Ancestry Reimagined

Ancestry Reimagined PDF Author: Kostas (Professor Kampourakis, Professor University of Geneva)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019765634X
Category : DNA
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Recent social and political psychological research indicates that increased access to ancestry testing has strengthened the notion of genetic essentialism among some groups, or the idea that our biology ties us to particular ethnic identities. This can boost a sense of cultural pride and prosocial behaviors among communities that are perceived to be similar. In the worst-case scenarios, however, this phenomenon can contribute to deeper social woes like misinformation, anti-science agendas, and even social hatred among those who believe in racial superiority. Using research from both the social sciences and the genetics literature as support, Ancestry Reimagined establishes realistic expectations about what we can learn from our DNA as a foundation for examining the psychological impact of ancestry testing, including the differences between how this information is perceived versus its reality. With this book, Dr. Kampourakis flexes his muscles as an esteemed interdisciplinary science educator and author to challenge these traditional social constructs, using the current genetic testing science as a myth busting tool. Kampourakis argues that DNA ancestry testing cannot reveal a person's true ethnic identity because ethnic groups are socially and culturally constructed. In 10 accessible chapters, he explains the assumptions underlying the scientific study of ancestry, and the resulting paradoxes that are often overlooked. What the study of human DNA mostly shows is that human DNA variation is continuous, and it is not possible to clearly delimit ethnic groups based on DNA data. As a result, we all are members of a huge, extended family, and not of genetically distinct ethnic groups. What ancestry tests can provide are probabilistic estimations of similarities between the test-takers and particular reference populations. This does not devalue the results of these tests, however, because they can indeed provide some valuable information to people who may not know much about their ancestors. In fact, what the tests are very good at doing is finding close relatives, and this is perhaps why the whole enterprise should be rebranded as family, not ancestry, testing. Ultimately, this book reveals that genetic essentialism, biological ethnic identities, racial superiority, and similar social constructs are scientifically unsupported.

Ancestry Reimagined

Ancestry Reimagined PDF Author: Kostas (Professor Kampourakis, Professor University of Geneva)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019765634X
Category : DNA
Languages : en
Pages : 249

Get Book

Book Description
Recent social and political psychological research indicates that increased access to ancestry testing has strengthened the notion of genetic essentialism among some groups, or the idea that our biology ties us to particular ethnic identities. This can boost a sense of cultural pride and prosocial behaviors among communities that are perceived to be similar. In the worst-case scenarios, however, this phenomenon can contribute to deeper social woes like misinformation, anti-science agendas, and even social hatred among those who believe in racial superiority. Using research from both the social sciences and the genetics literature as support, Ancestry Reimagined establishes realistic expectations about what we can learn from our DNA as a foundation for examining the psychological impact of ancestry testing, including the differences between how this information is perceived versus its reality. With this book, Dr. Kampourakis flexes his muscles as an esteemed interdisciplinary science educator and author to challenge these traditional social constructs, using the current genetic testing science as a myth busting tool. Kampourakis argues that DNA ancestry testing cannot reveal a person's true ethnic identity because ethnic groups are socially and culturally constructed. In 10 accessible chapters, he explains the assumptions underlying the scientific study of ancestry, and the resulting paradoxes that are often overlooked. What the study of human DNA mostly shows is that human DNA variation is continuous, and it is not possible to clearly delimit ethnic groups based on DNA data. As a result, we all are members of a huge, extended family, and not of genetically distinct ethnic groups. What ancestry tests can provide are probabilistic estimations of similarities between the test-takers and particular reference populations. This does not devalue the results of these tests, however, because they can indeed provide some valuable information to people who may not know much about their ancestors. In fact, what the tests are very good at doing is finding close relatives, and this is perhaps why the whole enterprise should be rebranded as family, not ancestry, testing. Ultimately, this book reveals that genetic essentialism, biological ethnic identities, racial superiority, and similar social constructs are scientifically unsupported.

Ancestry Re-imagined

Ancestry Re-imagined PDF Author: KAMPOURAKIS.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780197656372
Category : DNA
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"I begin the first chapter of the present book with definitions, because the concepts related to ancestry are often confused in the public discourse. Sometimes this is done because people do not pay attention to what exactly these concepts are about, and so use them interchangeably. For instance, when the majority of a people in a nation are also considered to be members of the same ethnic group, nationality and ethnicity can be easily confused. Other times, different concepts are intentionally used to refer to the same category. For instance, "White" is a category that is described as race in the US Census and as ethnicity in the UK census. Therefore, I have decided to define these concepts right from the start, in order to clarify their differences and also show how their improper use may lead to misunderstandings"--

