Origin

A Genetic History of the Americas

De: Jennifer Raff

Narrado por: Tanis Parenteau, Jennifer Raff, Yvonne Russo

From celebrated anthropologist Jennifer Raff comes the untold story—and fascinating mystery—of how humans migrated to the Americas.

ORIGIN is the story of who the first peoples in the Americas were, how and why they made the crossing, how they dispersed south, and how they lived based on a new and powerful kind of evidence: their complete genomes. ORIGIN provides an overview of these new histories throughout North and South America, and a glimpse into how the tools of genetics reveal details about human history and evolution.

20,000 years ago, people crossed a great land bridge from Siberia into Western Alaska and then dispersed southward into what is now called the Americas. Until we venture out to other worlds, this remains the last time our species has populated an entirely new place, and this event has been a subject of deep fascination and controversy. No written records—and scant archaeological evidence—exist to tell us what happened or how it took place. Many different models have been proposed to explain how the Americas were peopled and what happened in the thousands of years that followed. A study of both past and present, ORIGIN explores how genetics is currently being used to construct narratives that profoundly impact Indigenous peoples of the Americas. It serves as a primer for anyone interested in how genetics has become entangled with identity in the way that society addresses the question "Who is indigenous?"

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Social and genetic history cannot be disentangled. ORIGIN also highlights the colonizers’ evolving cultural myths that shape and are shaped by their science. This is a valuable read for consumers of popular genetics who are not aware how much science is built on colonial theft, and how Indigenous peoples push back to improve science."

—Dr. Kim TallBear (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate), Professor, Faculty of Native Studies University of Alberta, Canadian Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience, and Society, and author of NATIVE AMERICAN DNA: TRIBAL BELONGING AND THE FALSE PROMISE OF GENETIC SCIENCE

"Rarely does a book combine the scientific, the compassionate, and the respectful when engaging with genomes, histories, and the movement of peoples. Even more rarely does a non-Indigenous scientist listen to—and learn from—Indigenous interlocutors, past and present. Jennifer Raff’s ORIGIN deftly weaves a critical narrative of discoveries, biases, achievements, faults, and possibilities, offering an integrative, caring, and scientifically rigorous approach to thinking with and about the histories of the First Peoples of the Americas. Filled with complex but accessible archeological, historical, and genomic analyses presented in the context of honest and often difficult narratives, ORIGIN is a necessary and elegant text."

—Agustín Fuentes, professor of anthropology at Princeton University and author of WHY WE BELIEVE

"Ancient DNA, extracted from bones thousands upon thousands of years old, has the potential to rewrite the story of the human past. In ORIGIN, Jennifer Raff expertly explains the complicated science behind it, how it can tell us who the first inhabitants of the Americas really were, and how they got there. ORIGIN balances its cutting-edge command of the science and its interpretation with a deep commitment to the ethical implications of this work. The result is a lively, learned, and wonderfully told guide to a fascinating topic."—Patrick Wyman, author of THE VERGE: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World and host of Tides of History

"Jennifer Raff is incredibly knowledgeable, eloquent, and thoughtful, with a peerless grasp of both the complicated science of this exciting field and its difficult ethics."—Ed Yong, New York Times bestselling author of I CONTAIN MULTITUDES: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life

"The deep history of the lands that became the Americas is one of the most fascinating, under-explored, and politicized branches in the story of humankind, and is being retold today with DNA as a source. In ORIGIN, geneticist Jennifer Raff tells that tale with great scholarship, respect, and the verve of a natural storyteller."

—Adam Rutherford, geneticist and bestselling author of A BRIEF HISTORY OF EVERYONE WHO EVER LIVED

Interesting topic. Great for challenging outdated theories.

Ignore the reviews claiming woke politics- anyone curious about origin theory, genetics, and anthropology (and interested in what is nothing short of a paradigm shift in this field) will like this book. Those reviews putting “politics” on an evidence-based scientific field need to go holler in their echo chamber. So many of the world’s most profound shifts in scientific examination fought these types of narratives. That said, this book might be better read vs audible. The narrator is wanting.

How did people come to the Americas

Eye opening! So many fascinating concepts that shatter what I was taught in school! I love that the author not only introduces challenges to the current migration theories but also makes us aware of how important it is to include the descendants of those being researched in as much of the process as possible.

good book, horrible narration

The book provides an overview of what genetic archeology teaches us on the first people in the Americas with some insights on the work of researchers.

The narration is highly unpleasant, sometimes. separating. every. word. with. a. long. pause. making it hard to listen.

Loved this book

This book is informative not only for archaeologist but also for anyone who wants to learn.

Interesting subject but flaws in both the performance and the writing

The writer, quite justifiably, is offended with the way archaeologist in anthropologist have treated native American people and cultures. She talks at some length about the various times this is occurred. This is an incredibly important subject, no question, and must be examined so that it is not repeated. But I got tired of getting hit over the head with it as I listened to this book.

The reader has a bit of a harsh voice, but even more important she missed pronounced both anthropologists’ names and the names of Alaska places. For those of us who live in Alaska and have studied anthropology, this grated.