Reading Questions

Reading Terms and Questions

Decode Me! Anthropology and Personal Genomics (Gílsi Pálsson)

Pálsson

Terms

23andMe

deCODE genetics

Biosocial

Personal genomics

Biovalue

Ernest Albert Hooton

Thought styles

Geneological dis-ease

Technologies of the self

Questions

1. How does Pálsson explain the connections between understanding of self, personhood, and ancestry? How does personal genomics fit in?

2. How do paleoanthropology and genomics offer different paradigms/thought styles for understanding human diversity across place and time?

3. What did Pálsson learn and feel when he did his genetic scan and got his results?

4. How are online biosocial communities focused on ancestry and genetics transforming the relationship between scientific experts and lay people?

5. What are some of the economic and ethical dimensions of personal genomics that Pálsson presents? Can you think of others?