to the highly competitive nature of this industry. Companies must advertise to gain visibility in a field filled with companies that share the same objective. These companies utilize myths to appeal to their customers. But there is an interesting chicken and egg here: do these companies draw on the melting pot because they need a myth to cling to, and is the melting pot available and resonant? Or is it somehow the other way around? DTC DNA ancestry companies try to convince the American public to buy their tests by promising fundamental insights into ones identity. They link the existing narrative identity, i.e. family lore, to the ‘scientific identity.’ Although many companies acknowledge that DNA technology is still evolving and that the results presented today may be cast in a new light in the future, people seem to think that science is all of a sudden trustworthy. However, DNA ancestry test results are mere interpretations of results instead of scientific conclusions.130 Sociologist Troy Duster stated in the New York Times that he fears marketing is coming before science and warns that life-changing decisions are being made based on these tests, while many may not be aware of the limitations of these tests and “they [companies] may have a financial incentive to tell people what they want to hear.”131 Moreover, even when companies do make a genuine attempt to conduct an objective DNA test, the interests of the subject will always frame the test. For example, people who believe they have an African Ancestry will be the predominant purchasers of tests regarding African Ancestry.132 Dr. Richards gives an example of a life-changing decision based on the results of a DTC DNA ancestry test. A white-skinned student was told she was nine percent West African. She went to a Kwanzaa celebration, but would not dream of going to an Asian cultural event because her DNA did not match.133 Although the student in question might be enthusiastic about embracing this newfound ethnicity, existing members of the group might consider her actions to be cultural appropriation. This sociological concept sees the adaptation or use of elements of one culture by members of a different culture to be a negative phenomenon. DNA ancestry companies consider even the smallest percentage of a certain ethnicity to be a determining factor in creating your identity. For example, TribeCode urges

129 Nordgren and Juengst. “Can Genomics Tell Me Who I Am?” 158. 130 Nordgren, “The Rhetoric Appeal,” 475. 131 Ron Nixon, “DNA Tests Find Branches but Few Roots,” The New York Times, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/business/25dna.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0. 132 Nordgren and Juengst. “Can Genomics Tell Me Who I Am?,” 169. 133 “In DNA Era, New Worries About Prejudice,” The New York Times, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/us/11dna.html?_r=0.

36 people to “Celebrate Your Jewish Ancestry” and asks rhetorical questions such as “Are you Jewish? Suspect that you have Jewish Roots?”134 The company can determine the percentage of Jewish ancestry, and implies that if the percentage turns out to be over zero percent, you get a free pass to participate in all elements of Jewish culture. Bioethicists have warned about the psychological damage that can accompany these scientific results. If these results show that a person holds zero percent of a particular ancestry previously assumed to be part of someone’s ancestry, the customer can interpret these results as absolute proof that his narrative ancestry is incorrect. However, genetic variants used in these tests can be found in more than one population, which makes the distinction only probabilistic.135 Furthermore, there is not always a genetic equivalent between socially constructed perceptions of race and genetic groupings as only four general groups are used when categorizing results.136 When companies endow genes with the ability to create individual and group characteristics, the results leave the realm of science and become ‘genetic astrology.’ Furthermore, when we start framing genes as being either a solution or a problem, eugenic policies and genetic engineering may witness a revival.137 These practices of unearthing family secrets have a significant influence how the self and the ancestor is perceived: we are not only changing our own identities, but also those of our grandparents. This reminds us of the strange practice of converting deceased ancestors, as is done by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In the name of the living, the dead are baptized postmortem, without disturbing the mortal remains of the diseased. Many DTC DNA ancestry companies include disclaimers on their websites in which they distance themselves from claims made on their sites as well as the quality of the results and how these are interpreted: “In addition, we do not make any representations as to the accuracy, comprehensiveness, completeness, quality, currency, error-free nature, compatibility, security or fitness for purpose of the Website, Content or Service.”138 The DTC DNA ancestry industry seems to be a Darwinian marketplace: only companies with strong and convincing rhetoric are able to outlive their fierce competitors. This is why advertisement has become an essential element for DTC DNA ancestry websites. Because there are so many website offering the same product, companies have to manifest themselves in ways that the

134 “Why TribeCode,” TribeCode, accessed on June 24, 2016, https://www.tribecode.com/why-tribecode/. 135 Wagner, “Interpreting the Implications of DNA Ancestry Tests,” 242. 136 Anita Foeman, Bessie Lee Lawton and Randall Rieger, “Questioning Race: Ancestry DNA and Dialog on Race,” Communication Monographs 82 (2015): 273. 137 Ilan Dar-Nimrod and Steven J. Heine, “Genetic Essentialism: On the Deceptive Determinism of DNA,” Psychol Bul 137 (2011): 24-25. 138 “Ancestry Terms and Conditions,” Ancestry.com, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.ancestry.com/cs/legal/termsandconditions.

