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Chapter 3 is a virtual ethnography of an online genetic genealogy listserv community of predominantly white-identified individuals. This chapter analyzes the politics of race on-list, including how Native Americans are racialized differently in relation to whiteness than are blacks, or African-Americans. This shapes claims that white folks make about having Native American ancestry.

Chapter 2, using a sample of six companies, looks at how concepts of race inform the Native American genetic testing industry. It deconstructs their discourses, images, product technical aspects, and claims about the applicability of genetic tests to both Native American racial identity and for purposes of tribal enrollment.

DNA is a great tool for genetic genealogy and family tree construction. If you were blown away by your surprising medical DNA results, tighten your belt and hold on to your genes! A primary reason people test their DNA is to discover genealogical connections. What does DNA say about racial or ethnic differences among peoples of the world? Are you really related to your weird Uncle Charlie? How can it help an adoptee find his or her biological parents? The next chapters explain how to use DNA to connect to other humans, to break through that “brick wall” of traditional genealogy, or simply to confirm or refute a genetic relationship. DNA genealogy tests also provide information on your ethnic makeup. For instance, it may confirm or refute that old family rumor about Great Grandpa marrying a Native American princess!

This chapter explores the genetics of human ancestry. Personal genomics's most intriguing and introspective aspect is the fact that each individual's genome contains the genetic footprints of ancestral lineage, going all the way to the roots of humankind itself. One of the challenges, then, that ‘genetic genealogy’ faces is the fact that genomes have a tendency to accumulate random mutational ‘noise’ and experience regular shuffling due to recombination — or the combining of the genetic material from one's mother and father. The chapter further discusses human ancestry by looking at the history of human migration patterns, particularly when modern humans migrated out of southern or eastern Africa some 200,000 years ago. The chapter reviews several global genetic mapping projects, such as HapMap, that aim to measure the genetic makeup of individuals from diverse ethnic and geographic populations. It is through this global ancestry analysis that one can finally pinpoint one's average ancestry on a world map.

Chapter 15 covers various ethical issues associated with the use of DNA methods for forensic analyses and human rights investigations. Topics include informed consent and storage issues for samples and profiles; data security and privacy; identification of individuals using aggregate data from forensic, genealogical, research, or clinical databases; the burden of the obligation to report incidental findings that are medically actionable; cultural perspectives on genetic information; government misuse of potentially sensitive DNA data; public policy regarding the validity of pattern/experience evidence; and other non-DNA forensic science disciplines.

Chapter 1 defines “Native American DNA,” explains genetic ancestry tests, and defines the “DNA profile” used in tribal enrollment. It traces biological “race” as rooted in 19th-century science and “Indian blood” rooted in 19th-century policy, arguing that DNA and blood should not be conflated in relation to Native American identity.

Chapter 4 describes National Geographic’s Genographic Project and the politics of race and indigeneity in that global human genetic diversity research project. It deconstructs Genographic discourses, images, and video in order to highlight how indigeneity gets articulated as a genetic condition by this project in ways that undermine social and political definitions of indigeneity, which are crucial for indigenous peoples’ survival.

The introduction defines “Native American DNA,” rooting it in colonial histories of who encounters and who gets encountered, who studies and who gets studied. It introduces key science studies, indigenous studies, feminist, and anthropological theories and ethical frameworks that ground this book and guide its critiques of indigenous genome research.

The conclusion highlights increasing indigenous influence over genome research in ways that enhances indigenous sovereignty and livelihoods. It looks forward to additional innovations whereby indigenous ontologies influence how science gets done and more indigenous scientists get trained who might help re-shape genetic science fields to be more multi-cultural, less hierarchical, and more democratic.