Tracing Our Ancestors: Using Genetics to Investigate Genealogy

Rick Kittles is a pioneer in the practice of tracing ancestry through DNA. A professor in the Department of Medicine and the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Kittles uses specific genetic markers to decipher our individual and collective genealogies. He did so as one of the researchers in the celebrated PBS series Finding Your Roots. At the Festival, Kittles discusses how human genetic research is increasingly challenging notions of race and biology, and why an accurate understanding of genetic history resides at the intersection of health, race, and society.

This program is presented in partnership with the UIC Institute for the Humanities.