37 customers will notice them. During the holiday season 23andMe adds popped up on multiple websites: “Ever wonder where Rudolf got his red nose?” During this season there were even Holiday Sales on several DTC DNA ancestry websites and people were encouraged to give a DNA test to their loved ones for Christmas. The competitive nature of this industry can be seen as a factor why these companies turn to inflated rhetoric to sell their products. This chapter has unveiled one of the paradoxes of the DTC DNA ancestry industry: these companies base their tests on science that indicates that everybody is related, but present their customers a ‘unique’ set of ancestors to identify with. Scientists have estimated that people living 5.000 years ago are ancestors related to all people today: at that point in history we all share the exact same set of ancestors.139 Furthermore, geneticists have stated that no two people on this Earth are further removed than 100th cousins. This science enables DNA ancestry companies to make grand claims of famous ancestry, it is just a matter of how far in the past one has to dig. Just as the general claims made by horoscopes, the proclamations of the DTC DNA ancestry industry are general enough to speak to a great number of people. We have seen that DNA could lead us towards a more inclusive and accepting society for it shows that everyone is connected through the core of our existence: our DNA. Although the Global Family Reunion might mock the idea of this human brotherhood, it does suggest the important idea that we could be kinder to strangers once we learn that we are all part of the same family. However, the DTC DNA ancestry testing industry could turn out to be a highly disruptive force in American society due to its misleading cover of an objective science. The combination of genetic testing services and new media have given this industry great momentum, further enhancing its credibility as a trustworthy medium, while the scientists have coined these tests genetic astrology. The following chapter will look into an important media outlet of DTC DNA ancestry testing: the television series Finding Your Roots.

139 Thomas, “To claim someone has 'Viking ancestors.”

38 Chapter III – Reversing the Middle Passage

The 1976 book Roots by Alex Haley is part of the genealogy craze that swept the nation during the white ethnic revival. Roots tells the story of Kunta Kinte, an eighteenth century African who was brought to America to be sold as a slave. The book follows his life and the lives of his descendants down to Haley himself. This hugely popular book shared with all Americans the emotional and intellectual rewards that can come when discovering the identity of your ancestors.140 Roots unveils the important difference we have to make between offspring of European immigrants and the children of Africans who were brought to America as part of the slave trade. In other words, voluntary versus involuntary migration. The Middle Passage has served as a historical break, severing the ties of millions of Africans with their home land. These people were stripped of their history, their family ties and their cultural and linguistic identities.141 We think of Malcom X’s often quoted phrase “We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Rock landed on us!” He had turned to these words to capture the oppression of African Americans and their struggle against this oppression. For most white Americans, Plymouth Rock is an inspiring symbol of American mythology. For most non-whites, it is an equally powerful negative symbol.142 Upon arrival in America the slaves no longer belonged to a specific tribe or region, but were simply coined ‘Africans.’ This puts the African- American search for historical roots in a different perspective, with DTC DNA ancestry tests serving as a tool for return migration. Henry Louis Gates Jr. has become the face of this quest for African return migration and is best known for his research tracing the family and genetic history of famous African- Americans. Gates is a self-proclaimed Roots fan:

“You can say I had a severe case of "Roots" envy. I wanted to be like Alex Haley, and I wanted to be able to trace my - do my family tree back to the slave ship and then reverse the Middle Passage, as I like to put it, and find the tribe or ethnic group that I was from in Africa.”143

140 Gregory Rodriguez, “How Genealogy Became Almost as Popular as Porn,” Time Magazine, http://time.com/133811/how-genealogy-became-almost-as-popular-as-porn/. 141 Henry Louis Gates Jr. Finding Oprah’s Roots: Finding Your Own (New York, Crown Publishers, 2007), 21. 142 Akbar Ahmed, Journey into America: the Challenge of Islam (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press 2010), 42. 143 Henry Louis Gates Jr. Interviewed by Neal Conan, Talk of the Nation, NPR, May 8, 2012, http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=152273032. (Emphasis added)

