---
title: "Genographic Project"
chunk: 2/2
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genographic_Project"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:14:38.075080+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

In April 2005, shortly after the announcement of the project, the Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism (IPCB) noted its connections to controversial issues (such as concern among some tribes that the results of genetic human migration studies might indicate that Native Americans are not indigenous to North America). The IPCB recommended against indigenous people participating.
The founder of IPCB, Debra Harry, offered a rationale for why Indigenous people were discouraged to participate in the Genographic Project. According to Harry, a Northern Paiute Native American and Associate Professor in Indigenous Studies at Nevada University, the Genographic Project resulted in a human genetic testing practice that appeared to mask an ulterior motive rather than mere scientific research. Particularly, the great concern about the possible political interest behind the Genographic Project, motivated the IPCB to preemptively alert the global indigenous community on the "not so altruistic motivations" of the project. Additionally, IPCB argued that the Genographic project not only provided no direct benefit to Indigenous peoples, but instead raised considerable risks. Such risks, raised by Harry in an interview released in December 2005, were used to advocate against the indigenous participation in the project.
Another argument, made by IPCB founder Debra Harry, was that the Genographic Project served as a method to discredit kin relations through the possibility that ancestral identities might be invalidated and misused to deny Indigenous peoples’ access and authority over the resource-rich territories that they had for long inhabited.
The IPCB also suggested that another attempt at biocolonialism in the Genographic Project involved the high probability of genetic testing results producing statistical errors, such as false negatives and positives leading to the misidentification of Native people as non-Native and vice versa.
TallBear expressed that another possible negative consequence might be the risk that an individual's cultural identity would be conclusively established through biocolonialist projects such as the Genographic Project. Ultimately, TallBear's argument was viewed as in close agreement with Harry's concerns regarding the Genographic Project, serving as a significant force motivating IPCB to advocate against Biocolonialism.
In May 2006, the project came to the attention of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). UNPFII conducted investigations into the objectives of the Genographic Project, and recommended that National Geographic and other sponsors suspend the project. Concerns were that the knowledge gleaned from the research could clash with long-held beliefs of indigenous peoples and threaten their cultures. There were also concerns that indigenous claims to land rights and other resources could be threatened.
As of December 2006, some federally recognized tribes in the United States declined to take part in the study including Maurice Foxx, chairman of the Massachusetts Commission on Indian Affairs and a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag.
Not all Indigenous peoples agree with his position; as of December 2012, more than 70,000 indigenous participants from the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania had joined the project.

== See also ==

== References ==

== Bibliography ==

=== News articles ===
"Finding the roots of modern humans". CNN. 14 April 2005.
"'Genographic Project' aims to tell us where we came from". USA Today. 17 April 2005.
"Indigenous Peoples Oppose National Geographic", Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism, 13 April 2005.
"Tracking the Truth", DB2 Magazine (IBM), information about IBM's role in the project. December 2006.
Genographic Success Stories
"Crusaders left genetic legacy". BBC News. 27 March 2008.
"Human Line 'Nearly split in Two'". BBC News. 24 April 2008.

== External links ==

=== Official sites ===
Genographic Project official site at National Geographic
Arizona Research Laboratories (ARL) Archived 9 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine
Waitt Family Foundation

=== Videos ===
Spencer Wells: Building a family tree for all humanity on YouTube, on TED, 29 August 2008.