Trace Your Roots with DNA

Trace Your Roots with DNA PDF Author: Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak
Publisher: Rodale Books
ISBN: 1609616162
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Written by two of the country's top genealogists, this is the first book to explain how new and groundbreaking genetic testing can help you research your ancestry According to American Demographics, 113 million Americans have begun to trace their roots, making genealogy the second most popular hobby in the country (after gardening). Enthusiasts clamor for new information from dozens of subscription-based websites, email newsletters, and magazines devoted to the subject. For these eager roots-seekers looking to take their searches to the next level, DNA testing is the answer. After a brief introduction to genealogy and genetics fundamentals, the authors explain the types of available testing, what kind of information the tests can provide, how to interpret the results, and how the tests work (it doesn't involve digging up your dead relatives). It's in expensive, easy to do, and the results are accurate: It's as simple as swabbing the inside of your cheek and popping a sample in the mail. Family lore has it that a branch of our family emigrated to Argentina and now I've found some people there with our name. Can testing tell us whether we're from the same family? My mother was adopted and doesn't know her ethnicity. Are there any tests available to help her learn about her heritage? I just discovered someone else with my highly unusual surname. How can we find out if we have a common ancestor? These are just a few of the types of genealogical scenarios readers can pursue. The authors reveal exactly what is possible-and what is not possible-with genetic testing. They include case studies of both famous historial mysteries and examples of ordinary folks whose exploration of genetic genealogy has enabled them to trace their roots.

Alternate Roots

Alternate Roots PDF Author: Christine Scodari
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 1496817796
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
In recent years, the media has attributed the increasing numbers of people producing family trees to the aging of baby boomers, a sense of mortality, a proliferation of Internet genealogy sites, and a growing pride in ethnicity. A spate of new genealogy-themed television series and Internet-driven genetic ancestry testing services have now emerged, capitIn recent years, the media have attributed the increasing numbers of people producing family trees to the aging of baby boomers, a sense of mortality, a proliferation of Internet genealogy sites, and a growing pride in ethnicity. A spate of new genealogy-themed television series and Internet-driven genetic ancestry testing services have now emerged, capitalizing on the mapping of the human genome in 2003. This genealogical trend poses a need for critical analysis, particularly along lines of race and ethnicity. In contextual ways, as she intersperses an account of her own journey chronicling her Italian and Italian American family history, Christine Scodari lays out how family historians can understand intersections involving race and/or ethnicity and other identities inflecting families. Through engagement in and with genealogical texts and practices, such as the classic television series Roots, Ancestry.com, and Henry Louis Gates’s documentaries, Scodari also explains how to interpret their import to historical and ongoing relations of power beyond the family. Perspectives on hybridity and intersectionality gesture toward making connections not only between and among identities, but also between localized findings and broader contexts that might, given only cursory attention, seem tangential to chronicling a family history. Given current tools, texts, practices, cultural contexts, and technologies, Scodari’s study determines whether a critical genealogy around race, ethnicity, and intersectional identities is viable. She delves into the implications of adoption, orientation, and migration while also investigating her own genealogy, examining the racial, ethnic experiences of her forebears and positioning them within larger, cross-cultural contexts. There is little research on genealogical media in relation to race and ethnicity. Thus, Scodari blends cultural studies, critical media studies, and her own genealogy as a critical pursuit to interrogate issues bound up in the nuts-and-bolts of engaging in family history.alizing on the mapping of the human genome in 2003. This genealogical trend poses a need for critical analysis, particularly along lines of race and ethnicity. In contextual ways, Christine Scodari lays out how family historians can understand intersections involving race and/or ethnicity within families. Through engagement in and with genealogical texts and practices, such as the classic television series Roots, Ancestry.com, and Henry Louis Gates’ documentaries, Scodari also explains how to decipher their import to historical and ongoing relations of power beyond the family. Perspectives on hybridity and intersectionality gesture toward making connections not only between and among identities, but also between localized findings and broader contexts that might, given only cursory attention, seem tangential to chronicling a family history. Given current tools, texts, practices, cultural contexts, and technologies, Scodari’s study determines whether a critical genealogy around race, ethnicity, and intersectional identities is viable. She delves into the implications of adoption, orientation, and migration while also investigating her own genealogy, examining the racial, ethnic experiences of her forebears and positioning them within larger, cross-cultural contexts. There is little research on genealogical media in relation to race and ethnicity. Thus, Scodari blends cultural studies, critical media studies, and her own genealogy as a critical pursuit to interrogate issues bound up in the nuts-and-bolts of engaging in family history.

Playing Indian

Playing Indian PDF Author: Philip J. Deloria
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300153600
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
The Boston Tea Party, the Order of Red Men, Camp Fire Girls, Boy Scouts, Grateful Dead concerts: just a few examples of white Americans' tendency to appropriate Indian dress and act out Indian roles "A valuable contribution to Native American studies."—Kirkus Reviews This provocative book explores how white Americans have used their ideas about Native Americans to shape national identity in different eras—and how Indian people have reacted to these imitations of their native dress, language, and ritual. At the Boston Tea Party, colonial rebels played Indian in order to claim an aboriginal American identity. In the nineteenth century, Indian fraternal orders allowed men to rethink the idea of revolution, consolidate national power, and write nationalist literary epics. By the twentieth century, playing Indian helped nervous city dwellers deal with modernist concerns about nature, authenticity, Cold War anxiety, and various forms of relativism. Deloria points out, however, that throughout American history the creative uses of Indianness have been interwoven with conquest and dispossession of the Indians. Indian play has thus been fraught with ambivalence—for white Americans who idealized and villainized the Indian, and for Indians who were both humiliated and empowered by these cultural exercises. Deloria suggests that imagining Indians has helped generations of white Americans define, mask, and evade paradoxes stemming from simultaneous construction and destruction of these native peoples. In the process, Americans have created powerful identities that have never been fully secure.

