Authored Books
K. Kampourakis (2023). Ancestry Reimagined: Dismantling the Myth of Genetic Ethnicities. New York: Oxford University Press.
Look inside the book at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Google Books.
Here is a short essay about the main ideas in the book: Who do you think you are? Genetics and identity
Listen to an interesting discussion about Ancestry Reimagined with Morteza Hajizadeh on New Books Network.
Here is also a video from an online discussion about the book with geneticists Sohini Ramachadran and John Novembre, historian Patrick Geary, genealogist Debbie Kennett, and science writer Philip Ball:
Here is also an interesting discussion about ancestry and DNA (and about my book) with The Dissenter (Ricardo Lopes):
Read also excerpts from book reviews:
- by Kevin Bird in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology: “… an accessible and lucid discussion about consumer genetics and the social, cultural, and scientific aspects relevant to ancestry and ethnicity. … tactfully guides readers through understanding what genetic ancestry services actually reveal about you and where youcome from. … Despite tackling a tremendous number of topics and fields, Kampourakis does a truly commendable job communicating the important takeaways of technical work and connecting observations and facts to the higher-level concepts and arguments he makes in the book. … Ultimately, Ancestry Reimagined succeeds in dismantling myths around genetic ancestry and provides an accessible and engaging and integrative discussion of a wide-ranging literature. It would serve as an excellent primer text for undergraduate students, scholars who are adjacent to, but still outside of, genetics, or the general public trying to make sense of their consumer genetics results.”
- by Ann Morning in New Genetics and Society: “Taking the measure of genetic ancestry testing requires a deep understanding of both the science involved and the cultural context that has spurred on this direct-to-consumer industry. Few scholars have been able to span the two domains, but Kostas Kampourakis, a senior lecturer in biology at the University of Geneva, proves himself amply up to the challenge. Drawing on an impressive range of literature from human genetics to the humanities, Kampourakis writes with great insight about our notions of ancestry, and with great clarity about the mechanics of genetic ancestry estimation. … The result is a detailed, transparent, accessible, and engaging exploration that, simply put, sets the gold standard for demystifying DNA ancestry estimates. Ancestry Reimagined is not just a work of popular science, however, intended to explain scientific techniques to a wider public; more importantly, it models a form of critical inquiry that scrutinizes genetic ancestry estimates in ways that are illuminating for scientists as well. In short, there is something in it for everyone, not least of all the purveyors of ancestry testing.”
- by R. Paul Thompson in the Quarterly Review of Biology: “This is an excellent examination of the concept of “ancestry”. … What makes this an excellent treatment is the journey on which Kampourakis takes us. The clarity of his presentation overall, and especially the material on DNA, makes it a delightful and illuminating reading experience. The examination of ancestry is comprehensive. … This is a very readable examination of the various spurious attempts to define ancestry and the misuse of DNA in those attempts. The value of DNA testing is laid bare and from it emerges a much richer and empirically sound concept of ancestry grounded in family. Nonspecialists will find this treatment especially valuable due to the careful attention to detail and avoidance of technical terms. I recommend it to both specialists and nonspecialists.”
- by Tom Turner in BioNews: ” Overall, while I found the book fascinating and completely agreed with Dr Kampourakis’ rejection of genetic essentialism, what I thought was impressive was the way that his case was presented for a lay audience to properly understand using simple family trees and diagrams. … Dr Kampourakis is adept at explaining philosophical concepts around biology and identity clearly and engagingly. … he book raises important questions around how ethnicity is linked to genetics beyond the commercial tests and throughout medical research.”
Endorsements:
“A fascinating and personal journey into the complex relationship between ancestry, ethnicity and identity. Kampourakis’ book provides food for thought for anyone curious about what genetic ancestry tests actually measure and what, if anything, we can learn from their results.”
Iain Mathieson, Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
“Ancestry Reimagined is an urgently needed book. It explains how modern misconceptions of genetic determinism are becoming mixed into notions of race essentialism to create confusions of identity that are being commercially monetised. While genomics has immense potential to elucidate human origins and history, this book is a splendidly clear corrective to some of its scientific, technological and societal misuses and misunderstandings.”
Philip Ball, science writer and author of How To Grow a Human
“I have more sympathy for DNA testing than does Kostas Kampourakis – if people seek slightly bizarre information about themselves, why not? Many might value such an exploration. Nonetheless, he convincingly shows the distortions, emotional tangles, politically dicey inferences, and plain silliness that test misuse can entail. Ancestry Reimagined is clear, elegant, engaged, and absorbing; no one will misunderstand genetic ancestry testing after reading it.”
Jennifer Hochschild, Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government, Harvard University, and author of Genomic Politics (OUP)
“Who do you think you are? In today’s world of identity politics, finding your roots has never seemed so important. You’d think your DNA would have answers to all your questions. That’s science, right? But as Kostas Kampourakis shows in this timely book, your DNA is a very deceptive guide to discovering your ancestry.”
Dr Henry Gee – Senior Editor at Nature, and author of A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth, and The Accidental Species: Misunderstandings of Human Evolution
“Genetic essentialism is at the root of many of our societal problems. Kampourakis brilliantly dissects misconceptions concerning modern genetic ancestry testing, notions of socially defined race and ethnicity, and how it impacts individuals’ understandings of themselves and their families. This is done in an engaging style. A must read.”
Joseph L. Graves Jr, Professor of Biological Sciences, North Carolina A&T State University and author of Racism, Not Race (with Alan Goodman)
“Kostas Kampourakis has written a book that everyone who is either considering submitting a sample for DNA testing to a commercial ancestry company or who is trying to interpret the results of such a test should read. He explains in a clear and comprehensible manner basic genetics, the different tools used by genetic ancestry companies to evaluate ancestry, and exactly what these tests can and cannot do. In particular, he presents the reasons that the results of such tests are not and cannot be taken as proof of identity or ethnicity. Ancestry Reimagined goes beyond most books on DNA testing by discussing the psychological tendency toward essentializing the results of such tests, thus explaining why and how people distort these tests to various ends. Finally, it warns of the dangers of such essentializing, both in the past and the present.”
Patrick Geary, Emeritus Professor of History, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton New Jersey
“Ancestry Reimagined does a brilliant job demystifying the pseudo-genetic personal histories that are being aggressively marketed to the public today. Ancestry is never composed of simply facts of nature, but is invariably the result of a complex negotiation between facts of nature and culture. And as millions of consumers purchase a bit of science in the hopes of constructing genetic identities for themselves, Kostas Kampourakis expertly and elegantly shows where the grains of salt must be taken each step of the way.”
Jonathan Marks, Professor of Anthropology, UNC-Charlotte
“Ancestry Reimagined provides an in-depth analysis of the geneticization of identity and ancestry. It grapples with how ancestry companies view race and ethnicity as somehow essential elements, written into our DNA. It is a unique and timely exploration that brings science to the study of the highly political topic of identity and genetic essentialisms.”
Alan H. Goodman, Professor of Biological Anthropology, Hampshire College
“In Ancestry Reimagined, Kostas Kampourakis offers a lucid explanation of the science behind DNA ancestry testing while exposing the circular reasoning and unrealistic assumptions that underpin the claim that one can “discover” one’s ancestry through DNA test results. The result is a compelling demonstration that ethnicity is culturally constructed rather than genetically determined.”
Jonathan M. Hall, Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished Service Professor in the Humanities, University of Chicago, and author of Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiquity