Societal Perceptions of Ancestral DNA, Race, & Identity

How does over-the-counter DNA testing affect how people view their ethnicity? Are our ideas of ethnicity changing now that we can know the truth about our origins? We chat with Dr. Anita Foeman, founder and primary investigator of the DNA Discussion Project, and Shaun Stanley, a Ph.D student of philosophy at the University of Bristol.

Who Do We Think We Are?

Anita Foeman, Ph.D. is the founder and primary investigator of the DNA Discussion Project. Dr. Foeman holds the rank of Professor in the Department of Communication Studies. Dr. Foeman is a scholar of intercultural and organizational communication. She holds a B.A. from Defiance College, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Temple University. Dr. Foeman joined the faculty of West Chester University in 1982. The DNA Discussion Project is integrated into courses she teaches in intercultural communication.

Shaun Stanley is a PhD student at the University of Bristol in Bristol, UK. His research is in the philosophy of (social) science, and philosophy of biology. His work focuses on understanding the relationship between cultural evolutionary theory, and the rest of the social sciences.

Check out his podcast on Brain In a Vat, “Does Race Exist?”