Ancestors and Relatives

Ancestors and Relatives PDF Author: Eviatar Zerubavel
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 0199773955
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
Noted social scientist Eviatar Zerubavel casts a critical eye on how we trace our past-individually and collectively arguing that rather than simply find out who our ancestors are from genetics or history, we actually create the stories that make them our ancestors.

Enemy Tribe

Enemy Tribe PDF Author: Lori Holmes
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781838029876
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
The breathtaking story that has enthralled readers from around the world, The Ancestors Saga continues with Book 3, Enemy Tribe... Betrayed. Captured. Terrified. The forests of home lie far behind. Nyriaana is now the captive of Khalvir, the Wove raider she mistakenly trusted with her life. Gripped by the agony of betrayal and the dire consequences her naïvety wrought, the thirst for revenge alone keeps Nyriaana breathing. Surrounded by predators, both human and animal alike, not everything is as it seems in this vast and perilous world beyond her homeland. Nyriaana must learn who to trust and learn fast if she is to survive the journey through enemy territory. One misstep and she will fall into the clutches of the mysterious chief who awaits her arrival...

Ancestor Trouble

Ancestor Trouble PDF Author: Maud Newton
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0812987497
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
“Extraordinary and wide-ranging . . . a literary feat that simultaneously builds and excavates identity.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice) Roxane Gay’s Audacious Book Club Pick • Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize • An acclaimed writer goes searching for the truth about her complicated Southern family—and finds that our obsession with ancestors opens up new ways of seeing ourselves—in this “brilliant mix of personal memoir and cultural observation” (The Boston Globe). ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, NPR, Time, Entertainment Weekly, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Esquire, Garden & Gun Maud Newton’s ancestors have fascinated her since she was a girl. Her mother’s father was said to have married thirteen times. Her mother’s grandfather killed a man with a hay hook. Mental illness and religious fanaticism percolated Maud’s maternal lines back to an ancestor accused of being a witch in Puritan-era Massachusetts. Newton’s family inspired in her a desire to understand family patterns: what we are destined to replicate and what we can leave behind. She set out to research her genealogy—her grandfather’s marriages, the accused witch, her ancestors’ roles in slavery and other harms. Her journey took her into the realms of genetics, epigenetics, and debates over intergenerational trauma. She mulled over modernity’s dismissal of ancestors along with psychoanalytic and spiritual traditions that center them. Searching and inspiring, Ancestor Trouble is one writer’s attempt to use genealogy—a once-niche hobby that has grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry—to make peace with the secrets and contradictions of her family's past and face its reverberations in the present, and to argue for the transformational possibilities that reckoning with our ancestors offers all of us.

Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South

Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South PDF Author: Malinda Maynor Lowery
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 9780807898284
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
With more than 50,000 enrolled members, North Carolina's Lumbee Indians are the largest Native American tribe east of the Mississippi River. Malinda Maynor Lowery, a Lumbee herself, describes how, between Reconstruction and the 1950s, the Lumbee crafted and maintained a distinct identity in an era defined by racial segregation in the South and paternalistic policies for Indians throughout the nation. They did so against the backdrop of some of the central issues in American history, including race, class, politics, and citizenship. Lowery argues that "Indian" is a dynamic identity that, for outsiders, sometimes hinged on the presence of "Indian blood" (for federal New Deal policy makers) and sometimes on the absence of "black blood" (for southern white segregationists). Lumbee people themselves have constructed their identity in layers that tie together kin and place, race and class, tribe and nation; however, Indians have not always agreed on how to weave this fabric into a whole. Using photographs, letters, genealogy, federal and state records, and first-person family history, Lowery narrates this compelling conversation between insiders and outsiders, demonstrating how the Lumbee People challenged the boundaries of Indian, southern, and American identities.

The Forbidden

The Forbidden PDF Author: Lori Holmes
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781838029821
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
As the blood settles into the snow, Rebaa's life will never be the same again. Lost, alone and damingly burdened with her murdered lover's Forbidden offspring, Rebaa must learn to survive in a freezing and hostile world. Hunted by a murderous chieftain, a man hell-bent on possessing her mysterious powers for his own, Rebaa calls upon all of her cunning and extraordinary gifts to evade capture. Facing relentless danger, Rebaa must attempt to reach the one place that surely promises salvation; she can only hope that her ancestral home is the haven she needs it to be... But can any haven truly exist for one who bears...The Forbidden?