39 In 2000, geneticist Rick Kittles from Howard University made Gates’ fantasy come true by saying that he “could do Alex Haley one better. He could do Alex Haley in a test tube.” Gates took Kittles up on his offer, and received results that indicated that his ancestors originated from Africa, specifically the Nubian ethnic group. However, when Gates took a second test five years later, the results were very different: his maternal ancestors were most likely European. Gates concluded that Dr. Kittles had never told him about the multiple genetic matches that were found in his DNA because “They told me what they thought I wanted to hear.”144 Dr. Kittles himself has explained this mishap as a result of having a very poor European database. Computer scientist Keith J. Winstein has written in The Wall Street Journal that some geneticists have claimed that DTC DNA ancestry companies are more interested in giving satisfying answers than properly explaining the uncertain nature of the results. He gives the example of Bert Ely – a geneticist at the University of South Carolina who is not affiliated with any genealogy company – who has argued that if a customer’s DNA has multiple matches, the scientifically appropriate response is to tell the customer about every match. Listing only a few matches to make the results appear more precise than they really are "would be cheating," says Peter Forster, the British geneticist who correctly traced Dr. Gates to Europe.145 Although Gates’ initial DNA results turned out to be false, they did launch Gates on a quest to help other people find their roots:

“(…) right after Rick gave me my results, I got up in the middle of the night, and it was almost as if I had a gift from God, an idea, which is that I could take eight prominent African-Americans, initially, I would do their family tree back to slavery, and then when the paper trail ended, I would do their DNA to see where they were from in Africa.”146

This ‘divine intervention’ resulted in the PBS series African American Lives (2006) starring amongst others Oprah Winfrey and Quincy Jones. When the series had aired, Gates received many questions to how people could do their own genealogical research. Gates decided to produce and host the PBS documentary Oprah’s Roots to answer these pressing issues, and write a book as a guide for people longing to do some genealogical digging of their own by looking at the family history of one of the world’s most famous black Americans: Oprah Winfrey. Gates had chosen Winfrey because she’s “sui generis” [Latin: of its (his, her, or their) own kind; in a class by itself; unique]. He

144 Nixon, “DNA Tests Find Branches but Few Roots.” 145 Keith J. Winstein, “Harvard's Gates Refines Genetic-Ancestry Searches for Blacks Scholar Founds a Firm After DNA Tracer Put Forebear in Wrong Place,” The Wall Street Journal, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB119509026198193566. 146 Henry Louis Gates Jr. Interviewed by Neal Conan.

40 believes she appeals to every human being: black, white and just about every other shade of people and to males as well as females.147 He describes her as a person with a rare capacity for empathy and communication. Perhaps Gates has chosen Oprah’s story for it shows that the horrific slave past is not something that will necessarily hold you down. Winfrey’s family has endured much suffering, but Oprah has been able to embrace this history and rise above and beyond. In this way, Oprah has come to play some sort of a therapeutic role in the African Americans road to restoring continuity to a broken past. A large part of Finding Oprah’s Roots is dedicated to genealogical research into the lives of Winfrey’s ancestors. One of the last chapters of the book enlightens the reader on DNA ancestry testing and how this method has helped tracing Winfrey’s ancestry back to the Kpelle people, who still live in the rainforests of central Liberia. Beforehand, Oprah believed she was connected to the Zulu tribe, originating from southeast Africa. Although she had now learned that she was not connected to this tribe through DNA, she still feels that, spiritually, she is fundamentally related to the Zulu people. Gates argues that he considers this to be a very healthy way to think about our putative African or European ancestry: “(…) Oprah Winfrey has nothing to do with the Zulu people genetically. But she feels connected to the Zulu, and she is entitled to do so.”148 This sounds strangely familiar to the rhetoric of Freud when talking about Family Romance. We wonder if Gates believes that everyone is entitled to feel connected to a certain people, the way Rachel Dolezal feels connected to black Americans. Would Gates consider this to be a healthy phenomenon or would this be a case of cultural appropriation? When discussing DTC DNA ancestry testing, Gates belittles the costs that accompany the quest to find out more about your ancestry, comparing the costs to the price tag of an expensive pair of tennis shoes. Although he realizes that the costs of a DNA ancestry test will be a significant obstacle for many, he presses that you should have yourself double tested to be sure of the outcome.149 He is cautious about acclaiming the accuracy of the DNA ancestry tests, but does ascribe some sort of scientific truth to the outcome once two tests have shown similar outcomes. However, Bliss Broyard, author of the memoir One Drop: My Father’s hidden life, a Story of Race and Hidden Family Secrets, had her DNA tested twice at her own request and twice by Gates for his show African American Lives. Every time the results have been different:

147 Gates Jr. Finding Oprah’s Roots, 25. 148 Ibidem, 155-156. 149 Ibidem, 146.

41 “The first time I had no evidence of any sub-Saharan ancestry, much to the horror of my literary agent who had secured me a contract to write about my father’s racial passing; it climbed to 13% during a retest. During my appearance on Gates’s show, it was all the way up to 18.9%, which had him joking that I was getting blacker by the year; then, during a recent retest requested by Gates after further refinement of the science, it was down to 5.7%.”150

