This talk at the Menil Collection will examine how genetic information is changing the way we see the world. Not only are nucleotides forcing us to consider biological metaphors of sight. Drawing on her ethnographic fieldwork in the United States and Cameroon from 2010 to 2018, focusing on how African Americans and Cameroonians are connecting through genetic ancestry tests, Dr. Massie will discuss how people of African descent use a poetic approach to solidarity to redefine the prospects of being and making each other kin today.

This public talk is in conjunction with the exhibition Art of the Cameroon Grassfields: A Living Heritage of Houston (February 17-July 9, 2023).