American Colonialism Still Influences Native American Identity Essay

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Native American DNA

Social and cultural definitions of relatedness are more consistent with the traditional notions of tribal membership; however, the U.S. government has long imposed its needs on tribal traditions (p. 55-61). The Dawes Act of 1887 effectively dispossessed Native Americans of communal land holdings by conferring land allotments to Native American male heads of households. Persons believed to be full-blood Native Americans were given an allotment, but it was held in trust for 25 years, with the hope that the Native Americans would eventually assimilate into the capitalist economic system. By contrast, persons deemed to be half-blood or less were immediately given their land allotment under the assumption that they were culturally-advanced enough to successfully manage their holdings. This 'blood quantum' strategy for managing tribal lands has remained in place since the Dawes Act became law, but this paternalistic approach moderated somewhat during the 20th century.

Enforcement of the Dawes Act imposed European-American notions of tribal membership on Native Americans, an approach that is entirely consistent with a population genetics approach to tribal membership determinations (p. 55-61). The Cherokee decision to disenroll the Cherokee freedman because of their African ancestry is a case in point and flies in the face of a traditional social and cultural determination of tribal affiliation. Tribal governments are worried about loosely-affiliated people seeking tribal membership for economic reasons, thereby encouraging increased reliance on genetics as a screening tool. Despite these efforts, some Native Americans continue to advocate for a return to a social and cultural basis for determining tribal affiliation. The most likely outcome, according to Tallbear, is that there will always be a role for blood lineages and genetics in determining tribal membership, but that this will be moderated somewhat by other considerations, such as knowledge of tribal history, culture, politics, ethics, and language.

Question 2

Tracing a person's ancestral lineage in modern times typically depends on mitochondrial or Y-chromosome genotyping (p. 41-42).

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Since mitochondria and the Y-chromosome are inherited from mothers and fathers, respectively, they are used to determine maternal and paternal ancestry. Five mitochondrial haplogroups have been associated with Native Americans: A, B, C, D, and X; however, the X haplogroup can also be found in Europe and the Southeast region of Siberia. This has led to the formulation of a hypothesis that the ancestors of some Native Americans migrated from Europe to Siberia and then into North America. This remains just a theory and a controversial one at that. The strength of this evidence is also undermined by the fact that the five haplogroups are based on a relatively small sample of the Native American population and could therefore be misleading.

The Y-chromosome haplogroups are C. And Q, which have also been found in residents of Southwest Siberia (p. 42-43). This finding provides additional support that the ancestors of Native American migrated from Eastern Russia. Tallbear, however, cites recent research that reveals 96% of Native Americans are predicted to have three Y-chromosome haplogroups: C, Q, and R; however, the R. haplogroup probably reflects admixture with Europeans. In addition, a significant percentage of Y-chromosomes from a relatively small sample (N = 588) of Native American males contained haplogroups from "…other, more recent ancestry" (p. 43). As Talbear notes, a single person could have as many as 1,000 ancestors during the past 10 generations and even if they had two Native American grandparents there is a chance that they would be excluded from tribal membership because genetic testing did not reveal any Native American markers. For example, a person could test positive for the mitochondrial and Y-chromosome X and R. haplogroups only and there would be no way to determine whether they have Native American ancestors based on this evidence alone.

Question 3

Assuming that a racial group is defined by genetic criteria then it.....

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