Dear friends of AURA

Our next Slow seminar will take place Monday May 15 from 16.45-19.30 at building 1451, 515, Jens Christian Schous Vej 3, 8000 Aarhus C in the Nobel Park.

Our post.doc Alder Keleman Saxena will lead the next seminar.

"To understand Native American DNA, it is not enough to discuss simply what genetic scientists say they are looking for in their samples.... It is also important to look back at how Native American bodies have been treated historically, for knowledge-producing cultures and practices that shaped earlier research continue to influence the way science is done today" (TallBear, 2013: Kindle Locations 101-104).  

When, how, and with what effect do studies of human genetics act to shape human identities? This question, in which the social and the biological intertwine, is the subject of this Slow Seminar. Structured around Kim TallBear's book, Native American DNA, this seminar will discuss how scientists' assumptions about migration, settlement, and kinship have influenced the collection and interpretation of genetic data, and in turn how these data have articulated, and sometimes conflicted, with Native American communities' legally and socially derived standards of belonging. These topics will serve as an entry point for a larger discussion about both the potential for genomic sciences to change our ideas of identity, and the pitfalls of turning to laboratory-based methods to determine or define human relationships. 

The reading for this seminar is: 

TallBear, K. 2013. Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science. University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis, MN. 

The book will very soon be available in hard copy at Stakbogladen (they expect it to arrive this week). It is also available on Amazon as a Kindle book. 

We hope to see you there.

Would you please let me know if you plan on coming so I can order sandwiches?