The American quest for identity

Have you wondered about your ancestry? Are you really part Native American like your grandparents say you are?

According to a recent article in New Scientist, our "country's turbulent history of immigration, slavery, and displacement of Native Americans means each American has a different story. To unravel the threads of this short but complex history, an increasing number of companies are promising to help Americans uncover their ancestry through DNA testing."

By comparing your DNA to a reference database taken from thousands of other individuals whose ancestry is known, you can figure out your genetic make-up compared to reference populations: Sub-Saharan Africans, East Asians, Native Americans, and Europeans.

Clients of DNA testing services are told what percentage of each is in their DNA, e.g.,

Sub-Saharan African: 4%

East Asian: 0%

Native American: 12%

European: 84%

Critics are worried about accuracy, but more concerned that these tests could be divisive. "Reinforcing the idea that these cultural entities can be defined genetically is a disservice," says Hank Greely of the Stanford Center for Law and the Biosciences in California. Grouping people in three or four discrete groupings could reinforce racial stereotypes.

But proponents of the tests say the test results do exactly the opposite by showing that individuals don't fit into single categories. "It breaks apart the whole issue of race," according to Rick Kittles of the DNA testing company African Ancestry.

DNA testing of ancestry could reveal just how much mixing has gone on in the "melting pot" of America. Early last century, the Mexican philosopher Jose Vasconcellos wrote a book entitled La Raza Cosmica, dreaming of the future possibility that all races would merge into one type of man, a mestizo race, the cosmic race. DNA testing is a way to measure just how close we are genetically to seeing the cosmic race in America.

But then just looking at the genes may be wrong. Just because a people are all genetically mixed does not mean the end of conflict and the dawn of an age of harmonious cooperation. Aren't some of the fiercest fights between family members?