Dominican's DNA proves Taino natives are not extinct

AlterEgo

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Mr AE had Ancestry.com DNA test, he has 8% Native American, our daughter has 4%. It’ll be gone in another generation or two 
 

RonS

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Oct 18, 2004
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I think that a more important question is not whether Dominicans have Taino DNA, which is widely accepted, but how to get them to acknowledge and own that part of their heritage.
 

Tom F.

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Jan 1, 2002
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Mrs. F had a DNA test by Ancestry and was 7% Native American. Her family story was her great grandmother was 100% Chinese. Only 2% Asian.
 

Russell

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I think that a more important question is not whether Dominicans have Taino DNA, which is widely accepted, but how to get them to acknowledge and own that part of their heritage.

Espossa Family flaunts their Taino heritage with respect and pride.
I do not remember where I read it, but apparently RD has about 60% people with Taino blood.

Needs to be confirmed though.
Not everyone is proud of their heritage when it concerns indigenous peoples.
On my Moms side there are absolute connections in so much as we are certified as Metis'.
My Dad's side was always down on us because of the connection. Recently found out that Dad's side has even closer link to Indigenous heritage... Oh what a tangled web we weave.
The Carnivals are all about the Taino heritage so why not embrace it fully?
Russell
 

PJT

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Jan 8, 2002
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Taino natives are extinct as a living people and culture. Their DNA has been absorbed into the Dominican population and that of others. We all are part of some form of DNA meld, a recipe of extinct and present peoples.

Geiko Caveman, where are you ?


Regards,

PJT
 

pkaide1

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Aug 10, 2005
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I think that a more important question is not whether Dominicans have Taino DNA, which is widely accepted, but how to get them to acknowledge and own that part of their heritage.

Based on my interaction with Dominicans, they have acknowledged it and are very proud of it. Just check Dominican history, folklore, Music, Dance, Food, Street and provinces name.
 

Riva_31

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Based on my interaction with Dominicans, they have acknowledged it and are very proud of it. Just check Dominican history, folklore, Music, Dance, Food, Street and provinces name.

Right, Hamaca, Bohio are some words from Tainos that we still use, Kazaba bread is also Taino heritage, we have very good colections in museums with Tainos tools.
 

Chirimoya

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I think that a more important question is not whether Dominicans have Taino DNA, which is widely accepted, but how to get them to acknowledge and own that part of their heritage.

If anything Dominicans tend to overemphasise their Taino heritage and underplay their African heritage.
 

Naked_Snake

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Mr AE had Ancestry.com DNA test, he has 8% Native American, our daughter has 4%. It’ll be gone in another generation or two 

On the recent update 23andMe made to my results, my own score increased to 8.2%. Not a trivial amount in the slightest.
 

Naked_Snake

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If anything Dominicans tend to overemphasise their Taino heritage and underplay their African heritage.

I don't see people here larping (Live Action Role Playing, for those not updated in internetspeak) as Taino as much as one can see Cubans or Puerto Ricans doing such, so color me skeptical about this assessment of yours.
 

Naked_Snake

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On the recent update 23andMe made to my results, my own score increased to 8.2%. Not a trivial amount in the slightest.

Expanding a little bit, yesterday, when perusing my list of DNA relatives on the site's database, I found that many of them score between 13 to 16% Amerind, which is more or less the Rican range. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact, but saddened at the same time, since most of them live overseas. I must be among the handful that have been tested still living on the island.
 

Chirimoya

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I don't see people here larping (Live Action Role Playing, for those not updated in internetspeak) as Taino as much as one can see Cubans or Puerto Ricans doing such, so color me skeptical about this assessment of yours.
Not my assessment - there are oft-cited academic studies on the subject by e.g. Ginetta Candelario, Silvio Torres-Saillant. In fact, most Dominicans I know do acknowledge and embrace their African heritage.
 

Naked_Snake

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Not my assessment - there are oft-cited academic studies on the subject by e.g. Ginetta Candelario, Silvio Torres-Saillant. In fact, most Dominicans I know do acknowledge and embrace their African heritage.

The people you cite use the standard "progressive" narrative of American critical race theory regarding DR: We Domis are evil brown nazis that have an identity crisis and are white wannabes (when in fact most of us are very aware that we aren't blancos), and that things used to flow harmoniously with Haitians until big bad Trujillo came along (which the very history of the island ever since the French set feet on the western part denies). Again, very skeptical regarding that narrative. We aren't outliers regarding what can be seen about Amerindian narrative in other locales of the Spanish Caribbean, and in fact, I would say we are more grounded since we larp the less about it.
 

AlterEgo

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On the recent update 23andMe made to my results, my own score increased to 8.2%. Not a trivial amount in the slightest.



Snake, do you have a lot of DNA matches?  Mr AE has an astonishing number compared to me. I have about 150 and he has almost 1,000. So far, aside from close family, they seem to mostly be related from the Santiago area. So many unidentifiable. 
 

Naked_Snake

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Snake, do you have a lot of DNA matches?  Mr AE has an astonishing number compared to me. I have about 150 and he has almost 1,000. So far, aside from close family, they seem to mostly be related from the Santiago area. So many unidentifiable. 

The last update carried my number of matches to 1,142. Most of them are Domis, of course, but I also have a surprising number of Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Brazilians, Venezuelans, Italians, Portuguese, Spaniards, Colombians, Jews, Yanks (WASP's), Brits, and even a couple of Japanese and Indian persons.
 

Drake

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There are several books written about the Taino extinction and what really happened. There were three major census of the indigenous population after first contact. The second indicated about half the population of the first amd the third which was 50 yrs later indicated that there were just a few thousand left.
The reason for this low last count was only Indians that were in their original unchanged wild state were counted. Most of the tainos had mixed with the Spanish and were half European by then. Also the figures were manipulated so that the Spanish crown would send more slaves to tend the growing sugar cane industry.
There is much evidence of Tainos heritage in the Dominican campo. Besides seeing it in their faces with high cheek bones and straight hair. It has contributed to creating some of the best looking women in the Caribbean. There is even a name for indian looking people Chino
 

NALs

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Jan 20, 2003
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The Carnivals are all about the Taino heritage so why not embrace it fully?
Russell
Where did you get that impression from?

Dominican carnivals are mostly Spanish in origin, and through the centuries received some African influences. The Taino influence in the carnivals is negligible.

There is more Taino influences in other aspects of Dominican culture, but the carnivals is not one of them.