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).

Come join me for The Collaboratory for Black Feminist Health & Healing’s new book lecture series, “Writing Health Through Black Feminist Theory.”

Through co-sponsorship with the UCLA Department of African American Studies, I am excited to serve as the discussant to Dr. Natali Valdez (Purdue University)’s book, Weighing the Future: Race, Science, and Pregnancy Trials in the Postgenomic Era (UC Press, 2021).

More information about the date and time (and Zoom link for those who are interested) will be available closer to the date.