The Genetic Construction of Roma Group Coherence and its Interdisciplinary Entanglements

该项目在其历史背景下仔细审查了目前关于罗姆人的遗传研究。它评估了关于罗姆人的遗传研究的概念前提、抽样战略和跨学科纠葛。我们认为，这些基因研究依赖于在社会科学和人文科学中创造的实践、分类和叙述。由于这种知识转让可能会对罗姆群体身份产生具体化的影响，它引发了种族主义在科学和社会中产生反响的问题，即使遗传学家认为自己是反种族主义者。自1921年以来，已有150多篇遗传学论文对罗姆人进行了研究。二战后，他们的作者声称与臭名昭著的人类测量-系谱方法保持距离：通过越来越多地采用遗传方法、血清学和蛋白质分析，以及后来的DNA分析。然而，这些研究在个人、制度、概念和方法方面显示出显著的连续性：在过去和现在的研究中，遗传学家一致认为罗姆人的同质性、内婚制、生殖隔离和起源于印度。与遗传学家之间的一致性形成对比的是，社会科学/人文科学中的争议很普遍：研究人员要么拒绝，要么同意罗姆人群体凝聚力的概念。然而，在基因研究中，那些反对这种概念的人的批判性论点被忽视了。该项目依靠科学史和STS中的方法来分析遗传学家与社会科学家之间的相互借鉴和合作。它阐述了所谓的Zigeunerforschung和血清学遗传学方法之间的历史联系。该项目提高了对科学和政治领域的分类和污名问题的敏感性；它突出了基因研究的伦理和社会影响。此外，它还邀请具有罗姆人背景的遗传学家和学者与社会科学和人文科学的学者进行讨论。

The project scrutinizes current genetic research on Roma in its historical context. It assesses the conceptual premises, sampling strategies and interdisciplinary entanglements of genetic studies on Roma. We argue that those genetic studies rely on practices, classifications and narrations created in the social sciences and humanities. As this knowledge transfer might yield reifying effects regarding Roma group identiy, it evokes the question of racist repercussions in science and society, even if geneticists regard themselves as anti-racists. Since 1921, Roma have been addressed in over 150 genetic papers. After WWII, their authors claimed distance from the notorious anthropometric-genealogic approach: by increasingly adopting genetic methods, serology and protein analysis, and later, DNA ana¬ly¬sis. Nevertheless, the studies reveal remarkable continuities with regard to personal, institutional, conceptual and methodological aspects: In past and present studies, geneticists agree on the homogeneity of Roma, their endogamy, reproductive isolation and having originated in India. By contrast to the uniformity among geneticists, controversy prevails in the social sciences/humanities: Researchers either reject or agree on notions of Roma group cohesion. Critical arguments of those who reject such notions are however ignored in genetic studies. The project relies on methods from history of science and STS to analyze mutual borrowings and collaboration of geneticists with social scientists. It addresses the historical links between the so-called Zigeunerforschung and serological-genetic approaches. The project heightens the sensitivity around issues of classification and stigmatization across scientific and political fields; it highlights ethical and social implications of genetic research. Moreover, it invites geneticists and scholars with Roma backgrounds to discuss with scholars from the social sciences and humanities.