Who are we? : the questions of origin and identity through modern genetics
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Reading the "The Real Eve: The modern man's journey out of Africa" by Dr Stephen Oppenheimer was both exciting and refreshing. The book makes great reading not just because it brings out the most complex of the concepts of archeo-genetics in a way that a layman like me understands, but also because it takes the reader deep into one of the most fascinating aspects of human sciences; the origin of modern man. Few years back Dr Oppenheimer's documentary on the origin of modern man, which featured in the Discovery channel[1], generated widespread interest in modern paleontology; for once it was known that there existed a more scientific way of predicting the origins of humankind through genetics, the question "Who are we?" could be asked and discussed less speculatively than before.
It was only a few months back, while trying to review some edits to the Wikipedia that I came accross the research papers of Estonian genetist Dr Toomas Kivisild, a professor at Cambridge and a leading light on genetic paleontology. The pioneering works of Dr Kivisild on the Indian DNA lineages are in themselves quite comprehensible but the book by Dr Oppenheimer(which covers the general aspects of archeo-genetics) would help understand the concepts more intricately. It is well nigh impossible that this small blog of mine talks comprehensively the studies of Dr Kivisild and Dr Oppenheimer, that is not the intention of this blog too. As always my blog captures only a few of my thoughts, this time as I walk through these magna opera.
"Who are we?" the question that fascinated Dr Oppenhiemer to travel across the continents, to study and to write the book and thousands like me to throng to it, has been one of the most enticing questions that the best of the minds of every generation have been puzzled with. The questions of origin and identity have been one of those alluding romantic quests that the human mind has often sought to chase, in all its dimensions; from spiritual to social and from anthropological to religious. The quest has been as intuitive and enduring, yet as explosive as any other romantic quests. The questions of identity and origin have also been a breeding ground of political ideologies and anthropology has been no exception. Its ugliest forms were seen when it was used to theorize ethnic differentiation and justify concepts like racial supremacy and racial purity by none other than Hitler himself. The British used it, not less sparingly, but with the sophistication that befitted the Victorian daintiness, to justify Colonialism and to divide and rule the colonized subjects. But interestingly, the modern developments of this very scientific stream, today, help us question the political ideologies that claim their origins in the concepts of Anthropology.
The developments in genetic paleonto-anthropology have today dramatically changed our perception about the origins of modern human beings. The âRecent-single-origin-hypothesisâ that was first proposed in the nineteenth century by Darwin, was supplemented further and corroborated by evidence from genetics and physical anthropology. It has now been shown that all the human populations of the world inherit from the same maternal lineage, the origin of which can probably be traced back to a single woman (whom Dr Oppenheimer calls the âReal Eveâ), who lived somewhere in the Northern Africa, nearly a hundred and sixty thousand years ago. A small group of her descendents is said to have moved out of Africa crossing over to the Middle East, almost eighty thousand years ago, going on to populate the rest of the world. The developments in genetics, not only help us trace this exciting story; it also helps in breaking many very popular myths and dangerous philosophies. Most importantly, the suggestion that all the human populations, irrespective of the skin color, facial features and the brain size, belong to the same gene pool, blows a death knell to the concepts of racial purity, racial supremacy and the ideologies such as the Whitemanâs burden[2],<b> which made extensive use of speculative anthropological propositions. </b>The study would come as a refreshing affirmation to those who have intuitively believed in a universal brotherhood, all in midst of these racial theories.
The âWho are we?â of genetic anthropology also brings out some more very interesting aspects for us Indians, that could help us clear some of the colonial cobwebs that have grown deep into our psyche. For example the proposition of Indians being divided into two biological races of Aryan and Dravidian, which started as a flimsy idea of a few Colonial Indologists and lived on, generation after generation, with the help of speculative concepts of anthropology and linguistics, today stands almost refuted by archeo-genetics. Early genetic studies in the year 2001[3] by Michael Bamshad, a professor at the University of Washington, and his team, seemed to support the theory of the two races and the supposed invasion of foreign tribes of Aryan race into India. The R1a1 haplogroup, which was found in high rates in Europeans as well as in North Indians, was taken as the genetic marker for the Aryan race. The relatively less (but not negligent) frequency of R1a1 in South Indian populations was explained as resulting from the âadmixtureâ of Aryans and Dravidians. But further research by Dr Kivisild[4] (who was also a part of the 2001 study by Bamshad et al), and his team at the Cambridge University showed that R1a1 existed in high frequencies even in the isolated South Indian Dravidian speaking tribes of Chechnus of Andhra Pradesh, the Kallars of Kerala and the Valmikis of Tamil Nadu. Further studies by Kivisild and his team as well as studies from scientists like Sangamitra Sahoo[5], S Sengutpa[6], Metspalu M[7] and numerous other studies ranging over a decade, found that India was not the receiver of R1a1, but a donor of this marker, showing that all the European and Central Asian lineages could be traced back to a single mother who lived in the Indian sub continent some fifty thousand years ago (Dr Oppenheimer calls her the âEurasian Eveâ).
