Genetic Prosopography and Caste: Natureculture in Contemporary India

Abstract

Donna Haraway’s theorization of natureculture webs has enormous potential for reading collective biographies (prosopography) that involve genetic ‘roots’ and ‘routes’. This essay examines the genetic prosopographic narratives revolving around caste identity in India and their imbrication of genetic ‘testimony’ and contemporary cultural identities. Genetically informed prosopography in the Indian media emphasises genetic roots, cultural codes (of caste identities), genetic and cultural routes (of migrations) and social stratification. This is cultural genomics where genetic data seeks to explain cultural boundaries or practices, and instances natureculture. Then, such prosopographies, while tracing ancestry, make projections founded on biochemical stories and cultural genomics. Questions of social justice need to frame debates on genetic inevitability, and genetic variations must be seen within the cultural contexts of social hierarchization.