Decolonizing my DNA : reexamination of systematic racial violence within the genetic and genomic sciences

Race has become a fundamental aspect of genetic and genomic research, contributing to such volatile situations as medical racial profiling and disruption of ancestral claims. There is also a near absence of critical Ethnic Studies discourse addressing the validity and implications of gene-based claims about race. As genetic and genomic science is increasingly centralized in major sociopolitical institutions, any disparity in relative critical race discourse enables systems of racial violence to materialize and excel. Furthermore, the amalgamation of DNA research and big data perpetuates globalized levels of impact. This thesis provides a two-phase, qualitative content analysis on published, contemporary genetic research and genomic literature, in order to assess how the genetic and genomic sciences challenge the integrity of racial and ethnic identities. The findings reveal the violent implications of apolitical misconceptions about DNA, as well as insight into the ongoing course of transformations to technologies of the racialized body