Yet this native pride coexists w/firmly grounded extinction narratives & the erasure of our Indigenous (& African) ancestors. Even my 10th grade history class textbook described 500 not 5,000 years of history! https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🙄" title="Face with rolling eyes" aria-label="Emoji: Face with rolling eyes">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤦🏻" title="Person facepalming (light skin tone)" aria-label="Emoji: Person facepalming (light skin tone)">1‍3/ #DecolonizeDNA #DNADay (Img: http://Amazon.com"> http://Amazon.com )

Indigenous activist & resurgent movements in the Caribbean & US diaspora have opposed the extinction narratives for yrs. But now https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🧬" title="DNA" aria-label="Emoji: DNA"> & https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🦴" title="Bone" aria-label="Emoji: Bone">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🧬" title="DNA" aria-label="Emoji: DNA">data are also influencing public discourse on Indigenous heritage, survival & identity 14/ #DecolonizeDNA (Img: https://americanindian.si.edu/ )">https://americanindian.si.edu/">...

aDNA studies have identifiedhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🧬" title="DNA" aria-label="Emoji: DNA">links btw present-day islanders & ancient Indigenous ppl. These findings challenge the prevailing colonial narratives describing the complete extinction of https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇵🇷" title="Flag of Puerto Rico" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of Puerto Rico"> & Caribbean native communities 15/ #DecolonizeDNA https://bit.ly/3cNx8oB ">https://bit.ly/3cNx8oB&q...

Personally, I hope our work leads to a critical reassessment of contact period dynamics, further study of Indigenous Caribbean responses to colonization & a better understanding of native ppls role in shaping the current biocultural diversity of the Antilles 16/ #DecolonizeDNA

Our study also used aDNA to investigate the origins of pre-contact PRhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇵🇷" title="Flag of Puerto Rico" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of Puerto Rico"> communities & their relationship to other Caribbean groups. To read more about this check out our paper ( https://bit.ly/2yBoQkO )">https://bit.ly/2yBoQkO&q... & also see the work of others like @sankofadna @bitesizedna 17/ #DecolonizeDNA

Now the https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇵🇷" title="Flag of Puerto Rico" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of Puerto Rico"> study is one example of how aDNA can revisit known history. But it& #39;s not the only one! Here is the work of a few other scholars who are also integrating aDNA w/other methods to study the past, and in so doing, disrupting hegemonic narrativeshttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✊" title="Raised fist" aria-label="Emoji: Raised fist"> 18/ #DecolonizeDNA

. @RaquelFleskes et al. 2019 use aDNA + bioarch to investigate the identities of African ppls in the racialized labor system of 1700s Delaware. This work focuses on ppl whose experience was deliberately excluded from the https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✍️" title="Writing hand" aria-label="Emoji: Writing hand">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📄" title="Page facing up" aria-label="Emoji: Page facing up"> record 19/ #DecolonizeDNA https://bit.ly/2Vza0Es ">https://bit.ly/2Vza0Es&q...

More recently, Tung et al (2020) combine aDNA, bioarchaeology & isotopes to examine how native Andeans in Peru exhibited agency in resisting Spanish colonial rule for ~200 yrs thru their treatment of, & relationship, w/deceased ancestors 20/ #DecolonizeDNA https://bit.ly/2S3g1al ">https://bit.ly/2S3g1al&q...

By contextualizing aDNAhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🦴" title="Bone" aria-label="Emoji: Bone">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🧬" title="DNA" aria-label="Emoji: DNA"> with other lines of evidencehttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔍" title="Left-pointing magnifying glass" aria-label="Emoji: Left-pointing magnifying glass">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📋" title="Clipboard" aria-label="Emoji: Clipboard">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🏺" title="Amphora" aria-label="Emoji: Amphora">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⚰️" title="Coffin" aria-label="Emoji: Coffin">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🦴" title="Bone" aria-label="Emoji: Bone">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⚗️" title="Alembic" aria-label="Emoji: Alembic"> , these studies investigate diverse human communities whose experiences were marginalized from the written historical record of the Americas 21/ #DecolonizeDNA #DNADay

To do this type of critical aDNA work its important to consider the perspectives of diverse & multidisciplinary scholars and input from descendant populations. After all, if our past only includes some of us, how can we expect the present to include us all? 23/n #DecolonizeDNA

In sum, aDNA is a powerful tool https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🛠️" title="Hammer and wrench" aria-label="Emoji: Hammer and wrench"> that can be leveraged to examine and problematize our understanding of history. We can use aDNA to ask novel Qs that reframe who is represented in our past, & to craft richer and more inclusive narratives of the human story 23/ #DecolonizeDNA

But of course, only while wearing the proper PPE! https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😉" title="Winking face" aria-label="Emoji: Winking face">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😷" title="Face with medical mask" aria-label="Emoji: Face with medical mask">24/N END https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🧵" title="Thread" aria-label="Emoji: Thread"> (Img: @Blevinske and me!)

Quick Img credit to Angel Cruz for the illustration in tweet 12 and to the Ceremonial Center of Tibes for tweet 23.