Course desCripTion

Image: Detail from 23andMeBlog banner for Hispanic Heritage Month, October 2018

DNA+Latinx: Decoding the ‘Cosmic Race’

Prof. Nelly Rosario

Latina/o Studies Program, Williams College
Spring 2019, 2020, 2023

Scientists working to assemble maps of the human genome have found a goldmine in the DNA of Latinx, Latin American, and other populations that derive ancestry from multiple continents. This interdisciplinary course explores Latinidades through a genealogical lens: What culture-specific issues emerge around history, identity, ethics, forensics, immigration, commerce, surveillance, art, science, and medicine? Through discussion, materials, and activities that engage personal, historical, and scientific perspectives, this course offers students the opportunity to explore the many codes embedded in the double-helix. Readings include scholarship out of Stanford University’s Bustamante Lab, The Cosmic Race by José Vasconcelos, The Cosmic Serpent by Jeremy Narby, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina by Raquel Cepeda, and The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome by Alondra Nelson. In addition to readings, course materials comprise podcasts, film, video, artwork, and oral histories.

BINDER

Readings

Rosario, Nelly. “Latinx + DNA: Complicando the Double Helix.” Critical Dialogues in Latina and Latino Studies. Eds. Ana Y. Ramos-Zayas and Mérida M. Rúa. New York University Press, 2021. Book winner of a 2022 D. Scott Palmer Best Edited Book Prize.