To say that the history of scientists working in indigenous territories is fraught would be an understatement. Look through the literature and you'll find stories of researchers setting their own agendas, collecting and publishing data without consent, and failing to include community members as collaborators or coauthors on studies. “The dominant narrative is that indigenous [...]
The long history of First Nations people isn't one that can be found in books. Instead, it is a rich documentation detailed throughout time — a collective enterprise carried on by tradition and culture. Oral tradition has often been discounted as just stories — but science is proving that the facts behind those stories certainly shouldn't be [...]
This week, we're trying something a little different: we team up with our friends at WNYC's Only Human podcast to find Tracy's roots. Growing up in Louisville, Kentucky, she always heard that her ancestors were, in her mother's words, "black, white and American Indian." But, like many black Americans, she's found it hard to [...]
In this episode of Sparks, FiveThirtyEight’s monthly science podcast that runs in the What’s The Point feed, the science team discusses DNA and genetic genealogy through the lens of Alondra Nelson’s book “The Social Life of DNA: Race, reparations, and reconciliation after the genome.” Nelson examines the experiences of African-American “root-seekers,” who explore their [...]
