Ancestors: Where do we come from and why do we care?

.“Ancestors: Where do we come from and why do we care?” Everyone comes from somewhere. We carry our ancestries in our names, heirlooms, DNA, and more. From the doctor’s office to the passport office, from whom we’ve descended affects the biological, legal, and cultural identities of just about everybody in the world today. How did ancestry come to play such a critical role in defining status? Weaving together anthropology, genetics, and history, this lecture will reflect on the human preoccupation with lineage from the origins of Homo sapiens to the DNA tests of today. Maya Jasanoff, the Coolidge Professor of History at Harvard and Visiting Professor at the School of Arts and Sciences. An acclaimed “method historian” and recent winner of the Cundill History Prize, who believes in following in the footsteps of the characters she writes about, Professor Jasanoff is the author of three award-winning books which explore aspects of imperialism and globalisation