For many people, the results of DNA-based ancestry tests will reveal that they are precisely what they thought they were, writes Samantha Gillison at the Guardian.
While some people seeking DNA-based ancestry testing might not know their ancestral origins, such as adoptees, Gillison says she sought testing more as recreation. For people like her, she says the allure of testing is that they might find out that their family history is more interesting than it seems.
"One of the great human fantasies that riddles the narratives of global cultures from prehistory to today is that, like baby Moses in his basket, Harry Potter under the Dursleys' staircase, Luke Skywalker on Tattooine, or Cinderella with her bucket and mop, we are not who we seem to be," Gillison says. "And the ancestry DNA kits stir up the powerful unconscious wish that we are meant for a greater, or at least, a different, destiny."
But rather than finding out she was a long-lost princess or wizard, Gillison says her genetic ancestry results instead gave her scientific proof to back up that she was precisely who she thought she was.