Broyard’s father, literary critic Anatole Broyard, had crossed the color line and had passed as white until his death in 1990. It was only after he died that his mixed racial lineage was made known. Bliss Broyard found a close confidant in Gates when going over her father’s passing, and appreciated Gates for being generous with his time and interest. But she found that Gates planned to write the Broyard story for the New Yorker, and was outraged for being manipulated. Years later she stated that her biggest fear was that Gates, a stranger who had never met her father, would understand him better than she could. Nonetheless, Broyard sharply criticizes Gates for his tactics, his glibness and the harm that she feels his article inflicted on her family.151 The same year Gates published Finding Oprah’s Roots, he launched the website AfricanDNA in collaboration with FamilyTreeDNA. On the website we find the same simple heuristics we have seen in the rhetoric of other DNA ancestry companies, appealing to the notions ‘I agree with people I like,’ by referring to celebrity Americans. We read a statement by Gates: “Receiving the results in the mail (…) is one of the most exciting experiences an African-American can have. I know it has been for me, and for my friends such as Oprah Winfrey and Chris Tucker.”152 Beyond this name-dropping, Gates presents a DNA test as a pivotal moment in the life of an African American. Again we encounter the claim that everything will be different when receiving the results of a DNA test. The creeping feeling that this venture might just be another commercial DTC DNA ancestry company in search of profit is enhanced by the fact that in addition to selling DTC DNA ancestry tests, the website provides additional reading material on the subject, all written by Gates.

Finding Your Roots The first season of Finding Your Roots was an enormous hit, with an average of 2.5 million viewers per episode, which is 29 percent higher than the PBS primetime average.153

150 Janet Maslin, “A Daughter on Her Father’s Bloodlines and Color Lines,” The New York Times, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/books/27masl.html?_r=0/. (Emphasis added) 151 Ibidem. 152 “Historical overview,” AfricanDNA. 153 “PBS series American Masters and Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. reach record number of viewers,” Thirteen, media with impact, accessed on June 24, 2016,

42 Gates has mentioned that he maintains editorial control over all his projects and that he decides, along with his producers, which information will be featured on the show. I therefore assume that the rhetoric we find in this show is inherent to the rhetoric of Gates. The past three seasons of Finding Your Roots dealt with the ancestry of eighty American celebrities, varying from people like presidential adviser Valerie Jarett and actor Neil Patrick Harris. These guests have been grouped according to themes, such as Born Champions, which focuses on the heritage of accomplished athletes and The Melting Pot, which deals with the ancestry of three famous chefs. In the latter episode, Gates’ account indicates that immigrants gave shaped America’s food culture by passing on recipes from generation to generation. He argues that food has the ability to unite people, bridging cultures for generations and wonders if that is why people have coined America the melting pot. In other words, the melting pot has been able to unite the American peoples, and still does. Gates invites celebrity athletes, chefs, actors and politicians to appear on Finding Your Roots. Their involvement has credited the show great momentum, encouraging people to purchase their own (DNA) ancestry test. The credibility of DTC DNA ancestry testing is further strengthened by Gates’ status as a Harvard professor. We have seen that the scientific backdrop of DTC DNA ancestry testing makes it difficult to question the reliability of these tests and together with prominent Americans acclaiming the workings of DTC DNA ancestry testing, Americans are bound to believe that DNA ancestry tests can provide them fundamental information about their identity. Essentially, the audience is told that being an American is no longer enough: only once you find the hyphen within yourself you are truly complete. In the closing statements of nearly every episode, Gates states that his guests “[Now have] a fuller sense of who they are (…) they all close their books of life with a much fuller idea of the ancestors from who they descended, and with that, a clear sense of who they are today. (…) I hope you'll watch these riveting stories, which re-tell the story of America in the most surprisingly personal ways.” By broadcasting on national television that DTC DNA ancestry tests are the ultimate mode of self knowledge, Gates has people doubting their existing identity. American logician Charles S. Peirce’s account of the fixation of belief indicates that persistent irritation of doubt is the only immediate motive for the struggle to attain a state of belief. He has described this struggle as a search of which the only objective is to settle

http://www.thirteen.org/13pressroom/company-news/pbs-series-american-masters-and-finding-your-roots-with- henry-louis-gates-jr-reach-record-number-of-viewers/.

