The South African Khoe-San communities are no strangers to exploitative research. One research team is trying to provide genetic ancestry results to community members. But they still face many challenges.
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Articles on Genetic ancestry testing
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Genetic ancestry tests may sound like a bit of fun, but in an era marked by increasing xenophobia, it’s important to be aware of the interplay between genetics and ideas of race.
When you share your genetic data – even with the NHS – you don’t know where it will end up, or how it will be used.
The results of genetic ancestry tests are grossly over-simplified. A new study shows the tests reinforce what you want to believe rather than offering objective, scientific proof of who you are.
A public genealogy data base was used to track down the so-called “Golden State Killer,” raising concerns about the privacy of using public sites to fill out our family trees.
The current craze to search for our ancestry is complicated and paradoxical. We want to know we are connected – yet we crave to be unique. Moral white panic is also involved and so is big business.
New census data sheds light on the country’s Indigenous population. In Eastern Canada, the rise in people claiming to be “Métis” is a controversial case of “settler self-indigenization.”
Top contributors
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Professor of English, York University, Canada
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Assistant Professor, Faculty of Native Studies and Department of Political Science , University of Alberta
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PhD Candidate, School of Law, Trinity College Dublin
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Associate Professor of Sociology, University of British Columbia
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Ph.D. in History of Ideas at Centre for Multidisciplinary Studies on Racism, Uppsala University
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Associate Professor of Archaeology and Researcher in Heritage Studies, Stockholm University
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PhD Candidate in Anthropology, University of California, Davis
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Associate Professor, Department of Social Justice and Community Studies, Saint Mary’s University
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Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Davis
