The Politics of Ancestry
Executive Editor Matt Thompson and Staff Writer Sarah Zhang join Cherokee writer and organizer Rebecca Nagle to discuss DNA tests, Elizabeth Warren, and how we define heritage.
October 19, 2018
48 min
66
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Episode 66 · October 19, 2018
The Politics of Ancestry
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The Atlantic Episodes Around October 19, 2018
Episode 67 of 364 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
48:18This episodeThe Politics of Ancestry
Summary
Senator Elizabeth Warren recently shared results of a genetic analysis to back up her family’s story of Cherokee ancestry, hoping to blunt a favorite Republican attack line. The move backfired. A DNA result does not confer a Cherokee heritage. And in general, efforts to link our genetics with our ethnic or cultural identities have a long and sordid history. So what’s more revealing: the results of DNA tests like Warren’s? Or what we try to find in them?
Links
- “The First DNA Test as Political Stunt” (Sarah Zhang, October 15, 2018)
- “Trump, Warren, and America's Racial Essentialism” (Vann R. Newkirk II, October 16, 2018)
- “Your DNA Is Not Your Culture” (Sarah Zhang, September 25, 2018)
- “When White Nationalists Get DNA Tests That Reveal African Ancestry” (Sarah Zhang, August 17, 2017)
- "Radio Atlantic: Becoming White in America" (Kevin Townsend, April 13, 2018)
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