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Ayala Thesis 7.23.21.pdf (1.13 MB)

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Abstract Header

It Is in My DNA: Narratives of Race, Ethnicity, and Community in DNA Ancestry Testing Advertisements

Ayala, Rene Oswald
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu162704403298498

Abstract Details

2021, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, American Culture Studies.
The marketing of DNA ancestry tests plays a major role in circulating ideas about how the public should interpret DNA test results, the way DNA connects us to people around the world, and the connections between race, ethnicity, nationality, genetics, and ancestry. This thesis contributes to the literature on DNA ancestry testing marketing by examining themes not thoroughly explored in previous studies: ancestry travel and DNA tests as anti-racist tools. Through a textual analysis of Ancestry, 23andMe, and MyHeritage DNA television advertisements, I analyze how these advertisements represent travel based on one's DNA ancestry test, how populations and regions around the world are represented, how race, ethnicity, and nationality are discussed, and how the root causes of racism are defined. My analysis is informed by critiques of DNA tests made by scholars in ethnic studies, biology, anthropology, and science and technology studies who argue that by taking it as a given that race and ethnicity have meaning at a genetic level, genetic scientists participate in the geneticization of race. I argue that these advertisements represent ancestry travel as journeys of self-discovery where the traveler connects with others through consumption practices. The populations the traveler visits are represented without specificity and are shown in positions of service to the traveler. By promoting the idea that DNA tests are objective arbiters of belonging, these advertisements redefine race, ethnicity, and nationality as labels that describe one's genetic ancestry and remove the agency from communities to decide who is and is not a member of their community. These advertisements promote the idea that there is a genetic component to race and ethnicity and suggest that contemporary inequalities along racial and ethnic lines are a product of innate genetic difference as opposed to historical and political processes. Thus, these ads circulate ideas that echo early 20th century racial science under the appearance of scientific objectivity and support dominant ideologies that frame the contemporary social structure as inevitable and unchangeable.
Susana Peña, Ph.D (Advisor)
Michaela Walsh, Ph.D (Committee Member)
Vibha Bhalla, Ph.D (Committee Member)
119 p.
American Studies; Ethnic Studies; Mass Media
genetic ancestry testing; race; ethnicity; advertisements; DNA testing; ancestry travel

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Ayala, R. O. (2021). It Is in My DNA: Narratives of Race, Ethnicity, and Community in DNA Ancestry Testing Advertisements [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu162704403298498

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Ayala, Rene. It Is in My DNA: Narratives of Race, Ethnicity, and Community in DNA Ancestry Testing Advertisements. 2021. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu162704403298498.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Ayala, Rene. "It Is in My DNA: Narratives of Race, Ethnicity, and Community in DNA Ancestry Testing Advertisements." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu162704403298498

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu162704403298498
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© 2021, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.