Genomic articulations of indigeneity
Indigenous peoples’ and genome scientists’ respective definitions and practices of making ‘indigeneity’ illustrate their competing notions of identity, origins, and futures. This article explores these genomic and indigenous ‘articulations’ of indigeneity, both their similarities and profound differ...
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crsagepubl:10.1177/0306312713483893 2024-06-23T07:52:51+00:00 Genomic articulations of indigeneity TallBear, Kim 2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0306312713483893 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0306312713483893 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/0306312713483893 en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license Social Studies of Science volume 43, issue 4, page 509-533 ISSN 0306-3127 1460-3659 journal-article 2013 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312713483893 2024-06-11T04:32:57Z Indigenous peoples’ and genome scientists’ respective definitions and practices of making ‘indigeneity’ illustrate their competing notions of identity, origins, and futures. This article explores these genomic and indigenous ‘articulations’ of indigeneity, both their similarities and profound differences. Scientists who study ancient global human migrations and human genome diversity draw on an understanding of ‘indigeneity’ that appears to overlap with, but fundamentally contradicts, the use of this concept by the global indigenous movement. Genomic articulations privilege genetic ancestry as defining indigenous ‘populations’. In contrast, indigenous articulations of indigeneity emphasize political status and biological and cultural kinship constituted in dynamic, long-standing relations with each other and with living landscapes. To demonstrate how differences in definitions matter, I draw examples from several scientific and indigenous projects that entangle DNA knowledge with judgments about indigenous identities, and I note resulting policy implications. I first examine two key narratives of indigeneity and race that underlie the genomic articulation of indigeneity: ‘indigenous peoples are vanishing’ and ‘we are all related/all African’. I then explore two cases where genomic and indigenous articulations clash and overlap – the ‘Kennewick Man’ case and the use of DNA testing for tribal enrollment. Yet genomic articulations, with their greater truth-governing power, may inadvertently reconfigure indigeneity in ways that can undermine tribal and First Nations’ self-determination and the global indigenous anticolonial movement. Indeed, some indigenous peoples have recently adopted genomic articulations of identity, perhaps to their own detriment. Article in Journal/Newspaper First Nations SAGE Publications Social Studies of Science 43 4 509 533 |
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Indigenous peoples’ and genome scientists’ respective definitions and practices of making ‘indigeneity’ illustrate their competing notions of identity, origins, and futures. This article explores these genomic and indigenous ‘articulations’ of indigeneity, both their similarities and profound differences. Scientists who study ancient global human migrations and human genome diversity draw on an understanding of ‘indigeneity’ that appears to overlap with, but fundamentally contradicts, the use of this concept by the global indigenous movement. Genomic articulations privilege genetic ancestry as defining indigenous ‘populations’. In contrast, indigenous articulations of indigeneity emphasize political status and biological and cultural kinship constituted in dynamic, long-standing relations with each other and with living landscapes. To demonstrate how differences in definitions matter, I draw examples from several scientific and indigenous projects that entangle DNA knowledge with judgments about indigenous identities, and I note resulting policy implications. I first examine two key narratives of indigeneity and race that underlie the genomic articulation of indigeneity: ‘indigenous peoples are vanishing’ and ‘we are all related/all African’. I then explore two cases where genomic and indigenous articulations clash and overlap – the ‘Kennewick Man’ case and the use of DNA testing for tribal enrollment. Yet genomic articulations, with their greater truth-governing power, may inadvertently reconfigure indigeneity in ways that can undermine tribal and First Nations’ self-determination and the global indigenous anticolonial movement. Indeed, some indigenous peoples have recently adopted genomic articulations of identity, perhaps to their own detriment. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
TallBear, Kim |
spellingShingle |
TallBear, Kim Genomic articulations of indigeneity |
author_facet |
TallBear, Kim |
author_sort |
TallBear, Kim |
title |
Genomic articulations of indigeneity |
title_short |
Genomic articulations of indigeneity |
title_full |
Genomic articulations of indigeneity |
title_fullStr |
Genomic articulations of indigeneity |
title_full_unstemmed |
Genomic articulations of indigeneity |
title_sort |
genomic articulations of indigeneity |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0306312713483893 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0306312713483893 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/0306312713483893 |
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First Nations |
genre_facet |
First Nations |
op_source |
Social Studies of Science volume 43, issue 4, page 509-533 ISSN 0306-3127 1460-3659 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312713483893 |
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Social Studies of Science |
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43 |
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4 |
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509 |
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533 |
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1802644270134329344 |