43 opinion and “free ourselves from the uneasy and dissatisfied state of doubt.”154 Peirce argues that the process towards belief makes us reject every belief that has not been formed as to insure the final result. After arriving in the calm and soothing state of belief – whether this belief is true or false – it will be extremely difficult to bring a person back to a state of doubt.155 The DTC DNA ancestry industry and Henry Louis Gates Jr. have been responsible for evoking such a doubt, with the only solution being the purchase of a DNA ancestry test. These DNA tests provide scientific proof of ones ancestry, leading people into a soothing and comforting state of belief. In many cases, the narrative identity no longer fits, and is dismissed for it can only threaten this newly arrived stage of belief. The reactions of Gates’ guests when receiving the results of their DNA ancestry tests indicate that the narrative identity is easily replaced by the newfound scientific identity. When political scientist and diplomat Condoleeza Rice learned about her connection to the Tika tribe in Cameroon she exclaimed: “This makes me want to go to Cameroon, meet my people.” Similarly, President of Brown University Ruth Simmons cried “I’m going home!” upon learning that she was connected to the Kota tribe in Gabon. 156 Gates’ agrees that DNA results link people to a specific tribe or group – “If I were you, I would get on a plane to Cameroon” – but nuances this view by stating that perhaps people are most shaped by the shared experiences of our immediate families and community. All in all, these reactions substantiate the idea that DTC DNA ancestry testing is an absolute science. More importantly, we once again revisit the ‘everything has changed’ rhetoric, which we earlier encountered in the rhetoric of the DTC DNA ancestry industry. The series emphasizes the idea of a nation of immigrants by arguing that every immigrant arriving today contributes something new to what it means to be an American. American author, radio and TV host Linda Chavez stated that she had always thought that the story of America was the story of peoples coming there from all different parts of the world. From her point of view, America had become a great and strong country precisely because of this mixing of peoples, as these individuals bring bits and pieces of many other traditions to the existing culture. Chavez’s conception of America as a melting pot is shared by Gates, as he further argues that America’s history is not only shaped by great events but also by the smallest details of our ancestors’ lives: “we are the product of history.”157

154 Charles S. Peirce, “The Fixation of Belief,” Popular Science Monthly 12 (1877), 15. 155 Ibidem, 18. 156 Finding Your Roots, Season 1, Episode 7: “Samuel L. Jackson, Condoleezza Rice and Ruth Simmons.” 157 Henry Louis Gates Jr., “In Search of Our Fathers,” Huffington Post, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/henry-louis-gates-jr/finding-your-roots-return_b_5868342.html.

44 Although Gates pushes for a hyphenated society in which people become aware of their family history and embrace the different ethnicities and identities that come along with that, he has also proven that heritage remains a sensitive subject in the United States. In April 2015, WikiLeaks published thousands of emails it had obtained when hacking Sony Pictures. One of these e-mails contained the conversations between Gates and Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton. “Megastar” Ben Affleck had reached out to Gates and had asked him to omit information about his slaveholding ancestors from his episode of FYR. Gates wrote “[C]onfidentially, for the first time, one of our guests has asked us to edit out something about one of his ancestors—the fact that he owned slaves. We’ve never had anyone ever try to censor or edit what we found. He’s a megastar. What do we do?” Lyndon recommended that Gates should remove the material “as long as no one [else] knows.” Gates followed this advise and let the episode air without mentioning Affleck’s slaveholding ancestors. Both Affleck and Gates have offered formal apologies, the latter stating that the producers merely focused on more interesting aspects of Affleck’s family history. Due to this incident the third season of Finding Your Roots had been postponed, but eventually aired in January 2016. Another curious aspect of the series is that the second and third seasons have received major corporate support from Ford. Each episode of the series is accompanied by a thirty second clip that looks back at the history of Henry Ford and his “visionary, family owned company.” Ford’s website states that for Gates “one of Henry Ford’s lasting contributions was his willingness to pay a fair wage to African American workers employed in his factories, which led Southern sharecroppers to Detroit as part of the early 20th century’s great migration.”158 – I must note that after World War I Ford became increasingly suspicious of foreign workers, who had grown increasingly interested in unionization. From 1919 onwards, Ford sought out black laborers whom he thought would demonstrate their appreciation through loyalty, reliability, and lack of sympathy for unionization.159 This is probably one of the reasons why Ford was open to hiring African Americans. – The descendants of Ford have moved far away from Henry Ford’s original racism and anti-Semitism, but it is intriguing that a historical program focused on ethnicity features a historical overview of the Ford Motor Company without mentioning Henry Ford’s efforts to assimilate all foreigners to the Anglo-

158 “Ford supports second season of Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on PBS,” Ford, accessed on June 24, 2016, https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2014/09/12/ford-supports-second- season-of-finding-your-roots.html. 159 Sara K. Eskridge, “The Making of Black Detroit in the Age of Henry Ford,” review of The Making of Black Detroit in the Age of Henry Ford, by Beth Tompkins Bates, Essays in History, date unknown, http://www.essaysinhistory.com/review/2013/195.

45 American standard. Especially when one of the commercials states that your roots determine who you are today:

“Just like the roost are the strongest foundation of a tree, your families roots carry the strength that makes you the individual you are today. Seasons may change, but those seasons will never change you. And as you recognize the significance of your history and dig deeper to discover more, we recognize your drive as you go further in finding your roots.”

