The maternal side of M.’s family – M. is a fictional character who I’ve positioned in a Part 1 of this project, conducted before the DNA ancestry test result came through – had, in the near past, at least, stemmed from a hill tribe in S.E. Asia, a people who are often without citizenship.
In the last decades, the idea of “ancestry” has become one of the most important and popular notions in human population genetics. On this notion stands genetics perspectives on the origins and history of contemporary living populations. However, ancestry has several meanings and outside of genetics, the idea commonly informs practices related to identity, kinship and family history.
Growing up, I heard stories about my great-grandfathers on my father’s side who were convicts and political exiles from Macau and were exiled to Timor-Leste during the time of the Portuguese Colony. On the other hand, I discovered that my maternal grandfather’s ancestors were from Goa, India. Both sides of my family speak various languages, including Portuguese, Tetum, Indonesian, Hakka, and other Timorese dialects, which sparked my curiosity about my ancestral heritage.
Ancestry has become, in the last decades, a central concept in human population genetics. On this notion stands genetic perspectives about the origins and history of contemporary living populations. However, ancestry has several meanings and outside of genetics, the idea commonly informs practices related to identity, kinship, and family history.
Indigenous communities are the foundation of any scientific research investigating the cultural and biological history of human populations. Interactions with indigenous communities, with their agreement, enable researchers to collect data and indispensable knowledge to guarantee the long-term success of a project.
It is extremely rare that a call for research projects allows us to apply our expertise in addressing a global symbolic historical moment: the circumnavigation by Fernão Magalhães’s crew. For human population geneticists, that 500-year-old expedition was amazing in enabling the first contact between so many diverse human populations. And that was the mote we followed to launch our project.
