23andMe, the at-home genetic testing company, has teamed up with Airbnb to offer travel itineraries based on your DNA. Give 23andMe some spit and some money, and it will give you an ancestry report in return, along with suggestions of places you can go to explore your heritage. Based on my DNA results, for example, 23andMe suggested I try falconry in the United Arab Emirates or a traditional Irish music pub crawl. Weirdly, despite the fact I’m half-Palestinian, it didn’t suggest I try a relaxing stay in one of the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank listed on Airbnb, or a traditional military checkpoint crawl.
This sort of “DNAdvertising” is a growing trend: last year, for example, Spotify partnered with the world’s largest for-profit genealogy company, Ancestry, to build music playlists based on your DNA. But while genetically modified playlists or heritage holidays may seem like nothing more than fun marketing stunts, there’s a more insidious element to them. This sort of DNAdvertising is perhaps inadvertently helping to bring outdated and unscientific ideas about “race” and genetics to the mainstream.
Companies such as 23andMe and Ancestry, it should be noted, are careful to steer clear of the word “race”. Instead, their reports and press releases use words such as “ancestry”, “heritage”, “genetic populations” and “DNA tribes”. However, Timothy Caulfield, a law professor at the University of Alberta, who specialises in ethical issues surrounding medical research, has argued that various studies show: “Whenever biology is attached to a rough human classification system (ancestry, ethnicity, etc), the public, researchers and the media almost always gravitate back to the concept of race.” Caulfield further notes: “The more we suggest that biological differences between groups matter – and that is exactly what these companies are suggesting – the more the archaic concept of race is perceived, at least by some, as being legitimate.” So if you are tempted by the thought of a DNA-based holiday, you might want to start by unpacking the assumptions your itinerary is built on.
• Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
