(10-17-2018, 11:06 AM)The Real Joker2 Wrote:

(10-17-2018, 10:46 AM)MalabarJag Wrote: Adam2012 is concerned because this puts into context his claim to be Republican when he's only 1/1024th Republican.

Kim Tallbear, a University of Alberta professor and author of Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science told The Atlantic. (Tallbear is a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate tribe and has written extensively on this topic.)

Additionally, having some Native American ancestry “proven” from a DNA test does not automatically mean that someone is or should be, say, a member of the Cherokee tribe. “People think that there’s a DNA test that can prove if somebody is Native American or not. There isn’t,” Tallbear told New Scientist. Tribal affiliation is about more than genetics. It is also about history, culture, and political identity. The same is true of every culture, but these issues are especially sensitive given the history of the Native Americans in the US.

Tallbear noted that it’s popular for white people to claim Native American ancestry, but “tribe” is a federally recognized status, and being Cherokee is about more than DNA analysis. And as DNA tests have become more and more widespread, people are showing up at tribal-enrollment offices with their results. “That worries us in a land where we already feel there’s very little understanding about the history of our tribes, our relationships with colonial powers, and the conditions of our lives now,” she said.

In a statement provided today, Tallbear pointed out that Warren shouldn’t continue to defend her ancestry claims despite refusing to meet with Cherokee Nation members that challenge her. “This shows that she focuses on and actually privileges DNA company definitions in this debate, which are ultimately settler-colonial definitions of who is indigenous,” Tallbear writes. “She and much of the US American public privilege the voices of (mostly white) genome scientists and implicitly cede to them the power to define indigenous identity.” Similarly, the Cherokee Nation said in a statement that “Senator Warren is undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage.”
https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/15/...ntity-politics

1) Unless Warren's DNA test was fraudulent, she definitely has a native ancestor.
2) That native ancestor could have come from any native tribe.  No specific native tribe has any duty to recognize her as a member. They are right that it's about identity, and DNA is only a small part of identity.  Warren, this week anyway, is clearly saying that she only claims native ancestry, not native identity.  These tribes are pushing back on a claim that Warren is not making.
3) DNA is not part of some "settler-colonial" definition.  It's just science.

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