Ir/relevance of race

with Masae Kato & Jan van Baren-Nawrocka

Lecture

In this seminar series the relevance and irrelevance of race are being discussed as an object and concept of research in order to explore ways to talk about race without naturalizing differences.

The series goes beyond a standard definition of race, one that is allegedly relevant everywhere, and situates race in specific practices of research. 
In addition the series gives room to the various different versions of race that can be found in the European context and explore when and how populations, religions, and cultures become naturalized and racialized.  Scholars from different (inter)disciplinary fields (such as genetics, anthropology, philosophy, cultural studies, history, political sciences, science and technology studies) are invited to address the issue of race through a paper presentation. 
The seminar is held every six weeks at the University of Amsterdam. Webpage Seminar Series: http://bit.ly/VKg6tt

You are invited to a joined seminar, given by Masae Kato (department of Sociology Anthropology, University of Amsterdam) and Jan van Baren-Nawrocka (Department of Philosophy and Science Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen), two scholars with a shared interest in practices of identity making wherein genes, genealogies and technologies play an important role.

How to make a region identity: DNA in archaeology practices in the Netherlands

Masae Kato

• This presentation discusses the making of a region identity in archaeology practices in the Netherlands. In this practice of ‘knowing about our place and ourselves’, recently, DNA technology has become more and more involved in the Netherlands. These practices are carried out on a local often municipal level. A close look at applications of DNA technology tells us however, that contrary to the belief in DNA as a provider for the truths of who we are, it needs supports to gain its voice, including for example the location and the manner in which buried individuals are found. DNA is not autonomous. An extension of this is, when knowledge about the history of a region, is yielded by the application of DNA technology, the region needs to be situated in pre-existing conditions; historically, geographically and more. In this presentation I will focus on interaction of region-ness and national-ness in practice of region identity making.
• Masae Kato is engaged in the research project Dutch-ness in Genes and Genealogy: Following genetic diversity around science and society at University of Amsterdam. The fields of her publication include reproductive genetic technology, genetic testing and eugenics in Asia. She is the author of Women’s Rights?: The Politics of Eugenic Abortion in Modern Japan (2009, Amsterdam University Press).

 

Connections to the soil: capturing Dutch nationality in a genome database

Jan van Baren-Nawrocka

• Genes have the tendency to be caught up in stories of origin and belonging. The Genome of the Netherlands project is a case in point. In that project all kinds of connections are activated through choices that the researchers regard as merely practical. In this presentation I will show how in the Genome of the Netherlands project, connections are made between biobanks, genome databases, language, common-sense, (individual) bodies and the soil. Through these connections, belonging and non-belonging in the context of nationality become part of human biology on the molecular level.
  This presentation is based on part of the published paper “The bioinformatics of genetic origins: how identities become embedded in the tools and practices of bioinformatics” in Life Sciences, Society and Policy 2013, 9:7 (an Open Access article, freely available at http://www.lsspjournal.com/content/9/1/7 
• Jan van Baren-Nawrocka obtained his master degree at the University for Humanistic Studies in Utrecht. He is currently working on a project on Bioinformation and human identity at the Radboud University Nijmegen.

 

 

 

Published by  AISSR