RESUMO
By rendering obsolete the theoretical opposition of nature and culture, the study of the human genome has given rise to fresh networks among anthropologists and other scholars. These developments, in turn, invite a refashioning of anthropology. Because genomic studies are directly concerned with the constitution of personhood, they must engage with local notions of personhood and belonging, thus undermining the distinction between experts and laypersons and demonstrating the need for new frameworks for collaboration between anthropologists and their subjects. These trends are illustrated by research in Nunavut (Canada) and Greenland, in particular an examination of the similarities and differences between modern gene talk about the constitution of the individual and "Inuit epigenetics"--local notions of naming, subjectivity, and relatedness.
Assuntos
Antropologia Cultural/história , Inuíte/história , Canadá , Epigênese Genética , História do Século XX , História do Século XXI , Humanos , Inuíte/genéticaRESUMO
We examined 395 mtDNA control-region sequences from Greenlandic Inuit and Canadian Kitikmeot Inuit with the aim of shedding light on the migration history that underlies the present geographic patterns of genetic variation at this locus in the Arctic. In line with previous studies, we found that Inuit populations carry only sequences belonging to haplotype clusters A2 and D3. However, a comparison of Arctic populations from Siberia, Canada, and Greenland revealed considerable differences in the frequencies of these haplotypes. Moreover, large sample sizes and regional information about birthplaces of maternal grandmothers permitted the detection of notable differences in the distribution of haplotypes among subpopulations within Greenland. Our results cast doubt on the prevailing hypothesis that contemporary Inuit trace their all of their ancestry to so-called Thule groups that expanded from Alaska about 800-1,000 years ago. In particular, discrepancies in mutational divergence between the Inuit populations and their putative source mtDNA pool in Siberia/Alaska for the two predominant haplotype clusters, A2a and A2b, are more consistent with the possibility that expanding Thule groups encountered and interbred with existing Dorset populations in Canada and Greenland.
Assuntos
DNA Mitocondrial/genética , DNA Mitocondrial/história , Emigração e Imigração/história , Variação Genética/genética , Inuíte/genética , Inuíte/história , Canadá , Análise Mutacional de DNA , Genética Populacional/métodos , Groenlândia , Haplótipos/genética , História do Século XXI , História Antiga , Humanos , Região de Controle de Locus Gênico/genética , FilogeniaRESUMO
Research carried out during recent decades has revealed our genome not only to be a unique mine of information about health, disease and the human condition, but also about the origin and dispersal history of the species. In this context, the genome is simply an additional source of information about human history, epistemologically no different from other historical sources. However, media and public interpretation of genetic studies of human history are complicated by the wider connotations of genes as the determinants of hereditary features and identity. We discuss two examples of media and public fascination with the interrelated themes of history, identity and heredity, pointing out some implications of historical research using genetic data in the context of our own ongoing study of Inuit groups in Greenland and Victoria Island, Canada.
Assuntos
Pesquisa em Genética , Inuíte/genética , Meios de Comunicação de Massa , Linhagem , Regiões Árticas , Canadá , Emigração e Imigração , Testes Genéticos , Genética Populacional , Groenlândia , Cor de Cabelo/genética , História , Humanos , Países Escandinavos e NórdicosRESUMO
This article discusses the tracing of family histories and competing assumptions about identities and relatedness in the era of biotechnology and biopower. Although the fascination with genealogical trees and family histories is common throughout the West, in Iceland this attraction is extreme. A genealogical database for most of the Icelandic population, the so-called Book of Icelanders, is being constructed as part of a larger biogenetic enterprise that seeks to establish the presumed genetic causes of common diseases for the purpose of developing pharmaceutical products. The discussion explores the changing implications of family trees as they become enmeshed in biomedical projects and political debates. Genealogical records, I suggest, are never innocent phenomena; this is because they have a social life of their own, a biography informed by the contours of the cultural landscapes to which they belong.
