Uncloaking a Lost Cause: Decolonizing ancestry estimation in the United States,American Journal of Physical Anthropology

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Uncloaking a Lost Cause: Decolonizing ancestry estimation in the United States
American Journal of Physical Anthropology ( IF 2.6 ) Pub Date : 2021-01-18 , DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24212
Elizabeth A DiGangi ₁ , Jonathan D Bethard ₂

Affiliation

Since the professionalization of US-based forensic anthropology in the 1970s, ancestry estimation has been included as a standard part of the biological profile, because practitioners have assumed it necessary to achieve identifications in medicolegal contexts. Simultaneously, forensic anthropologists have not fully considered the racist context of the criminal justice system in the United States related to the treatment of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color; nor have we considered that ancestry estimation might actually hinder identification efforts because of entrenched racial biases. Despite ongoing criticisms from mainstream biological anthropology that ancestry estimation perpetuates race science, forensic anthropologists have continued the practice. Recent years have seen the prolific development of retooled typological approaches with 21st century statistical prowess to include methods for estimating ancestry from cranial morphoscopic traits, despite no evidence that these traits reflect microevolutionary processes or are suitable genetic proxies for population structure; and such approaches have failed to critically evaluate the societal consequences for perpetuating the biological race concept. Around the country, these methods are enculturated in every aspect of the discipline ranging from university classrooms, to the board-certification examination marking the culmination of training, to standard operating procedures adopted by forensic anthropology laboratories. Here, we use critical race theory to interrogate the approaches utilized to estimate ancestry to include a critique of the continued use of morphoscopic traits, and we assert that the practice of ancestry estimation contributes to white supremacy. Based on the lack of scientific support that these traits reflect evolutionary history, and the inability to disentangle skeletal-based ancestry estimates from supporting the biological validity of race, we urge all forensic anthropologists to abolish the practice of ancestry estimation.

中文翻译：

揭开迷失的根源：美国取消宗谱估计

自1970年代基于美国的法医人类学专业化以来，祖先估计已被包括为生物学概况的标准部分，因为从业者认为有必要在法医学背景下进行鉴定。同时，法医人类学家还没有充分考虑美国刑事司法系统与黑人，土著人和有色人种的待遇有关的种族主义背景。我们也没有考虑到由于种族偏见根深蒂固，祖先估计实际上可能会阻碍鉴定工作。尽管主流生物学人类学界一直在批评祖先估计使种族科学永存，但法医人类学家仍在继续这种做法。尽管没有证据表明这些特征反映了微观进化过程或适合作为人口结构的遗传学代理，但近年来，随着21世纪统计技术的发展，重组的方法学方法得到了广泛的发展，其中包括从颅骨形态学特征估计祖先的方法。而且这种方法未能严格评估使生物种族概念永存的社会后果。在全国各地，从大学教室到代表培训达到顶峰的董事会认证考试，再到法医人类学实验室采用的标准操作程序，在该学科的各个方面都采用了这些方法。这里，我们使用临界种族理论来询问用于评估祖先的方法，以包括对继续使用形态学特征的批评，并且我们认为祖先估计的实践有助于白人至上。基于这些特征无法反映进化历史的科学支持，以及无法从种族的生物学有效性中解开基于骨骼的祖先估计，我们敦促所有法医人类学家废止祖先估计的做法。

更新日期：2021-01-18

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