Refusing the ancestry test: Malagasy Ethnic Identity and Genetic Testing

Rakotonirina, Sarah

Abstract

Through navigating personal and socio-political planes, this essay problematises the use of genetic testing in the Malagasy context, and in its invocation as a form of identity formulation that privileges scientific rationality over storied histories. Through considering the social roles of genetic data, this piece interrogates how DNA fails to acknowledge ethnic variation, ancestral histories and storied identify formulation in Madagascar.

Citation

Rakotonirina, S. (2025). Refusing the ancestry test: Malagasy Ethnic Identity and Genetic Testing. SOAS journal of postgraduate research, 16, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.25501/SOAS.00043296

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2025
• Deposit Date: Jan 23, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 23, 2025
• Journal: SOAS journal of postgraduate research
• Print ISSN: 2631-3812
• Electronic ISSN: 2517-6226
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 16
• Pages: 1-7
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.25501/SOAS.00043296
• Keywords: Auto-ethnography, Madagascar, DNA, ethnicity, race, ancestry, identity
• Publisher URL: https://www.soas.ac.uk/research/soas-journals-and-books/soas-journal-postgraduate-research