The Complex History of Humans and their DNA
Review of Dr. Kathryn Harden's Why DNA Matters for Social Equality at Town Hall Seattle
Written by Teen Writer Aamina Mughal and edited by Teen Editor Eleanor Cenname
Ideas of social equality and their intersection with genetics are rightfully met with hesitance. Our perception of the field is often marred with stories about how pseudoscience was used to justify racial inequality and ideas of racial superiority. Pseudoscience being used to justify horrendous antisemitism fills the topic with memories of Nazi Germany. The perceived “science” of the time was used to give grounds for the idea that non-Aryan people were genetically lesser, and led to horrifying events like mass genocide, and more specifically as a justification for mass sterilization. At the same time, in our current political landscape, political extremist groups and white supremacist ideology invoke the very real fear that such ideas are making a comeback. Dr. Kathryn Harden navigates these connotations, but sees the intersection between genomics and social issues differently. Dr. Harden, a clinical development psychologist and author of “The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality '', discussed these issues at Town Hall Seattle on Tuesday, October 12, in a lecture promoting her book.
As Dr. Harden explained, DNA and human genome sequencing is becoming an increasingly lucrative technology. She argues that such technology can be used to elicit social change and examine social structures in our society. Dr. Harden, in her work as a psychologist, studies inequality of outcome and how people are channeled into certain outcomes in their lives. In other words, her work examines the aspects of one’s life that lead them to specific places and how early those aspects begin to dictate the rest of someone’s life. Dr. Harden focuses on psychiatric and genetic disadvantages that have significant outcomes, as she explained through her lecture. The human genome is composed of nucleotides, represented by the letters A, C, G, and T, which dictate certain parts of a person’s phenotype, or genetic presentation. Everyone’s DNA is made up of different nucleotides that make them the specific, unique person they are. Dr. Harden uses what are called Genome-Wide Association Studies which measure single-letter differences between nucleotides across a sample group of genomes. Using these measurements, a polygenic score is created, which denotes the effect genetic variants may have on an individual. Essentially, the score tells us how likely an individual is to have a given trait.