X+Y= $ We have seen that Gates makes a compelling case for African American return migration as an attempt to restore continuity with the past. However, one could also argue that this concept of reclaiming homelands leads to Genetic Imperialism. Psychologist and philosopher of science Susan Oyama’s account of this phenomenon suggests that the genetic imperialist believes that genes determine the range of possibilities and set limits on development. Genetic Imperialism holds that all development possibilities already exist in genes and that the environment merely selects the outcome. In other words, the environment is dismissed in favor of internal forces within the self.160 This reminds us of the philosophical doctrine Determinism, which argues that all events emerge out of a necessity and are therefore unalterable by the individual. In this we see the importance of naturalness when developing an identity, and the longing to cling to a satisfying state of belief rather than being in an unsettling state of doubt. Oyama states: “A genotype has just those development possibilities that it has, used in this way, the program no longer has an empirical content, but is more like a symbol of ultimate faith. Or it may be only a fancy way of saying that potential is infinite.”161 The innovative DTC DNA industry relies on DNA samples of populations around the globe to make grand claims of interconnectedness. First, these samples were collected to increase understanding of the diversity of the human genome in order to expand the wealth of scientific knowledge relating to disease research. Lawyer Cindy Hamilton argues that this progress has been made at the expense of the indigenous people living in secluded areas, who rarely receive compensation for their contribution. Moreover, many of these people object to the imposition of Western theories of science and medicine for they conflict with their existing traditional spiritual beliefs. This way DNA science has come to act as Bio-

160 Julie Tatel Andresen, Linguistics and Evolution: A Developmental Approach (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2014), 50. 161 Susan Oyama, Evolution’s Eye: A Systems View of the Biology-Culture Divide, (Durham: Duke University Press, 2000), 55.

46 Imperialism, where the dominant Western culture imposes its ideology on the indigenous people.162 Now these DNA sample databases are also used to connect curious Americans to their ‘ancestral tribes.’ In this context, the noble goal of advancing disease research is missing and resources of indigenous people are used by this commercial industry to make million dollar profits. Furthermore, proclamations such as “This makes me want to go to Cameroon, meet my people,” indicate that the hyphenated American has some sort of claim on this area, just because their DNA shares certain genetic markers with the indigenous group. The ancestors belonging to that group are made to be autochthons – persons indigenous to a particular country or region and traditionally supposed to have been born out of the earth, – further strengthening ones claim to an identity, and subsequently a peoples and a land. This means that while DNA health companies imposed the dominant Western culture and ideology on indigenous people, the DNA ancestry industry allows people to claim to be part of the indigenous tradition. More importantly, these people do not only claim to be part of a group, they identify themselves with this group. People who previously had no interest in learning about a culture and history of a land become eager to be educated. This makes us think back to the girl who was told she had nine percent West African DNA and went to a Kwanzaa celebration because of it. The fact that she would not dream of going to an Asian event because her DNA did not match, is a great example of conclusions someone can draw from a DNA test and the claim someone can subsequently make on a culture. The field of epigenetics rejects the idea that we are all controlled by the DNA sequence we inherit from our ancestors. Epigenetics studies DNA as it evolves and looks at the changes in gene expression that are not caused by changes in DNA sequence.163 Physicist Jim Dratwa and scholar Eleonore Pauwels give the example of researchers at UCLA and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who have observed how social isolation affects gene expression and wellbeing. This indicates that our surroundings do not only alter our moods and personalities, but also the functioning of our cells. Dratwa and Pauwels argue that our genetics is much more than “the succession of the letters in the book of life; it is genes in relation and in expression.”164

162 Cindy Hamilton, “The Human Genome Diversity Project and the New Biological Imperialism,” Santa Clara Law Review 41 (2000-2001), 619-620. 163 Jim Dratwa and Eleonore Pauwels, “How identity evolves in the Age of Genetic Imperialism,” Scientific American, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/how-identity-evolves-in- the-age-of-genetic-imperialism/. 164 Ibidem.

