About this item
Who is a Native American? And who gets to decide? From genealogists searching online for their ancestors to fortune hunters hoping for a slice of casino profits from wealthy tribes, the answers to these seemingly straightforward questions have profound ramifications. The rise of DNA testing has further complicated the issues and raised the stakes.In Native American DNA, Kim TallBear shows how DNA testing is a powerful - and problematic - scientific process that is useful in determining close biological relatives. But tribal membership is a legal category that has developed in dependence on certain social understandings and historical contexts, a set of concepts that entangles genetic information in a web of family relations, reservation histories, tribal rules, and government regulations.
About the Author
Kim TallBear is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. TallBear studies how genomics helps produce 21st century ideas of race and indigeneity. Her book, Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science (University of Minnesota Press, 2013) is the culmination of ten years of research on the politics of human genome diversity research involving Native American and other indigenous peoples. Dr. TallBear also studies the role of Native American scientists in democratizing and making more multi-cultural bio-scientific fields and the role of scientific governance in U.S. tribal policy-making. She publishes research, policy, review, and opinion articles on issues related to science, technology, environment, and culture in anthologies and journals published in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. Dr. TallBear also blogs on science, technology, and indigenous issues at www.kimtallbear.com, and tweets at KimTallBear. She is enrolled Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate and is also descended from the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma.
