Ethnicity is not something dictated by people’s genes | Letters
by Letters from on (#2Z8BK)
John Collis on the limitations of DNA testing, Peter McKenna on the Romans and race, and Alun Thomas on West Midlands history
DNA testing to determine people's origins (DNA uncovers villagers' exotic heritage, 11 August) should come with a major health warning as interpretations are based on false scientific methodologies.
First, there is a confusion between two types of data. Our DNA is what we inherit from our parents and, until recently at least, could not be altered. Ethnic or "racial" terms like "English" are culturally constructed "imagined communities" and can be altered and redefined. Though genes may affect our perception of ethnicity (eg in skin colour) it is not dictated by them.
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