Family Ties in Genes and Stories: The Importance of Value and Recognition in the Narratives People Tell of Family

Abstract

Diagnosis in paediatric genetics involves a combination of technologies able to display variation in DNA and clinical discussions with families that concentrate on retrieving family histories. This paper explores the significance of the family tales that genetics brings to the fore. Through discussion of an ESRC‐funded ethnographic study of families referred to a paediatric genetic service, the paper explores how genetics and family history intersect in ‘relations of exchange’ (Latimer, 2013). It draws from sociological work on family that emphasizes the importance of narrative to the formation and maintenance of family ties and the importance of broader social contexts to the kinds of stories that can be told and recognized by others. The paper emphasizes the significance of claims to respectability and value to the narratives people provide of family ties; particularly in contexts where such ties, in the past or the present, are thought of as ‘troubling’. Making reference to research by Skeggs and Loveday (2012), it is argued that an important narrative that is drawn upon, in order to claim respectability, is that of being a good parent who protects their children from socially ‘risky relations’ so that a positive future as a ‘subject of value’ may be possible.

‘We’re not related in any way, only by blood’: Danish sperm donors and (imagined) relationships

“…The genetic has not been abandoned in the incorporation of the social into understandings of relatedness; indeed, Latimer (2013) has described the position of family as a 'twin institution' of biological and lived relations in the site of the genetic clinic. The 'new genetics' has brought with it renewed interest in family medical histories and genealogies and an emphasis on genetic inheritance encouraged by commercial genetic testing (Finkler, 2001, Nash, 2004, Finkler, 2005, Lindenmeyer et al, 2011, Raspberry and Skinner, 2011, though these genetic narratives of family history can also bring 'troubling' associations (McLaughlin, 2015). Ideas about what is inheritable further complicate these narratives; as Edwards (2005: 426) notes, 'what is figured as biological or social are not necessarily or unequivocally biological and social elements'.…”

Creating home: Intersections of memory and identity

“…For example, Assmann () asserted that the past must be processed and mediated in place (and home) for these memories to resonate in the present. Collective memories can extend into our homes as regular practices where “stories of past and present relations are narratives that inform how people think about the nature of family and cultural ties and their boundaries” (McLaughlin, , p. 627‐628). Such family memories and narratives can be informed by broader collective memories that are remembered in the home.…”

“…“We, as human beings, live in the world around us” where our narratives are a product of “where we make, unmake and live in landscapes (home) … [in] meaningful ways” (De Nardi, , p. 96). Home can provide grounding for family narratives and resulting identities, since it is a place where these narratives can be (re)presented and (re)told materially and verbally (McLaughlin, ; Somers & Gibson, ). Somers and Gibson (, p. 2) suggested that storytelling is an application of personal and collective identities:

people construct identities … by locating themselves or being located within a repertoire of emplotted stories; that “experience” is constituted through narratives; that people make sense of what has happened and is happening to them by attempting to assemble or in some way integrate these happenings within one or more narratives ….

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“…"We, as human beings, live in the world around us" where our narratives are a product of "where we make, unmake and live in landscapes (home) … [in] meaningful ways" (De Nardi, 2016, p. 96). Home can provide grounding for family narratives and resulting identities, since it is a place where these narratives can be (re)presented and (re)told materially and verbally (McLaughlin, 2015;Somers & Gibson, 1994). Somers and Gibson (1994, p. 2) suggested that storytelling is an application of personal and collective identities:…”

Narrative as re-fusion: Making sense and value from sickle cell and thalassaemia trait

“…This then links the traits to group identities, and, in this respect, narratives may be used to assert value in their lives, against external oppressive power (McLaughlin, 2015). Thus identification of genetic carriers re-asserts grand biomedical narratives at three levels, the body, social relationships with significant others, and social relations of group membership.…”