Forensic civism: articulating science, DNA and kinship in contemporary Mexico and Colombia

Abstract

The article will present the findings of ethnographic research into the Colombian and Mexican forensic systems, introducing the first citizen-led exhumation project made possible through the cooperation of scholars, forensic specialists and interested citizens in Mexico. The coupling evolution and mutual re-constitution of forensic science will be explored, including new forms of citizenship and nation building projects – all approached as lived experience – in two of Latin America‘s most complex contexts: organised crime and mass death.

Meeting the needs of underserved populations: setting the agenda for more inclusive citizen science of medicine

“…Given that a swath of initiatives is dedicated to building public data sets, often including genetic analyses or advancing knowledge of rare diseases, the problem of representation is in need of explicit and continuous attention in order to ensure that assumptions about race are not re-inscribed in science, that the involvement of indigenous peoples in research is only as codirectors, and at the same time, that underserved groups are adequately considered in the search for medical interventions 61. Which groups are represented in a project is an important question that needs to be discussed by and with (potential) participants, remaining open to revision throughout the project.…”

National Biobanking in Qatar and Israel: Tracing how Global Scientific Institutions Mediate Local Ethnic Identities

“…National biomedical institutions may thus become part of ‘genome nationalism’ (Hinterberger, 2012, p. 542). Similarly, the Mexican Genome Project claimed Mexican genomes belong under national sovereignty, tying national identity and civic participation to the aims of genomic biobanking and progressive medical advancement (Benjamin, 2009; Schwartz-Marín & Cruz-Santiago, 2016; Schwartz-Marín & Restrepo, 2013; Schwartz-Marín & Silva-Zolezzi, 2010). Biological samples, especially DNA, can become a medium through which citizens are encoded as unique individuals while simultaneously constructing or dismantling widely valued imaginations of collectivity.…”

Ethical Controversies of Familial Searching: The Views of Stakeholders in the United Kingdom and in Poland

“…In addition to criminal investigation purposes, familial searching might be used to search for missing persons and identify unknown bodies. Among several other technologies and strategies—such as dental records, radiographs, and photographic comparisons—procedures that make use of DNA to match unidentified bodies and/or persons with individuals thought to be their biological relatives are increasingly relevant (Haimes and Toom 2014; Schwartz-Marín and Cruz-Santiago 2017; Scully 2014; Smith 2017; Wagner 2008). Although these uses of genetic tests are rarely framed in terms of familial searching, for the purposes of this article, we shall use the term familial searching to describe the use of techniques that infer genetic relatedness between the missing—whether they are dead, disappeared, murdered, or martyred (Smith 2017)—and their relatives.…”

“…The positive outcomes of DNA identification in this particular context tend to be framed by a humanitarian rationale (Scully 2014). This type of endeavor is generally considered as enabling the “dignification” of both the dead and the living (Gandsman 2012; Garibian 2014; Moon 2013); it also allows forms of making sense and the resignification of past and present-day human atrocities to be constructed (Schwartz-Marín and Cruz-Santiago 2017). In this sense, DNA identification in the field of missing persons tends to represent a mechanism for (re)constituting democracy—that is, certain modes of governance, justice, and accountability—through the biology of the victims (Smith 2016).…”