CFS Workshop: "Genomics, History and Identities"

A collaboration between the projects The Genomic History of Denmark (University of Copenhagen) and Time, Memory and Representation (Södertörn University)

Copenhagen, 21-22 January 2016 

Speakers include Ida Helene Asmussen, Steven Brown, Johan Hegardt, Alba Montes Sánchez, Marc Scully, Thomas Szanto and Dan Zahavi.

Description:
In recent years, there has been an increasing trend to apply human genomics to the investigation of history, with some rather impressive results. This, however, raises a number of serious issues that deserve careful investigation. Accordingly, the aim of this workshop is to explore, from a distinctively humanities and social sciences perspective, the issues of personal and collective identity raised by such genetic-historical research. Given the importance of history for personal and collective identity, how do genomic findings in this field affect our self-understanding? To what extent can biology determine who we are as historical individuals and collectives? These questions haven’t yet received satisfactory answers, and they remain highly contested. In this workshop, we approach them from a multidisciplinary perspective that combines archaeology, anthropology, genomics, law, philosophy and social psychology. 

Coorganized by Södertörns Högskola and Center for Subjectivity Research.