Suchergebnisse

Aside to the demographic screening, a deeper biosocial interest in India can be observed on the scale of groups and subpopulations. Several agencies (university consortia, departments of human forensic genetics), are pursuing the inspection of population bio-history, and genotyping. Most of the results concern the genetic structure, and admixtures, in a phylogenetic net connecting clades and sub-clades. Two large ancestral stocks are supposed at the origin of the demographic mosaic. The first of these, Ancestral North Indians (ANI) had its centre in a western Euro-Asian area, and the Middle East. The second, called ASI, Ancestral South Indians, centred in the Andaman Islands, but prevalent in South India. Under this perspective, the authenticity is associated, with autochthony: the "true" Indians are those who first populated the territory. Thus, adivasis label (aboriginals) designates the "originals". Their roots, both on the bio-genetic and cultural level, belong to the deepest layer of the variegated Pan-Indian scenario. This simplified version coexists with a divergent theory linked to modernized frames of the classic hierarchical background. In a seminal study M. Bamshad showed as the social pyramid corresponded to a distribution the Y chromosome heritage. The highest rate of markers of haplogroup R1a1 was found among the top castes, and lowest in the Shudras and outcastes. The supporters of Hindu supremacy wear the R1a1 brand as a symbol of identity that confirms the Vedic myth in which society is depicted as a body (where the limbs represent the different classes), supporting a renewed image of national solidarity.

In memory of Giulio Angioni (1939-2017).

Final comment on the Forum Sahlins, la parentela, essere e non essere (with contributions of Alessandra Gribaldo, Simonetta Grilli, Luca Guizzardi, Berardino Palumbo, Enric Porqueres i Gené, Piero Vereni, Pier Paolo Viazzo), Anuac. Vol. 4, n° 2, dicembre 2015: 7-41.

Review article of Marshall Sahlins, La parentela: cos'è e cosa non è, Milano, Eleuthèra, 2014, pp. 128 (ed. or. What Kinship is–And is Not, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2013, pp. 120).

Drawing on examples from Indian ethnography and not only, this paper seeks to identify, ranging from research and representations of geneticists and local images, to systematize the idea of descent on three different levels: the first about the field of relationships between people and groups, families, genealogies; the second about the terms and kinship relations, ie the raw material of visible genealogies; the third about the genetic text and the classes that it generates.

In memory of Alberto Mario Cirese (1921-2011).