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That is the question asked by Terry Carmichael, vice president for sales and marketing at GeneTree, whose advertising asks, “Do you have Native American DNA?”
How do you feel about this?
Is it the DNA or traditions passed down thru known bloodlines?
Link for article....
By Adam Tanner
Updated: 10:15 p.m. ET March 25, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO - The United States has treated its indigenous people poorly for much of its history, yet today thousands of people are anxious to show their Native American heritage and are turning to DNA testing for help.
Some white Americans have long claimed distant ties to Cherokee princesses or other legendary figures among the peoples whom explorer Christopher Columbus mistakenly called Indians.
Now Indian heritage — which can make a person eligible for federal assistance programs, qualify them for a share of tribal casino profits, or just satisfy their curiosity — can be determined through genetic testing. Advances in DNA screening have provided new tools to document Native American ancestry, although some say such data are open to be interpretation.
“If you are interested in determining your eligibility for Native American rights or just want to satisfy your curiosity, our ancestry DNA test is the only method available for this purpose today,” one firm, Genelex, advertises.
A question of fractions
Although U.S. citizens typically know the broad outlines of their ancestry, for Native Americans the exact fractions of their heritage can take on heightened importance.
Nineteenth-century treaties obligate the U.S. government to provide education, health care and other services to many tribes. Indian sovereignty also means tribes can set up casinos on reservations. Indian casinos now generate $18 billion annually, and the numbers are growing.
Many tribes set as a membership standard that a person must have at least one Indian grandparent or one great-grandparent. Others among the 562 federally recognized tribes require links to members on a tribal membership roll in past generations.
With individuals seeking to affirm membership in recognized tribes and dozens of unrecognized tribes seeking federal acknowledgment, commercial firms have in the last two years stepped up marketing of genetic ancestry tests. A positive test result is not sufficient to enable someone to claim Indian benefits, because they must prove a link to a specific tribe.
“Nobody else in this nation has to prove their ancestry except for American Indians,” said Ken Adams, chief of the Upper Mattaponni Tribe in Virginia, which is not recognized by the U.S. government. “It’s so ironic, because we were the original ones.”
Three types of tests
Since Genelex started offering the test more than a year ago, 600 people have paid $395 to learn the degree of their Native American heritage, said Kristine Ashcraft, director of client relations.
Firms such as Genelex offer three types of tests: on male ancestors, on female ancestors, and a third to determine a percentage of Native American, East Asian, Indo-European and African heritage.
DNAPrint, a company based in Sarasota, Fla., processes that third test, and has done it for 12,000 to 13,000 people since 2000, said firm director Richard Gabriel. DNAPrint uses data from South American Indians as a genetic reference point, he said.
Testing has its limits
Mark Shriver, an anthropologist at Pennsylvania State University who helped develop the DNAPrint ancestry test, cautions that without a filled-out family history, the DNA results prove little.
“Just simple belief in a test without considering all the other data is, you know, foolish,” he said. “The science is not simply true and objective. ... It is one clue in the picture.”
He cited one of his graduate students from France, whose test found a 14 percent Native American heritage. He said that number was likely the result of intermixing following the 13th-century invasion of Europe by Mongols, who hailed from the same region of Asia as the forefathers of Native Americans.
The DNA tests are also unable to differentiate between Indian tribes.
Who is an Indian?
The issue of who is an Indian also hangs over future generations. For members whose tribes share revenues from casino operations, marrying outside the tribe could have major financial implications.
As in many cultures, some parents encourage children to marry within the tribe, but some, especially in smaller tribes, see the request as very limiting.
“Everyone in the tribe is a distant cousin,” complained one 18-year-old Indian woman who works at a casino in the Pueblo of Acoma, N.M. She hoped to marry outside the tribe.
As important as identity is in Native American culture, for some the motivation for a DNA test is just curiosity.
“It’s growing in popularity much faster than any of our expectations,” said Terry Carmichael, vice president for sales and marketing at GeneTree, whose advertising asks, “Do you have Native American DNA?”
“A lot of people out there primarily want to find out if they have Native American ancestry, not for purposes of claiming rights to a casino, but more for their own understanding,” he said. “They want to be able to understand their ancestry a little bit more.”
