The researchers have seen only a handful of people who had a single ancestry composing 100% of their pie chart, although many students assume that could happen before taking the test.
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Foeman’s first grant of $1,500 bought just four DNA tests now, direct-to-consumer tests are less than $100.Īfter getting their results, students then take another survey and participate in a series of workshops and discussions. When Foeman first started the project 15 years ago, it was hard to find labs that could run DNA tests that weren’t forensic. Six weeks later, they receive an annotated map alongside a pie chart breaking down how much of their ancestry is attributed to each region. Student volunteers then spit into a tube and send off their sample. The survey includes open-ended questions about how people identify racially, how peers identify them, gaps in personal narratives, and how they felt about learning new information from their DNA.Īlthough there are more than 14,000 students at West Chester University, more than three-quarters are white, motivating the researchers to actively recruit a more diverse cohort. Now, they can discern that she is Filipino and Chinese, even pinpoint the specific part of China.įor the DNA Discussion Project, volunteers fill out a survey about their self-perceived race and attitudes about it before taking a test from AncestryDNA.
By reading less than 0.05% of the three billion pieces of the genome, the test can focus on parts that differ between ancestries and quickly compare each person’s genetic sequence to a database of people from around the world.Īs this database grows over the years, and technology improves, the test gets more precise: For example, early tests used to tell Lawton that she was from Asia. Ancestors from different places lead to a combination of genetic markers.ĭirect-to-consumer genetic tests don’t sequence the entire genome, but instead skim it, like a person tasked with reading a long text quickly. Although more than 99% of the human genome is shared between people, the remaining pieces can be traced back through generations to ancestors hailing from a particular region. “Everybody’s DNA has gone through the same process of analysis,” Lawton said.įoeman said that the emotional experience of learning where you came from or discovering family secrets could create bonds between people.ĭNA also offers a framework to talk about multiracial identities, which Lawton noticed was missing from the way race was traditionally handled on forms where people have to choose a single option.Īncestry DNA tests break down the fraction of a person’s DNA that resembles genomes from different parts of the world. Lawton, whose interest lies in intercultural communication, said DNA tests offer a way to level the playing field in conversations about diversity. They hope their research will make it easier to have conversations about race, especially at a time when many companies are devoting more resources to diversity training. “You have a different data point, and it changes the conversation.” Since the project’s inception in 2006, more than 3,000 students have participated, and their experiences form the backbone of Foeman and Lawton’s recent book, Who am I?: Identity in the Age of Consumer DNA Testing.įor many, DNA test results change “what is believable and what’s not believable,” Foeman said. The initiative, run by Anita Foeman and Bessie Lawton, professors of communication and media at West Chester University, studies students’ responses to the results of DNA-based ancestry tests and how those results can shift personal narratives and shape their relationships to others. It was no surprise, then, that during freshman orientation at West Chester University in 2015, one presentation in particular grabbed her attention: a call for volunteers for the DNA Discussion Project. Her initial answer, “I’m from New Jersey,” was rarely satisfactory, forcing her to map out her family’s origins: a mother who was Dutch and Indonesian by way of Suriname, a father from Curacao whose blend of Spanish, Dutch, and Indian ancestries reflected the colonial history of the Caribbean. “I thought about it probably more often than a person should,” said Wederfoort, 24.Īs a mixed-race person, she regularly fielded questions from classmates about where she got her complexion or curly hair. As a child, Kim Wederfoort was fixated on the mystery of her family’s origins.