Remapping my body across time and space, or the genetic map of a Polish peasant

Remapping my body across time and space, or the genetic map of a Polish peasant

Genetic cartography, the co-present, space-time, absolute/relative/relational space, 'backwardness' , recalibrating kinship networks,

After my father lost his battle with cancer in 2008 and my mother defeated cancer in 2006 (both of whom, like many Poles, attributed their cancers to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, not genetics), I decided to undergo genetic testing to check for these gene mutations that had a profound impact on my everyday life. Of course, I was equally interested in 'where I came from' (as if my personal history was not enough), whether or not my family had Ashkenazi roots, and whether my love of cold weather had anything to do with my Neanderthal genes. I was lured in by the idea that my genes would simply tell me who I was right on the screen. With my body digitized by a lab, I wouldn't have to do the work! :)

After I sent back a cotton swap of my saliva to their California lab, 23andMe sent me a genetic map of my health prospects (so so) but also the genetic 'map' of my ancestors. So I found out that I am 2x as likely to have Alzheimers, was related to the outlaw Jesse James, was 2.4% Neanderthal, and had 1.4% Ashkenazi genes (although it did not shift my sense of identity), and my father's mother may come from the sunken island of Doggerland off UK's coast....

How does genetic testing and these (very general) maps fit into mapping cultural space? It definitely made me 'rethink' my personal history of being born into a peasant family in a Polish village behind the Iron Curtain. I no longer had my personal memories and family history, but the burden(?) of my 'genetic history' to reconsider into my personal narrative across a much broader temporal and spatial frame of reference. The gene results reflected where my ancestors lived 500 years ago. Over time, as more people sent in their saliva samples, the sample size increased and now my genetic sample has 3 map views, a conservative, standard and speculative (that now includes East Asian genes). Every time I return to the site, I have to readjust my 'level of consciousness' to the 'newest' mapping of my body across time and space. The maps themselves are very very vague (see images) and there is little detail on how this genetic cartography has been defined by 23andMe.

In a historical vein, it is interesting to see the actual mobility and diversity of the single genetic body of a Polish peasant—it deconstructs our idea of the peasant as somehow stagnant, backward, or someone who has lived in one village for centuries...

As the sample pool changes, I am being eerily exposed to new 5th and 6th cousins, all 'genetic family' who ask to 'share' our genetic information together. People whom I have never met are now my digital family...It feels very very strange to imagine one's family tree perpetually expanding.

I don't know what to make of this on a theoretical level. If we take Harvey's matrix of space into absolute, relative, relational—where does 'genetic mapping' of the body fit in? The corporeal body is absolute, but what about its encounter with the genetic map? Does it make it relational? I would love some input on that.

23andMe, Mother Nature, natural selection, human mobility across the European continent, cultural/political/economic conditions, etc.

23andme: https://www.23andme.com

1485-1985 (Map depicts where my ancestors lived 500 years ago).

Self

English

Genetic mapping