Is there Neo-Nazi DNA? Ancestry Tests and Biological Essentialism in American Racism
Fabricating Authenticity - Jason W.M. Ellsworth
Martha Smith [+]
Fullerton College
Martha Smith is Professor of Religious Studies at Fullerton College in Southern California. Her current research and teaching interests include North American religious diversity and pluralism, race and ethnicity studies, diversity and social justice. Her courses focus on the diversity of the American religious landscape, especially the ways in which race, gender, and ethnicity are connected to religious identities and the significance of material culture and lived religious experience in American life.
Description
In this chapter, Smith considers how the notion of authenticity is employed in discussions and understandings of genetic ancestry testing. Drawing on various responses to ancestry testing—from overtly racist internet forums to commercials and programs aiming to frame cultural diversity in a positive way—Smith argues that these competing narratives and constructs of identity ultimately authorize their claims through a reification of biological essentialism.