The face as folded object: Race and the problems with 'progress' in forensic DNA phenotyping

Area of Science:

• Forensic Science
• Genetics
• Anthropology
• History of Science

Background:

• Forensic DNA phenotyping (FDP) aims to predict human phenotypic characteristics from DNA.
• Advocates position FDP as a futuristic forensic tool for generating individualized facial composites.
• There is an assumption that FDP represents a move away from historical racial science.

Purpose of the Study:

• To complicate the linear view of scientific progress in FDP.
• To demonstrate how historical scientific practices are integrated into modern FDP.
• To analyze the role of race in FDP facial renderings.

Main Methods:

• Ethnographic fieldwork in genetic laboratories.
• Analysis of FDP's reliance on historical anthropological measurement and data-collection practices.
• Examination of how statistical averaging techniques are applied to modern data.

Main Results:

• Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century anthropological methods are "folded" into modern FDP.
• Practices include spectrophotometric skin color measurement, computational facial landmark analysis, and iris photography.
• These historical techniques influence the ordering and interpretation of contemporary FDP data.

Conclusions:

• FDP's reliance on historical racial science complicates its image as purely modern.
• The concept of the "folded object" illustrates the persistence of past scientific methods.
• Race is shown to be a consequence of these temporal folds within FDP technology.