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Paper short abstract:

The “gene” thus emerges in the cases considered here both as an immutable determinant of identification imposed on the tested communities externally, and as a site of agency and resignifiability, where both scientific establishments and those undergoing tests construct their own historical narratives.

Paper long abstract:

Recent decade witnessed an increase in the number of DNA studies aiming to reconstruct Jewish history. Genomic research thus added a new dimension to the debate about the complexity of Jewish identity injecting new meanings into the 'genealogical' discourses of Judaism and Jewish culture. This paper discusses the effect that genomics may (or may not) have had on constructions of Jewishness, by examining recent responses to studies which attempted to cast light on the genetic structure of the Jewish people and on the history of Jewish Diaspora. The paper will explore the way 'Jewish genetics' is perceived and represented by different agents - scientists, groups undergoing such tests, commentators from wider Jewish communities - by focusing on those case studies when DNA research was conducted among the 'new' and 'emerging' Jewish groups, such as the Bene Israel and the Bene Ephraim of India. I will explore the 'mismatch' between the argument about genetics being not more than a new tool for reconstructing Jewish history, espoused by scientists and some lay commentators, and the perception of it being a 'litmus test' of Jewishness demonstrated by some members of Judaising communities. I will suggest that in these studies the "gene" thus emerges both as an immutable determinant of identification imposed on the tested communities externally, and as a site of agency and resignifiability, where both scientific establishments and those undergoing tests construct their own historical narratives.