Shallow Time Politics: Entangling Ancestors’ Qualities and Present-Day Identities by Way of Genomic Ancestry Testing

Drawing on STS ethnographic research on Belgian presence and identity building in present-day Wisconsin, this chapter presents a study of how users of genomic ancestry testing discursively entangle DNA knowledge and identity narratives through specific temporalities that connect past and present, and the self and others. This chapter specifically highlights how the group’s members draw on what they perceive as their ancestors’ qualities to fashion their own identity today, and the powers that emerge in their narratives. More specifically, I discuss a trend among members of this White American community to connect their own lives both intimately and politically with the achievements and hardships of their Belgian ancestors. This is reflected in their interpretation of DNA results in narratives where the migratory experiences or health issues of ancestors are used as oblique references to the current issue of immigration or the Covid-19 public health situation. Demonstrating the flexible pathways through which DNA knowledge filters into everyday discussions and speeches—here to express political views—this contribution affords new insights into social engagement with DNA knowledge as not only a scientific development but also a political vector.