47 They believe the same applies for our identities, which they consider to be above all relational and mediated. Jean-Paul Sartre discarded determinist perspectives about human nature more than a century ago: “Man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself.”165 According to Dratwa and Pauwels, this does not only reject the essentialist idea that identity is given by nature and has an unalterable character, but it also rallies against the reductionist interpretation of the interferences between genetics and identity. They conclude that both our genomes and our identities are constantly evolving but state that the DTC DNA ancestry industry chooses to ignore this complexity and clings to the narrative that our genes are endowed with the ability to determine our identity. For without this narrative, these companies would not be able to sell their tests.166 This brings us to the argument that DTC DNA ancestry companies are purely commercial ventures in search of maximizing profits. From this point of view, these companies play into the longing of its customers to have an identity derived from elements within and use a popular myth at hand to let people believe they need a DNA test to uncover these elements. By implying that being an American is no longer sufficient, people are in sudden need of a hyphen to define themselves. This leads to an ever expanding multimillion dollar DNA ancestry industry, with television series such as Finding Your Roots contributing to its popularity. Furthermore, when prominent guests appearing on FYR proclaim that they will now visit their newly discovered homeland, travelling to these countries is portrayed as an essential element of the DTC ancestry experience. There is a growing trend of “heritage travelers:” people who are eager to learn about their ancestral roots by visiting their ancestor’s countries of origin. An example is President Obama, who went back to his father’s village in Kenya in 1987, writing about it in Dreams From My Father. Not surprisingly, companies have surfaced offering to bring people back to their alleged mother country. An example is Family Tree Tours, which offers group heritage tours, private genealogy tours, or independent heritage trips. The website reads “Envision the fullness in your heart as you share photos with family you never knew existed or walk the cobblestoned streets through your ancestors’ village to the church where your great-great-grandfather was married.”167 Laura Galloway has taken the concept of a heritage traveller to a whole new level. She moved to the Artic circle upon learning that on one side, she had a near-100% match with the

165 Jean Paul Sartre, Existentialism, (New York: Philosophical Library, 1947), 18. 166 Dratwa and Pauwels, “How identity evolves.” 167 “Homepage,” Family Tree Tours, accessed on June 24, 2016, http://familytreetours.com.

48 Sami people of the northern tip of Europe. Galloway packed up her things in New York and moved to Kautokeino to study the Sami language: “For me, the result of finding my origin through science was life-changing, and I believe the impact of this newly available testing has resonance for just about everyone, everywhere, and will have profound ramifications for cultures and societies around the world,” she writes.168

168 “Who Do You Think You Are? Why DNA Travel is a Booming Business,” Yahoo Travel, accessed on June 24, 2016, https://www.yahoo.com/style/who-do-you-think-you-are-dna-travel-is-a-booming-99971713662.html.

49 Conclusion

Both the melting pot symbol and the DTC DNA ancestry vogue show that the American relationship between identity and heritage is complex. These two national myths have tackled the same issue of reconciling the immigration experience with the quest for national unity. At first glance, these myths seem contradictory: while the melting pot envisions a future society in which a new uniform American identity prevails, the DTC DNA ancestry industry seeks to unearth what has entered the crucible in order to add a hyphen to the existing American identity. However, this narrative turns to the melting pot symbol to argue that Americans are a mixture of ethnicities, and that a DNA ancestry test is necessary to come to your true identity. This thesis has established that the melting pot symbol and the DTC DNA ancestry vogue show many similarities, and that the latter could in fact be seen as an extension the first, influenced by the Zeitgeist of the different centuries. The vague rhetoric of both national myths appeals to a large number of Americans. We have seen that the melting pot has been interpreted in various ways, creating a multi- interpretable concept applicable to opposite sides of the immigration debate. One of the key elements of the melting pot symbol is the suggestion that Americans are able to choose their own ancestors. We have seen that the concept of claiming your own ancestors is also central to the DTC DNA ancestry industry, as it implies that the test results you receive will give you the ability to connect to groups outside of your existing narrative identity. It seems likely that people believe such statements because they are eager to remove themselves from an irritating state of doubt, and desire these claims to be true in order to move to a more satisfying state of belief. The grand claims of interconnectedness by the DTC DNA ancestry industry are likewise vague enough to apply to a vast number of people and has led several scientists to denounce this science as ‘genetic astrology.’ These grand claims resemble statements made by horoscopes and palm readings, which lead people to believe that descriptions about their personality are tailor made. The ability to choose your own ancestors reveals the paradox of the DTC DNA ancestry industry. The DNA tests are based on the principle that all humans are connected through DNA, but these companies use this science to make grand claims about personal identities. Strangely, these websites do not encourage to create a human brotherhood, but suggest you should only identify with those who display similar mutations in their DNA.

