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linn1378 's review for:
Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas
by Jennifer Raff
I was skeptical at first because this book was not written by a person of Native American heritage, and could have quickly gone down a very slippery slope. But the author seems quite respectful of indigenous peoples and their interests, and constantly reiterates the importance of viewing the topic from a native perspective. Still, I would have liked to see a Native American co-author for this book.
In the bulk of the argument, the author reminds us of the theory that people arrived in the Americas towards the end of the last ice age by way of the Bering Land Bridge. At one point she suggests that that might not be the whole story - that perhaps some people arrived further south by sea as much as 15,000 years earlier than is commonly thought, which would account for the footprints recently uncovered in White Sands National Park and similar findings. However, that theory is mentioned almost in passing and we are left wondering.
The rest of the book is a discussion of the author's own genetic research, and the colonial implications of scientific investigation of the genetic ancestry of First Nations. Perhaps that was her true purpose in writing this book - to protest unethical scientific research and support the rights of indigenous communities.
In the bulk of the argument, the author reminds us of the theory that people arrived in the Americas towards the end of the last ice age by way of the Bering Land Bridge. At one point she suggests that that might not be the whole story - that perhaps some people arrived further south by sea as much as 15,000 years earlier than is commonly thought, which would account for the footprints recently uncovered in White Sands National Park and similar findings. However, that theory is mentioned almost in passing and we are left wondering.
The rest of the book is a discussion of the author's own genetic research, and the colonial implications of scientific investigation of the genetic ancestry of First Nations. Perhaps that was her true purpose in writing this book - to protest unethical scientific research and support the rights of indigenous communities.