How do you feel about this?
Is it the DNA or traditions passed down thru known bloodlines?
Link for article....
By Adam Tanner
Updated: 10:15 p.m. ET March 25, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO - The United States has treated its indigenous people poorly for much of its history, yet today thousands of people are anxious to show their Native American heritage and are turning to DNA testing for help.
Some white Americans have long claimed distant ties to Cherokee princesses or other legendary figures among the peoples whom explorer Christopher Columbus mistakenly called Indians.
Now Indian heritage — which can make a person eligible for federal assistance programs, qualify them for a share of tribal casino profits, or just satisfy their curiosity — can be determined through genetic testing. Advances in DNA screening have provided new tools to document Native American ancestry, although some say such data are open to be interpretation.
“If you are interested in determining your eligibility for Native American rights or just want to satisfy your curiosity, our ancestry DNA test is the only method available for this purpose today,” one firm, Genelex, advertises.
A question of fractions
Although U.S. citizens typically know the broad outlines of their ancestry, for Native Americans the exact fractions of their heritage can take on heightened importance.
Nineteenth-century treaties obligate the U.S. government to provide education, health care and other services to many tribes. Indian sovereignty also means tribes can set up casinos on reservations. Indian casinos now generate $18 billion annually, and the numbers are growing.
Many tribes set as a membership standard that a person must have at least one Indian grandparent or one great-grandparent. Others among the 562 federally recognized tribes require links to members on a tribal membership roll in past generations.
With individuals seeking to affirm membership in recognized tribes and dozens of unrecognized tribes seeking federal acknowledgment, commercial firms have in the last two years stepped up marketing of genetic ancestry tests. A positive test result is not sufficient to enable someone to claim Indian benefits, because they must prove a link to a specific tribe.
“Nobody else in this nation has to prove their ancestry except for American Indians,” said Ken Adams, chief of the Upper Mattaponni Tribe in Virginia, which is not recognized by the U.S. government. “It’s so ironic, because we were the original ones.”
Three types of tests
Since Genelex started offering the test more than a year ago, 600 people have paid $395 to learn the degree of their Native American heritage, said Kristine Ashcraft, director of client relations.
Firms such as Genelex offer three types of tests: on male ancestors, on female ancestors, and a third to determine a percentage of Native American, East Asian, Indo-European and African heritage.
DNAPrint, a company based in Sarasota, Fla., processes that third test, and has done it for 12,000 to 13,000 people since 2000, said firm director Richard Gabriel. DNAPrint uses data from South American Indians as a genetic reference point, he said.
Testing has its limits
Mark Shriver, an anthropologist at Pennsylvania State University who helped develop the DNAPrint ancestry test, cautions that without a filled-out family history, the DNA results prove little.
“Just simple belief in a test without considering all the other data is, you know, foolish,” he said. “The science is not simply true and objective. ... It is one clue in the picture.”
He cited one of his graduate students from France, whose test found a 14 percent Native American heritage. He said that number was likely the result of intermixing following the 13th-century invasion of Europe by Mongols, who hailed from the same region of Asia as the forefathers of Native Americans.
The DNA tests are also unable to differentiate between Indian tribes.
Who is an Indian?
The issue of who is an Indian also hangs over future generations. For members whose tribes share revenues from casino operations, marrying outside the tribe could have major financial implications.
As in many cultures, some parents encourage children to marry within the tribe, but some, especially in smaller tribes, see the request as very limiting.
“Everyone in the tribe is a distant cousin,” complained one 18-year-old Indian woman who works at a casino in the Pueblo of Acoma, N.M. She hoped to marry outside the tribe.
As important as identity is in Native American culture, for some the motivation for a DNA test is just curiosity.
“It’s growing in popularity much faster than any of our expectations,” said Terry Carmichael, vice president for sales and marketing at GeneTree, whose advertising asks, “Do you have Native American DNA?”
“A lot of people out there primarily want to find out if they have Native American ancestry, not for purposes of claiming rights to a casino, but more for their own understanding,” he said. “They want to be able to understand their ancestry a little bit more.”
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