The studies also reveal that most of the Indian populations (both castes and tribes) derive from the same genetic heritage of pleistonic South and Western Asians who lived in India, more than fifty thousand years ago and that the populations have received limited gene flow from external regions since then[4]. This probably affirms the intuitive belief held by many that India is a single continuous civilization with an ancient past. The studies shatter the colonial myths that our ancient scriptures and their originators are of foreign origin and question the conception of the Indian history so far done only in terms of ethnic strife between the two races. The Modern scientific discoveries would help us exorcise the colonial boggart which has lived with us in Independent India, in the form of the many speculative theories that often call into question the very foundation of our civilization.
<b>The studies probably would help us get rid of the colonial concoctions and get a true sense of our past. But they should not lead us into furthering âgenetic determinism as a mechanism of causationâ[8].</b> The ideologies of racial purity and supremacy are preposterous even without these scientific affirmations and the ideals of universalism would make sense even without the genetic markers. <b>Genetic evidence could well be seen as a reaffirmation of the intuitive idea called India. But a nation which took shape defying historicity and became independent inspite of the overwhelming framework of colonial ideas would hardly need a validation based on historicity or an endorsement based on genetic determinism.</b>
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Notes
1. You can find the video here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=...3440143133
2. "Whiteman's burden is a poem written by Rudyard Kipling published in 1899. The phrase became emblematic of White supremacy and Euro centric racism
3. Bamshad et al, Genetic Evidence on the Origins of Indian Caste Populations, 2001
4. T Kivisild et al, The Genetic Heritage of the Earliest Settlers Persists Both in Indian Tribal and Caste Populations, Am. J. Hum. Genet. 72:313â332, 2003
5. Sahoo et al âA prehistory of Indian Y chromosomes: Evaluating demic diffusion scenarios,â Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 24 January 2006, vol. 103, No. 4, pp. 843â848.
6. Sengupta, S.; et al. (2006-02-01). "Polarity and temporality of high-resolution y-chromosome distributions in India identify both indigenous and exogenous expansions and reveal minor genetic influence of Central Asian pastoralists.". Am J Hum Genet
7. Metspalu, M. et al. 2004. Most of the extant mtDNA boundaries in South and Southwest Asia were likely shaped during the initial settlement of Eurasia by anatomically modern human
8. Richard Lewontin, Biology as Ideology: The doctrine of DNA, 1993
Posted by Nihar at 2:03 AM<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Reading the "The Real Eve: The modern man's journey out of Africa" by Dr Stephen Oppenheimer was both exciting and refreshing. The book makes great reading not just because it brings out the most complex of the concepts of archeo-genetics in a way that a layman like me understands, but also because it takes the reader deep into one of the most fascinating aspects of human sciences; the origin of modern man. Few years back Dr Oppenheimer's documentary on the origin of modern man, which featured in the Discovery channel[1], generated widespread interest in modern paleontology; for once it was known that there existed a more scientific way of predicting the origins of humankind through genetics, the question "Who are we?" could be asked and discussed less speculatively than before.
It was only a few months back, while trying to review some edits to the Wikipedia that I came accross the research papers of Estonian genetist Dr Toomas Kivisild, a professor at Cambridge and a leading light on genetic paleontology. The pioneering works of Dr Kivisild on the Indian DNA lineages are in themselves quite comprehensible but the book by Dr Oppenheimer(which covers the general aspects of archeo-genetics) would help understand the concepts more intricately. It is well nigh impossible that this small blog of mine talks comprehensively the studies of Dr Kivisild and Dr Oppenheimer, that is not the intention of this blog too. As always my blog captures only a few of my thoughts, this time as I walk through these magna opera.
"Who are we?" the question that fascinated Dr Oppenhiemer to travel across the continents, to study and to write the book and thousands like me to throng to it, has been one of the most enticing questions that the best of the minds of every generation have been puzzled with. The questions of origin and identity have been one of those alluding romantic quests that the human mind has often sought to chase, in all its dimensions; from spiritual to social and from anthropological to religious. The quest has been as intuitive and enduring, yet as explosive as any other romantic quests. The questions of identity and origin have also been a breeding ground of political ideologies and anthropology has been no exception. Its ugliest forms were seen when it was used to theorize ethnic differentiation and justify concepts like racial supremacy and racial purity by none other than Hitler himself. The British used it, not less sparingly, but with the sophistication that befitted the Victorian daintiness, to justify Colonialism and to divide and rule the colonized subjects. But interestingly, the modern developments of this very scientific stream, today, help us question the political ideologies that claim their origins in the concepts of Anthropology.
