Format: Lecture followed by Q&A

Abstract: Everyone comes from somewhere. From the doctor’s office to the passport office, from whom we’ve descended affects the biological, legal, and cultural identities of just about everybody in the world today. How did ancestry come to play such a critical role in defining status? The answers lie, in part, in the many kinds of genealogical records created and maintained by religious and political authorities over time, such as royal chronicles, family trees, and certificates of birth, marriage, and death. Drawing on insights from history, anthropology, and genetics, this lecture will meditate on the human preoccupation with lineage from ancient times to the DNA tests of today.

Biography: Maya Jasanoff is the Coolidge Professor of History at Harvard University. She is the author of three books—"Edge of Empire" (2005), "Liberty’s Exiles" (2011), and "The Dawn Watch" (2017)—which have won accolades including the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Cundill Prize in History, the George Washington Book Prize, and the Windham-Campbell Prize for Non-Fiction. Jasanoff is currently completing a broad-ranging history of the human preoccupation with ancestry. She writes widely about history, literature, and world affairs for publications including The New Yorker and The New York Times.

This event presented by the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies. It is made possible in part by a generous contribution from Kenneth and Frances Aftel Eisenberg. Additional support from the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies.