Nassau BOCES Symposium on

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Genetic Ancestry and Race in the Classroom

• Nassau BOCES Symposium on
• The Genographic Project
• January 8, 2009

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An Anthropological Perspective

• (Genetic) Ancestry
• Race and Human Variation
• Genes in the Classroom

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Anthropology??

• Scientific study of all aspects of humanity over
  time and space
• 4 Fields
• Biological, cultural, archaeology, linguistic
• Search for meaning through context

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What is Ancestry?
Genetic
NOT race!
Geographic
Social-ethnic
Alan Goodman, Toward genetics in an era of
anthropology American Ethnologist vol. 34 no. 2
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Geneticized race
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and beyond!
Environmental Contingencies and Genetic
Propensities Social Capital, Educational
Continuation, and Dopamine Receptor Gene DRD2
Shanahan et al. (Nov, 2008) American Journal of
Sociology
Gene Reduces College-Going for Men Who Lack
Social Support By DAVID GLENN Young men are
less likely to attend college if they carry a
common form of a gene associated with poor
impulse control, a new study has found. But the
study also found that a strong environmenta
high-quality high school and heavily involved
parentscan counteract that genetic risk. For
boys with this gene...
Chronicle of Higher Education
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• A national public education program on race and
  human variation
• scientific framework
• Human variation observable, measurable
  differences between individuals and groups
• Race ideas about those differences
• learner-focused
• a broad, general audience
• middle school aged children through adults

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3 Lenses, 3 Key Messages

• History
• Race is a recent human invention
• Science
• Race is about culture, not biology
• Lived Experience
• Race and racism are embedded in our institutions
  and everyday life

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Martin Luther King Day 2007, Science Museum of
Minnesota
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Conclusions
Genetic ancestry is a powerful tool for
increasing interest in science and scientific
literacy. Race is the elephant in the classroom.
An interdisciplinary, team-teaching approach is
necessary to avoid "racializing" findings. There
are several "big pictures." Genetic testing will
best serve students if tied to social concerns.
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A Project of American Anthropological
Association Funded by the Ford Foundation and NSF
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Independent Variation