The developments in genetic paleonto-anthropology have today dramatically changed our perception about the origins of modern human beings. The âRecent-single-origin-hypothesisâ that was first proposed in the nineteenth century by Darwin, was supplemented further and corroborated by evidence from genetics and physical anthropology. It has now been shown that all the human populations of the world inherit from the same maternal lineage, the origin of which can probably be traced back to a single woman (whom Dr Oppenheimer calls the âReal Eveâ), who lived somewhere in the Northern Africa, nearly a hundred and sixty thousand years ago. A small group of her descendents is said to have moved out of Africa crossing over to the Middle East, almost eighty thousand years ago, going on to populate the rest of the world. The developments in genetics, not only help us trace this exciting story; it also helps in breaking many very popular myths and dangerous philosophies. Most importantly, the suggestion that all the human populations, irrespective of the skin color, facial features and the brain size, belong to the same gene pool, blows a death knell to the concepts of racial purity, racial supremacy and the ideologies such as the Whitemanâs burden[2],<b> which made extensive use of speculative anthropological propositions. </b>The study would come as a refreshing affirmation to those who have intuitively believed in a universal brotherhood, all in midst of these racial theories.
The âWho are we?â of genetic anthropology also brings out some more very interesting aspects for us Indians, that could help us clear some of the colonial cobwebs that have grown deep into our psyche. For example the proposition of Indians being divided into two biological races of Aryan and Dravidian, which started as a flimsy idea of a few Colonial Indologists and lived on, generation after generation, with the help of speculative concepts of anthropology and linguistics, today stands almost refuted by archeo-genetics. Early genetic studies in the year 2001[3] by Michael Bamshad, a professor at the University of Washington, and his team, seemed to support the theory of the two races and the supposed invasion of foreign tribes of Aryan race into India. The R1a1 haplogroup, which was found in high rates in Europeans as well as in North Indians, was taken as the genetic marker for the Aryan race. The relatively less (but not negligent) frequency of R1a1 in South Indian populations was explained as resulting from the âadmixtureâ of Aryans and Dravidians. But further research by Dr Kivisild[4] (who was also a part of the 2001 study by Bamshad et al), and his team at the Cambridge University showed that R1a1 existed in high frequencies even in the isolated South Indian Dravidian speaking tribes of Chechnus of Andhra Pradesh, the Kallars of Kerala and the Valmikis of Tamil Nadu. Further studies by Kivisild and his team as well as studies from scientists like Sangamitra Sahoo[5], S Sengutpa[6], Metspalu M[7] and numerous other studies ranging over a decade, found that India was not the receiver of R1a1, but a donor of this marker, showing that all the European and Central Asian lineages could be traced back to a single mother who lived in the Indian sub continent some fifty thousand years ago (Dr Oppenheimer calls her the âEurasian Eveâ).
The studies also reveal that most of the Indian populations (both castes and tribes) derive from the same genetic heritage of pleistonic South and Western Asians who lived in India, more than fifty thousand years ago and that the populations have received limited gene flow from external regions since then[4]. This probably affirms the intuitive belief held by many that India is a single continuous civilization with an ancient past. The studies shatter the colonial myths that our ancient scriptures and their originators are of foreign origin and question the conception of the Indian history so far done only in terms of ethnic strife between the two races. The Modern scientific discoveries would help us exorcise the colonial boggart which has lived with us in Independent India, in the form of the many speculative theories that often call into question the very foundation of our civilization.
<b>The studies probably would help us get rid of the colonial concoctions and get a true sense of our past. But they should not lead us into furthering âgenetic determinism as a mechanism of causationâ[8].</b> The ideologies of racial purity and supremacy are preposterous even without these scientific affirmations and the ideals of universalism would make sense even without the genetic markers. <b>Genetic evidence could well be seen as a reaffirmation of the intuitive idea called India. But a nation which took shape defying historicity and became independent inspite of the overwhelming framework of colonial ideas would hardly need a validation based on historicity or an endorsement based on genetic determinism.</b>
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Notes
1. You can find the video here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=...3440143133
2. "Whiteman's burden is a poem written by Rudyard Kipling published in 1899. The phrase became emblematic of White supremacy and Euro centric racism
3. Bamshad et al, Genetic Evidence on the Origins of Indian Caste Populations, 2001
4. T Kivisild et al, The Genetic Heritage of the Earliest Settlers Persists Both in Indian Tribal and Caste Populations, Am. J. Hum. Genet. 72:313â332, 2003
5. Sahoo et al âA prehistory of Indian Y chromosomes: Evaluating demic diffusion scenarios,â Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 24 January 2006, vol. 103, No. 4, pp. 843â848.
6. Sengupta, S.; et al. (2006-02-01). "Polarity and temporality of high-resolution y-chromosome distributions in India identify both indigenous and exogenous expansions and reveal minor genetic influence of Central Asian pastoralists.". Am J Hum Genet
7. Metspalu, M. et al. 2004. Most of the extant mtDNA boundaries in South and Southwest Asia were likely shaped during the initial settlement of Eurasia by anatomically modern human
8. Richard Lewontin, Biology as Ideology: The doctrine of DNA, 1993
Posted by Nihar at 2:03 AM<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->