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

Recorded Lansdowne Lecture with Dr. Maya Jasanoff, X.D. and Nancy Yang Professor, Coolidge Professor of History, Harvard College Professor, Harvard University

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

March 4, 2021

An award-winning author of three books, Dr. Maya Jasanoff is a leading authority on the history of the British Empire and the history of modern globalization. She is currently engaged in a wide-ranging study of ancestry and inheritance in human history.

Her lecture explores historical approaches to how ancestry affects our opportunities, our rights, and our sense of who we are. Everyone comes from somewhere. 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.