Public Program
Dr. Victoria Massie: Refracting Biological Vision: The Poetics of Genetic Cameroonian Ancestry
Installation view of Art of the Cameroon Grassfields: A Living Heritage in Houston at the Menil Collection, Houston. Photo: Lauren Marek
Dr. Victoria Massie. Photo courtesy of the speaker.
Dr. Victoria Massie’s research focuses on how new biotechnologies like genetic testing are changing our ideas of biology, race, and, as a result, how we relate to one another today. Drawing on her ethnographic fieldwork in Central-West Africa and the United States, her talk will explore how African Americans and Cameroonians are connecting through genetic ancestry as part of a poetic approach to kinship, solidarity, and personhood.
Attending the program:
This lecture takes place in the foyer of the main building, located at 1533 Sul Ross Street. Additional information regarding accessibility and parking can be found here.
As always, Menil programs are free and open to all.
About the speaker:
Victoria Massie, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Medical Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at Rice University. She is also a Faculty Affiliate for the Center for African & African American Studies, the Medical Humanities Program, the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, and the Science and Technology Studies Program. Her forthcoming book project, Prospecting Return: The Gift of Genetic Reconnection in Cameroon, examines how genetic reconnection programs in Cameroon are creating opportunities for Africans to redefine postcolonial independence through African Americans’ genetically catalyzed return home.
