Anthropology Publications

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Browsing Anthropology Publications by Author "Ayodo, George"

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    Charting a landmark-driven path forward for population genetics and ancient DNA research in Africa
    (Elsevier, 2024) Sawchuk, Elizabeth A.; Sirak, Kendra A.; Manthi, Fredrick K.; Ndiema, Emmanuel K.; Ogola, Christine A.; Prendergast, Mary E.; Reich, David; Aluvaala, Eva; Ayodo, George; Badji, Lamine; Bird, Nancy; Black, Wendy; Fregel, Rosa; Gachihi, Njeri; Gibbon, Victoria E.; Gidna, Agness; Goldstein, Steven T.; Hamad, Reem; Hassan, Hisham Y.; Hayes, Vanessa M.; Hellenthal, Garrett; Kebede, Solomon; Kurewa, Abdikadir; Kusimba, Chapurukha; Kyazike, Elizabeth; Lane, Paul J.; MacEachern, Scott; Massilani, Diyendo; Mbua, Emma; Morris, Alan G.; Mutinda, Christina; M’Mbogori, Freda Nkirote; Reynolds, Austin W.; Tishkoff, Sarah; Vilar, Miguel; Yimer, Getnet
    Population history-focused DNA and ancient DNA (aDNA) research in Africa has dramatically increased in the past decade, enabling increasingly fine-scale investigations into the continent’s past. However, while international interest in human genomics research in Africa grows, major structural barriers limit the ability of African scholars to lead and engage in such research and impede local communities from partnering with researchers and benefitting from research outcomes. Because conversations about research on African people and their past are often held outside Africa and exclude African voices, an important step for African DNA and aDNA research is moving these conversations to the continent. In May 2023 we held the DNAirobi workshop in Nairobi, Kenya and here we synthesize what emerged most prominently in our discussions. We propose an ideal vision for population history-focused DNA and aDNA research in Africa in ten years’ time and acknowledge that to realize this future, we need to chart a path connecting a series of “landmarks” that represent points of consensus in our discussions. These include effective communication across multiple audiences, reframed relationships and capacity building, and action toward structural changes that support science and beyond. We concluded there is no single path to creating an equitable and self-sustaining research ecosystem, but rather many possible routes linking these landmarks. Here we share our diverse perspectives as geneticists, anthropologists, archaeologists, museum curators, and educators to articulate challenges and opportunities for African DNA and aDNA research and share an initial map toward a more inclusive and equitable future.
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    Entwined African and Asian genetic roots of medieval peoples of the Swahili coast
    (Springer Nature, 2023) Brielle, Esther S.; Fleisher, Jeffrey; Wynne-Jones, Stephanie; Sirak, Kendra; Broomandkhoshbacht, Nasreen; Callan, Kim; Curtis, Elizabeth; Iliev, Lora; Lawson, Ann Marie; Oppenheimer, Jonas; Qiu, Lijun; Stewardson, Kristin; Workman, J. Noah; Zalzala, Fatma; Ayodo, George; Gidna, Agness O.; Kabiru, Angela; Kwekason, Amandus; Mabulla, Audax Z. P.; Manthi, Fredrick K.; Ndiema, Emmanuel; Ogola, Christine; Sawchuk, Elizabeth; Al-Gazali, Lihadh; Ali, Bassam R.; Ben-Salem, Salma; Letellier, Thierry; Pierron, Denis; Radimilahy, Chantal; Rakotoarisoa, Jean-Aimé; Raaum, Ryan L.; Culleton, Brendan J.; Mallick, Swapan; Rohland, Nadin; Patterson, Nick; Mwenje, Mohammed Ali; Ahmed, Khalfan Bini; Mohamed, Mohamed Mchulla; Williams, Sloan R.; Monge, Janet; Kusimba, Sibel; Prendergast, Mary E.; Reich, David; Kusimba, Chapurukha M.
    The urban peoples of the Swahili coast traded across eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean and were among the first practitioners of Islam among sub-Saharan people1,2. The extent to which these early interactions between Africans and non-Africans were accompanied by genetic exchange remains unknown. Here we report ancient DNA data for 80 individuals from 6 medieval and early modern (ad 1250–1800) coastal towns and an inland town after ad 1650. More than half of the DNA of many of the individuals from coastal towns originates from primarily female ancestors from Africa, with a large proportion—and occasionally more than half—of the DNA coming from Asian ancestors. The Asian ancestry includes components associated with Persia and India, with 80–90% of the Asian DNA originating from Persian men. Peoples of African and Asian origins began to mix by about ad 1000, coinciding with the large-scale adoption of Islam. Before about ad 1500, the Southwest Asian ancestry was mainly Persian-related, consistent with the narrative of the Kilwa Chronicle, the oldest history told by people of the Swahili coast3. After this time, the sources of DNA became increasingly Arabian, consistent with evidence of growing interactions with southern Arabia4. Subsequent interactions with Asian and African people further changed the ancestry of present-day people of the Swahili coast in relation to the medieval individuals whose DNA we sequenced.