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Paper short abstract

An estimated 50m people worldwide have spit into tubes for direct-to-consumer genetic testing. This paper uses actor-network theory to consider ‘spit’ as an actant which catalyzes new networks and (sometimes unforeseen) relationships, transforming some ‘testers’ into ‘searchers’ along the way.

Paper long abstract

An estimated 50 million people worldwide have spit into a tube with one of four major direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies (Ancestry, MyHeritage, 23andMe and FamilyTreeDNA) seeking knowledge about their genealogy, ethnic background and/or health risks. Although the technical journey to transform spit into information is roughly the same, each company provides a distinct mixture of post-test services, analytic algorithms and user-friendly tools, along with unique comparative databases for family matching. While recreational ‘testers’ generally choose just one company, ‘searchers’ using DTC testing specifically to identify unknown close relatives or for advanced genealogical research are encouraged to “fish in all ponds”, i.e. to test at all four companies. While this expands the potential pool of relatives, it may also result in conflicting information, particularly with regard to ‘ethnicity’ estimates, which can differ wildly with each update. At the same time, DTC results may challenge accepted family narratives, in particular attributed paternity, sometimes several generations back, bringing distant cousins into the foreground in novel ways. This paper uses actor-network theory to consider ‘spit’ as an actant which catalyzes new networks and (sometimes unforeseen) relationships, widening existing work which rarely looks beyond tester and immediate family. Through this we interrogate the capacity of ‘spit’ to enroll actors such as search angels, genetic cousins and various tools of analysis into genetic genealogy communities as ‘testers’ transform themselves into ‘searchers’ of answers to familial mysteries through their DNA.