What is Ethnicity?
Ethnicity is an important means through which people can
identify themselves. The word Ethnicity is derived from the Greek word “ethnos” which normally translated as
“people” or “tribe”. Ethnicity is a major factor affecting the health of
individuals and communities.
Have
you ever thought about your ethnic origin? Or do you know surely where all your
ancestors were from and the history of which country make direct impact on the
people who were responsible for you who you are?
To
know the ethnic or our origin, we have to go thousand of years back in the past
or we should have knowledge of history. But now science has made some
inventions, which uses the DNA testing. If you wish to take an ancestry DNA
test you can order a home test kit online or visit a laboratory that does DNA
testing. The common procedure is to take a swab of the inside of the cheek
which will give a good DNA sample for the laboratory to study.
Then
the laboratory may look at maternal DNA or DNA from the paternal line. They
should study about 400 dissimilar points on the DNA, where as for the paternal
line only 25-37 are required, if they are looking at the maternal DNA.
The
result will probably offer you a letter which corresponds to a definite ethnicity;
it also may give you percentages of ethnicity – i.e. how much Indo-European,
Native American, East Asian or African ancestry you have. If you get a letter
from it then you can easily find a link to your main ancestry. The meaning of
different letters gives you the main ancestry which is written in next
paragraph.
If
you get A, B, C, D, or X letter then your ancestry is either Native American or
Asian.
Similarly
if you get H, I, J, K, N, R, T, U, V, W, X then it is Indo-European.
Letter
L for African, letter M, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, O, P, Q, or Z for East Asian,
letter P, or Q are for Oceana, Pacific Islands, and Papua New Guinea and letter
N for Australian ancestry.
The
part of the DNA remains almost unchanged through the centuries. That is the reason
why ancestry DNA testing useful in discovering one’s native roots. Mainly it is
true with the Y chromosome and so paternal DNA testing necessitates fewer
comparisons as the father’s DNA is passed down to his son without much
considerable change.
But
for the society, the topic of ethnicity is danger after some level. In a
country or a nation, if there are mainly two ethnic people are living then the
majority party can undergo for violence to rule on the nation and the minority
people. So if you want to know your ethnicity for your personal purpose then
its okay as it is for your curiosity or for your personal purpose. But if you
give this topic a political view then it will be danger for society or nation.