50 People with specific mutations in their DNA are sorted into categories resembling racial groupings, possibly leading to a new discriminatory era. These – perhaps unintended – consequences seem inherent to the science of DNA, as we have seen with the controversial statements of Watson and Crick. Fact is that American society is still hesitant towards accepting people who claim an ethnicity that has not been part of their narrative identity. This has been demonstrated by the case of Rachel Dolezal, who was shunned for identifying as black, rather than identifying with her existing Caucasian ancestry. Although millions of Americans are frantically trying to add a hyphen to their existing identity, being trans-ethnic is still frowned upon. Social Media has proven that people feel the need to connect to people beyond their existing community, and that there is something extraordinary appealing to find that you are not only connected, but even related to a certain celebrity, even if you are a mere 34th cousin. We have seen that Freud’s Family Romance is of importance to the appeal of these DTC DNA ancestry websites and seems intrinsically connected to this narrative. Again, the paradox is that everybody is related, not further removed than a 100th cousin. The DTC DNA ancestry industry has a powerful message: by taking a DNA test you will come to your true self. Surely, the ease with which you can uncover these ties is of importance to the popularity of this practice, and every DTC DNA ancestry company is sure to emphasize the quick and painless procedure. Series such as African American Lives and Finding Your Roots broadcast that being an American without hyphen is no longer satisfactory. Although motives behind these shows might be sincere, they do promote the idea that a DTC DNA ancestry test is the ultimate mode of self-knowledge and that the only way to attain this state of belief is through the purchase of a DNA ancestry test. These series have demonstrated that DTC DNA ancestry tests can result in a return migration: Americans who have been cut of from their ancestry through the Trans-Atlantic slave trade now have the ability to heal the wounds of the past. However, the popularity of this genetic industry indicates that these techniques are not solely used to heal these wounds, but are also used just for fun. The fact that genealogy rates only second to pornography as the most searched topic online indicates that this has ultimately become a popular pass time. The new DNA histories have the ability to affect what is remembered and have a significant set of impacts on identity, community, and nation.169 By dismissing narrative identities and replacing them with pseudo-scientific realities, the DTC DNA ancestry

169 Stevens, “Genetimes and Lifetimes,” 2.

51 companies have the potential to rewrite the past by inviting people to claim a heritage they had previously never been a part of. Although warnings have been given by scientists not to invest too much meaning in these test results, we have seen that this has not withheld the American public from diving head first in this treacherous industry. People alter their identities according to the outcome of these tests, while there is no certainty if these results represent scientific reality. The scientific setting of the DNA ancestry tests provide a legitimacy that pseudo sciences as phrenology can only dream of. All in all, the assessment of both myths unveils a change in the way the American population sees and narrates history. Instead of clinging to old identities, Americans are choosing to affiliate with communities of both descent and non-descent. A trans-racial society has been formed in America, proud to be created through the workings of the melting pot.

Recommendations for further research Although several articles have been written on the DTC DNA ancestry industry, there is still lots of information unavailable to the public. Since these companies are reluctant to disclose corporate information, it is difficult to grasp the actual scope of this industry. Of course this thesis has limitations, not taking into account DTC DNA health companies and only looking at the websites of seventeen DTC DNA ancestry companies. Although this number has been sufficient to draw out general claims and to compare these to the melting pot myth, a larger sample is required to extend these claims and analyze other aspects of the industry in future research. Furthermore, it would be interesting to see if there is indeed a correlation between the melting pot symbol, the DTC DNA ancestry vogue and the immigration history of America, which has been suggested by this thesis.

52 Bibliography

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58 Links to DTC DNA ancestry websites

1. 23andMe. Homepage. Accessed on June 24, 2016. https://www.23andme.com/en-int/. 2. African Ancestry. Homepage. Accessed on June 24, 2016. http://www.africanancestry.com/home/. 3. AfricanDNA. Homepage. Accessed on June 24, 2016. https://www.africandna.com. 4. Ancestry by DNA. Homepage. Accessed on June 24, 2016. https://www.ancestrybydna.com. 5. Ancestry.com. Homepage. Accessed on June 24, 2016. http://www.ancestry.com. 6. Determigene. Homepage. Accessed on June 24, 2016. http://www.determigene.com. 7. DNA Ancestry Project. Homepage. Accessed on June 24, 2016. http://www.dnaancestryproject.com. 8. DNA Consultants. Homepage. Accessed on June 24, 2016. http://www.dnaconsultants.com/default.htm. 9. DNA Solutions USA. Homepage. Accessed on June 24, 2016. https://www.dnasolutionsusa.com. 10. DNA Tribes. Homepage. Accessed on June 24, 2016. http://www.dnatribes.com. 11. Easy-DNA. Homepage. Accessed on June 24, 2016. https://www.easy-dna.com. 12. Family Tree DNA. Homepage. Accessed on June 24, 2016. https://www.familytreedna.com. 13. Full Genomes. Homepage. Accessed on June 24, 2016. https://www.fullgenomes.com. 14. Genographic. Homepage. Accessed on June 24, 2016. https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com. 15. Home DNA Direct. Homepage. Accessed on June 24, 2016. http://www.homednadirect.com. 16. NIMBLE Diagnostics. Homepage. Accessed on June 24, 2016. http://www.nimblediagnostics.com. 17. TribeCode. Homepage. Accessed on June 24, 2016. https://www.tribecode.com.