{"id":99415,"date":"2016-06-26T15:15:47","date_gmt":"2016-06-26T23:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=99415"},"modified":"2016-06-26T15:15:47","modified_gmt":"2016-06-26T23:15:47","slug":"claims-that-us-is-a-genetic-melting-pot-appear-overblown-if-youre-white","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=99415","title":{"rendered":"Claims that US is a genetic melting pot appear overblown\u2013if you\u2019re white"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arvind Suresh writes in 2015<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Wanting to know your ancestry is a powerful motivator that many DNA testing companies such as 23andMe and Ancestry.com have exploited for great profit. But apart from individual curiosity, genetic studies into our ancestry also offer the ability to peer into the history books, offering a DNA time machine, and a unique window into the history of civilized people.<\/p>\n

Now in the largest study<\/a> of its kind conducted so far, researchers at 23andMe and Harvard University have published the results of a genetic analysis of ancestry among the American people.<\/p>\n

The study itself is quite impressive, conducted with 160,000 people who agreed to allow their data to be used anonymously for research purposes when they submitted their DNA for analysis with 23andMe. Such huge sample numbers, which are \u201can order of magnitude bigger\u201d according to an author of the study, allows for a much more thorough analysis than ever before, helping the authors produce a detailed geographical map of ancestry in the United States. Three major population groups considered in the study: African-Americans, European Americans and Latinos.<\/p>\n

Broadly, the genomic analysis found that on an average the African American genome was 73.2 percent African, 24 percent European and 0.8 percent Native American. Latinos as expected had significantly more Native American ancestry with the average Latino genome being 18 percent Native American, 65.1 percent European and 6.2 percent African.<\/p>\n

With respect to European Americans, the percentages are much more different than African Americans or Latinos, with European American genomes being 98.6 percent European, 0.19 percent African and 0.18 percent Native American. In general, the numbers seem to agree with what one would expect given the history of American colonization by Europeans and their interactions with African and Native Americans.<\/p>\n

Detailed percentages of ancestry in the various geographical regions showed relatively wide variations in the ancestry which seem to corroborate historical events.<\/p>\n

What are the social implications of this study? The title of Carl Zimmer\u2019s New York Times<\/em> article on the research \u201cWhite? Black? A Murky Distinction Grows Still Murkier<\/a>,\u201d seems to suggest that the genetic data show that racial divides have significantly blurred as populations have mixed<\/p>\n

\n

In the United States, there is a long tradition of trying to draw sharp lines between ethnic groups, but our ancestry is a fluid and complex matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe use these terms \u2014 white, black, Indian, Latino \u2014 and they don\u2019t really mean what we think they mean,\u201d said Claudio Saunt, a historian at the University of Georgia who was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Razib Khan at the Unz Review, has a different view<\/a> however (emphasis his):<\/p>\n

\n

What genetics is showing is that in fact white Americans are shockingly European to an incredibly high degree for a population with roots on this continent for 400 years<\/strong>. If we removed all the history that we take for granted we\u2019d be amazed that the indigenous peoples had so little demographic impact, and, that the larger numbers of people of partial African ancestry did not move into the general \u201cwhite\u201d population.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Steve Sailer, a long time writer on race and ethnicity, also writing at the Unz Review, agrees<\/a> with Khan, with some quick back\u2013of\u2013the envelope calculations to show how…<\/p>\n

\n

\u2026whiteness in modern America turns out to be not very murky at all. These findings of 0.19 percent black and 0.18 percent American Indian are tiny numbers.<\/p>\n

Think about your family tree back nine generations ago, which would mostly be in the 1700s. You have 512 slots in your family tree nine generations ago (two to the ninth power). The 23andMe numbers suggest that for the average white American, 1 of your 512 ancestors nine generations ago was black and 1 of 512 was Native American.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s another way to think of it. If the average self-identified black is 73.2 percent black and the average self-identified white is 0.19 percent black, then the average black in America is 385 times blacker than the average white. That doesn\u2019t seem very murky to me.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arvind Suresh writes in 2015: Wanting to know your ancestry is a powerful motivator that many DNA testing companies such as 23andMe and Ancestry.com have exploited for great profit. But apart from individual curiosity, genetic studies into our ancestry also … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29700],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genetics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t