Sephardi Identity & Legitimacy in the Age of Direct-to-Consumer DNA Tests

Bibliographic Data

ID5773336
AuthorsCaitlyn Rose Campana (Florida International University, corresponding author)
Year2021
Publication date2021-03-22
Open AccessYes
TypeTHESIS
PublisherFlorida International University (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.25148/etd.fidc009588
OpenAlexW4313839274
LanguageEN
References cited14

Today, individuals may purchase genetic tests that promise to "reveal" one's "true self" through ancestry composition reports, health reports, and lists of DNA relatives. Such tests add another dimension to the ongoing debate about what it means to be Jewish, but also what it means to be "legitimately" Sephardi. Through qualitative interviews, this thesis illuminates the experiences of Sephardim who received identity-affirming DNA test results and Sephardim who received identity non-affirming DNA test results. Findings suggest that contemporary Sephardim consider a link to the Iberian Peninsula as indicative of Sephardi identity, despite expanding definitions of the label. They also suggest that motivations for taking at-home DNA tests may be overwhelmingly relational in nature. Respondents with an ambiguous identity orientation tended to assign more importance to their test results, while respondents with a less ambiguous identity orientation tended to do the opposite, in keeping with the hypothesis that at-home DNA tests are only as "authoritative" or meaningful as individuals or groups want them to be

Aesthetics · Biology · Ethnology · Genealogy · Legitimacy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Forensic and Genetic Research · History · Jewish Identity and Society · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Race, Genetics, and Society · Social Psychology

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Open DOIOpen Access