Who do you think you are? No matter where we have lived on this planet, we’ve formed our identities with whatever information has been available to us. Initially, our family, extended family, and tribe told us who we were, and we saw ourselves mirrored in their faces and actions. Later, as people migrated and groups mixed more readily, we developed more complex identities. In some families, all the personal stories and historic records fit together comfortably. In others, there was a pervasive sense that something was missing—relatives not to be mentioned, questions never to be asked, pieces of personal history and identity never to be known.
Today, with relatively easy access to our ancestry via DNA, we have more data about ourselves and our family histories than previous generations could have imagined. But does all this information translate into a stronger and more cohesive personal identity? Sometimes. The truth is it can also provide a family history we had never anticipated and bring us relatives who are not always welcome on our family tree. In the most extreme cases, our ancestry DNA can make us question our very identity: Who did I think I was? Who am I now?
In the 12 fascinating lessons of Identity in the Age of Ancestral DNA, Anita Foeman, PhD, a Professor of Communication and Media, and founder and primary investigator of the DNA Discussion Project at West Chester University, takes us behind the scenes to examine what really happens when individuals receive their personal DNA ancestry results. By learning about their individual and family reactions, we can learn more about our own identity narratives as well.
