Working on a couple of papers- one on culture and disability.

There are three contested categories- race, ethnicity, and ancestry. Race is considered not biologically accurate and part to wholly socially constructed depending on the person you reference and ethnicity and culture can almost be used interchangeable sometimes- is considered socially constructed but is hardened by some views promoted by critical theory now. For a primer see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory

The newcomer is ancestry- In genome research- ancestry is what is being mapped. If you remember Henry Louis Gates Jr. from Obama’s beer summit- he has been going around the country giving people DNA tests- I don’t know if that is good or bad- I wasn’t able to hear his talk.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Presents the Beall-Russell Lecture in the Humanities

April 17 at 3:30 p.m.

Renowned historian, scholar, American literary critic, filmmaker and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. presents “Finding Your Roots: Genealogy, Genetics, and African-American History” from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Waco Hall, today, April 17. The event is free and open to the public.

I haven’t taken an ancestry test- but I did them on our dogs- one 100% pure blood German Shepard (part capitalist from the west and part communist from the east- they started to import working dogs to the US after the Berlin wall fell (called the “Anti-fascist protection barrier” on the East), and a Pit mix rescue that was listed as a “certified Supermutt!” due to all the combinations.

There is an obsession with race, ethnicity, and ancestry right now that I think is unhealthy- just my opinion, and ancestry seems like just another evolution of race to me, just more accurate. But even if I am 100% Irish or Scotch-Irish- I am not going to join the IRA anytime soon or hate on the English- but maybe someone does join Hamas,  ISIS or a neo-Nazi group (I did read some groups were now requiring a DNA test contingent upon acceptance during the initiation process)- opportunities for mischief seem so great to me on this one if people doesn’t start refocusing on universals over particulars- or at least a balance. Here are regional divisions for the world, categorizing populations based on geographical, cultural, and historical factors that genetics now maps people to…

More for you all to help us figure out…MDB

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8202415/

1. Africa:
• Northern Africa: Countries such as Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Sudan.
• Sub-Saharan Africa: Includes countries south of the Sahara Desert, encompassing diverse ethnic groups, languages, and cultures.
2. Asia:
• East Asia: Countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Mongolia, and Taiwan.
• Southeast Asia: Includes countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and Myanmar.
• South Asia: Encompasses countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and the Maldives.
• Central Asia: Includes countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
• West Asia (Middle East): Countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and the Gulf States.
3. Europe:
• Western Europe: Includes countries such as France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, and parts of Italy and Spain.
• Eastern Europe: Encompasses countries such as Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Moldova.
• Northern Europe: Includes countries such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and parts of the United Kingdom and Germany.
• Southern Europe: Encompasses countries such as Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, and parts of France and Croatia.
• Central Europe: Includes countries such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, and parts of France, Italy, and Croatia.
4. North America:
• United States: Comprising 50 states across the continent.
• Canada: The northernmost country in North America.
• Mexico: Located south of the United States, sharing a border with several U.S. states.
5. South America:
• Brazil: The largest country in South America.
• Argentina: Located in the southern part of the continent.
• Colombia: Located in the northwestern part of South America.
• Peru: Home to ancient civilizations such as the Incas.
6. Oceania:
• Australia: A continent-country located in the Southern Hemisphere.
• New Zealand: Comprising two main islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.
• Pacific Islands: Including countries and territories such as Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, and many others.