Becoming a Viking: DNA testing, genetic ancestry and placeholder identity

Abstract

A consensus has developed among social and biological scientists around the problematic nature of genetic ancestry testing, specifically that its popularity will lead to greater genetic essentialism in social identities. Many of these arguments assume a relatively uncritical engagement with DNA, under 'high-stakes' conditions. We suggest that in a biosocial society, more pervasive 'low-stakes' engagement is more likely. Through qualitative interviews with participants in a study of the genetic legacy of the Vikings in Northern England, we investigate how genetic ancestry results are discursively worked through. The identities formed in 'becoming a Viking' through DNA are characterised by fluidity and reflexivity, rather than essentialism. DNA results are woven into a wider narrative of selfhood relating to the past, the value of which lies in its potential to be passed on within families. While not unproblematic, the relatively banal nature of such narratives within contemporary society is characteristic of the 'biosociable'.

“Amazing Stories Hidden Within”: The Reinvention of Identity in Genetic Ancestry Advertisements

“…The second wave of scholarship has begun to offer a more favorable view of the relationship between genetics and identity while also at times taking issue with the first wave of scholarship for promoting an exaggerated fear of genetic determinism. This more recent scholarship often takes the form of “reception” studies (Scully et al. 163) that involve interviews with test‐takers, and the results suggest that responses to genetic ancestry testing are far more complex and nuanced than previously understood.…”

Constructing Masculinity through Genetic Legacies: Family Histories, Y-Chromosomes, and “Viking Identities”

“…How participants subsequently interpreted these results is explored in Scully et al (2016). However, it must be admitted that participants inevitably received mixed messages about the individual significance of their data, above all from wider cultural assumptions about the nature of genetic ancestry testing, from some of the media headlines that accompanied the project, and from the very fact of being considered particularly worthy of inclusion in a study about the Vikings due to having a certain surname, having ancestral roots in a specific area, and being male.…”

“…For the men in this study, these discourses may intersect with others of place, class, and power. It is relevant here that this study is situated in Northern England: it has been previously argued (Scully et al 2016) that claiming Viking heritage is a way of distinguishing Northern England from Southern England. It is likely that this is a form of accounting for the "hardiness" that stereotypically distinguishes the North from the "soft" South.…”

“…As one of the social psychologists on the programme, my focus was on how historical narratives and collective memories of migrant groups in the early medieval period inform discourses of immigration and indigenism today. Approaching this question in collaboration with colleagues from other disciplines has led to the consideration of local, regional, and national identities, as well as the exploration of the sense-making resources employed by participants in interpreting DNA and the status of DNA as "archival memory" (Scully et al 2013(Scully et al , 2016. To date, however, I have not specifically addressed the question of how such practices of "applied genetic history" are gendered, specifically with respect to the role of masculinity in individual and collective attempts to establish a specific DNA link with the Vikings.…”

“…As different types of Y-chromosome are at least somewhat characteristic of different geographical regions, it is possible to address the question of the migratory scope of a specific group in the past. The strategy for the genetic study mentioned in this paper was to sample men bearing old (and relatively rare) surnames originating (as far as can be established) in Northern England in areas of Viking settlement, and to investigate whether, as a group, these men show a higher degree of Scandinavian ancestry than those in the rest of Britain where the Norse Vikings did not settle (Scully et al 2013(Scully et al , 2016.…”