BIOCULTURAL US: Migrations, families, ORIGINS, genes and people Jesse Mumm, phd. Depaul university Latin American and latino studies

THE MIGRATIONS OF HOMO SAPIENS

5 “races” AS VIEWED BY EARLY MODERN “SCIENCE”

Racism and ‘race science’ IN THE 1800s In the 1800s the landscape of science in Europe and the US was dominated by the pseudo-science that grouped humanity into separate and distinct biological “races,” which were sometimes applied to nations, continents, tribes, classes, or local social categories of any kind. THIS HAS ALL SINCE BEEN DISPROVEN AS NOT SCIENTIFIC AT ALL.

SKIN COLOR SPECTRUM The amounts of red and yellow based melanin in the skin, which protects it from ultraviolet rays from the sun, is highest nearest the equator, declining further away, where skin is exposed less and still needs more sunlight to produce Vitamin D.

IS IT IN OUR GENES? IS IT IN OUR CULTURES? Extreme biological determinism Extreme social constructionism BIOCULTURAL SYNTHESIS All social conditions and behaviors are linked to biology. Biological races exist. Skills, intelligence, abilities, and life chances are the results of fixed evolutionary results of entire groups. [THIS JUSTIFIES OUTRIGHT RACISM.] All life conditions and behaviors are socially made. Races, nations, groups, tribes are all human inventions. We are all mixed, all human, basically the same. [THIS CAN BE USED TO JUSTIFY “COLORBLIND RACISM.”] Social conditions and behaviors are linked to ancestries and inheritances. Physical variation is linked to geographies of origin. Human societies determine the meanings of physical traits. [THIS RECOGNIZES DIFFERENCE BUT UNDERMINES RACIST CLAIMS.]

WHAT FORCES ARE LEADING US TO MAP OUR GENES? https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/ ITS HAPPY! INCLUSIVE! DIVERSE! EXCITING! But what is it really telling us about our histories? What do we need more than lists of places?

GENES ARE NOT STUCK TO GEOGRAPHIES GENE FLOW GENETIC DRIFT BIOLOGICAL DISPERSAL MIGRATION

THE WHOLE PICTURE OF OUR BIOCULTURAL SELVES PHENOTYPES REPRODUCTION IDENTITY AND ASCRIPTION ENVIRONMENT FAMILY & KINSHIP It is best to think of our physical traits as interrelated with histories of reproduction, family and kinship relations, environmental factors, and social realities of how people ascribe value or claim identities.

So what does my 16% “british” mean? Celt Pict Roman Norman Saxon All of the above? None of the above?

Incredible genetic variation in indigenous mexico A recent study showed there is WIDER genetic variation among present day indigenous peoples in Mexico than between, for example, the average German and Japanese person.

The case of mildred and Richard loving