History in the Gene? How Biohistories are Implicated in Biopolitics and Biosocialities

Abstract

The scientific research under consideration in this essay has many disciplinary roots. It also has several names, such as anthropological genetics or genetic anthropology. As early as 1962, prior to the possibility of sequencing DNA, the biochemist Emile Zuckerkandl introduced the term ‘molecular anthropology’ to characterize the study of primate phylogeny and human evolution at the molecular level (Sommer, 2008). Since then, the ‘revolution’ in DNA and information technologies has made it possible to use DNA markers to study the processes of evolution, to map genes and genomes, and to reconstruct the human diaspora. In this last aspect, genetic anthropology or genetic history studies the relationship between population history and genetic variation in humans. It investigates the human ‘family tree’ and tries to ‘map’ it onto the globe. It is thus concerned with a special sub-set of biohistories — those based on DNA analyses. Through the global initiatives of the Human Genome Diversity Project and its successor, the Genographic Project, the field has gained public attention. These projects seek to reconstruct the migratory history of the entire human species through the collection of DNA samples from indigenous populations worldwide. The DNA databanks should allow scientists to identify genetic markers that appear with different frequencies in different populations and therefore allow insights into the genetic relationships and movements of human groups.