The first comprehensive critical analysis of the practices and consequences of ancient DNA research.
This edited collection, Critical Perspectives on Ancient DNA, presents a critical enquiry into the much-hyped “ancient DNA revolution” in archaeology. Offering the first comprehensive and in-depth scholarly analysis of the practices and effects of archaeogenetics, editors Daniel Strand, Anna Källén, and Charlotte Mulcare, along with other renowned scholars from Europe and the United States, address a host of questions, such as: What happens with our understanding of the past when archaeology is married to genetic science? What cultural forms and historical narratives are generated by ancient DNA (aDNA) research, and what energies could they unleash?
Taking a multidisciplinary and multisite approach to the topic, these essays offer important insights into the epistemological, ethical, and political consequences around and beyond the scientific analysis of aDNA. As such, Critical Perspectives on Ancient DNA provides a timely and much-needed critical engagement with the rapidly growing field of aDNA research—a field that, while already having a notable impact on how we view the past in research, museums, and popular media—had not yet been subject to thorough critical scrutiny.
Conditions of Use
This book is licensed under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND). You can download the ebook Critical Perspectives on Ancient DNA for free.
- Title
- Critical Perspectives on Ancient DNA
- Publisher
- The MIT Press
- Author(s)
- Anna Kallen, Daniel Strand
- Published
- 2024-07-02
- Edition
- 1
- Format
- eBook (pdf, epub, mobi)
- Pages
- 238
- Language
- English
- ISBN-10
- 0262548097
- ISBN-13
- 9780262378765
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND
- Book Homepage
- Free eBook, Errata, Code, Solutions, etc.
Contents Critical Perspectives on Ancient DNA: An Introduction The Study of DNA Ancient DNA, Archaeogenetics, and Archaeogenomics The “aDNA Revolution” The Social Effects of Archaeogenetics The Chapters Critical Perspectives on Ancient DNA Notes 1. Gained in Translation: Interdisciplinary Challenges in Ancient DNA A Tale of Two Projects Questions Words Numbers Stories Answers Gained in Translation Notes 2. Diagrams of Human Genetic Kinship and Diversity: From the Tree to the Mosaic and the Network? From the Tree to the Mosaic Enter Ancient DNA: Mosaic and Trees Conclusion Notes 3. Past Pathogens and Precarious Futures The Cryopolitics of Pathogens and Permafrost The 2016 Anthrax Outbreak in Siberia Past Pathogens and Evolutionary History Reconstructing the 1918 Pandemic Influenza Virus Indigenous Samples at the Crossroads of Pasts and Futures Conclusion Notes 4. Twisting Strings: Hopi Ancestors and Ancient DNA The Ancestry Concept in Paleogenetics Hopi Ancestor Concepts The Risks of Ancient DNA Conclusion Notes 5. Whitewashing the Neanderthal: Doing Time with Ancient DNA The Danger of a Single Story Encountering the Neanderthal in the Lab Going Nuclear Race and Sameness Time and Temporality Time and Race Werde Teil der Menschenfamilie Conclusion Notes 6. The Lagertha Complex: Archaeogenomics and the Viking Stage A Female Viking Warrior “Confirmed” by Genomics A Spectacular Media Career The Prehistory of the “Female Viking Warrior” Unpacking the Lagertha Complex The Allure of Closure and Attention Conclusion Notes 7. Ancient DNA and the Politics of Ethnicity in Neo-Nationalist China The Origins of China’s New “Genetic” Nationalism Enter the New Genetics Ancient DNA, China, and the “World’s Largest Ethnic Group” The Incoherent Other Conclusions Notes 8. Concluding Commentary A Category Error Molecular Chauvinism Final Thoughts Notes Bibliography Contributors
