Genetic Options: The Impact of Genetic Ancestry Testing on Consumers’ Racial and Ethnic Identities

To be or not to be Indigenous? Understanding the rise of Australia’s Indigenous population since 1971

“…In the second section we show that these fundamental differences of opinion are compounded by diverging "identity aspirations" (Roth and Ivemark 2018), meaning that some of our interviewees are comfortable with their settler colonial identities, while others yearn to be biologically and socially part of Australia's much longer, Indigenous history. Like Roth and Ivemark, we found that these "identity aspirations" are the most important factor in determining whether an individual changed their ethnic identification late in life, but "social appraisals"an individual's assessment of whether or not their new identity is acceptable to othersare also important (differentiating the New Identifiers from the In-betweeners).…”

A New Research Agenda for the Study of Genetic Ancestry Tests and the Formation of Racial and Ethnic Identities and Ancestries

“…These themes are currently being taken up and explored further by Roth and Ivemark (2017) who have studied ways in which American test users across ethnic and racial identities engage with this technology. One aspect of this work includes qualitative telephone interviews with 115 individuals who purchased genetic ancestry tests, many of whom were genealogists interested in family history research, and who identified before taking the tests as 'white', 'black', 'Asian', 'Hispanic', or 'Native American'.…”

“…Significantly, Roth and Ivemark (2017) note that unlike the views of test users themselves there is a reification of ideas of racial difference within the media dissemination of this science and technology in the USA. This observation points us in the direction of a further strand of work by sociologists and anthropologists that examines representations of whiteness and genetic ancestry testing in the American media as well as the US-based Genographic Project.…”

“…However, Roth and Ivemark (2017) found that it was useful to interview people who had taken the tests some months before the interview in order to explore the full impact of the tests on self-identifications. The specific themes that might fruitfully be explored with research participants in the interviews could include the following: A second strand of research could include a comparative ethnographic study of three family history societies located in different parts of England, Wales and Scotland.…”

“Amazing Stories Hidden Within”: The Reinvention of Identity in Genetic Ancestry Advertisements

“…163) that involve interviews with test‐takers, and the results suggest that responses to genetic ancestry testing are far more complex and nuanced than previously understood. Similar to Alondra Nelson's focus in The Social Life of DNA , such studies highlight some of the ways that, when interacting with their DNA, test‐takers are actively engaging in acts of self‐fashioning; they “bend genetic data to their will” (Roth and Ivemark 181), picking and choosing from the data to weave it into personal narratives and create “usable” histories (Nelson 90). As their point of departure, many of these studies also emphasize how dramatically the test‐taking experiences in their studies differ from the popular representations of them, particularly from those represented in genealogy television and in advertisements.…”