ERIC Number: EJ1209447
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
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Diversity beneath the Skin: Using DNA Tracing to Explore Cultural Identity and Awareness
Seigler, Timothy J.
Journal for the Advancement of Educational Research International, v12 n1 p70-79 Fall 2018
The article describes an inductive exploratory initiative in which DNA tracing was incorporated into cultural diversity courses and how the participants responded to the results. Supported by an $8,500 resource grant from AncestryDNA, a sample of some thirty participants enrolled in cultural diversity courses, embarked on an exploratory journey and challenged presumptions about their ethnic identities. Within a cultural diversity course framework, the participants consulted the literature and various theories regarding cultural identities. They also took an AncstryDNA cultural tracing test in order to discover more about their own individual ancestral heritage. The collection of individual cultural ethnic data yielded a striking collective discovery regarding the plethora of ethnicities that existed beneath six skins: "Black" "Brown" "White" "Yellow" "Tan" and "Red, " as well as, surfaced new cultural identities and countries with which the participants could subsequently associate and re-acculturate. The article also discusses the implication of DNA tracing on "White" identity theory and "Black" identity theory, stereotypes and presumptions of skin pigmentation, as well as implications for school culture, extended cultural family associations and character formation.
Descriptors: Genetics, Cultural Differences, Ethnicity, Identification (Psychology), Racial Identification, Ethnic Stereotypes, School Culture, Color, Ethnic Diversity, College Students
Association for the Advancement of Educational Research International. e-mail: aaermeetings@gmail.com; Web site: https://www.aaer.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
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Language: English
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