Uniparental markers reveal new insights on subcontinental ancestry and sex-biased admixture in Brazil.

The Brazilian population is a product of asymmetric admixture among European men and Amerindian and African women. However, Brazilian subcontinental ancestry is scarcely documented, especially regarding its African roots. Here, we aimed to unveil the uniparental continental and subcontinental contributions from distinct Brazilian regions, including South (n = 43), Southeast (n = 71), the poorly genetically characterized Central-Western region (n = 323), and a subset of unique Brazilian Amerindians (n = 24), in the context of their genome-wide ancestral contributions. The overwhelming majority of European Y haplogroups (85%) contrast sharply with the predominant African and Amerindian mtDNA haplogroups (73.2%) in admixed populations, whereas in Amerindians, non-Native haplogroups could only be detected through the paternal line. Our in-depth investigation of uniparental markers showed signals of an Andean and Central-Brazilian Amerindian maternal contribution to Southeastern and Central-Western Brazil (83.1 ± 2.1% and 56.9 ± 0.2%, respectively), the last having the highest paternal Amerindian ancestry yet described for an admixed Brazilian region (9.7%) and contrasting with higher Southern-Brazilian Amerindian contribution to Southern Brazil (59.6 ± 1%). Unlike the higher African Bantu contribution previously reported for the South and Southeast, a relevant Western African non-Bantu contribution was detected in those regions (85.7 ± 5% and 71.8 ± 10.8% respectively). In contrast, a higher Bantu contribution was described for the first time in the Central-West (64.8 ± 1.3% maternal and 86.9 ± 9.6% paternal). We observed sex-biased signatures consistent with the historically recorded Brazilian colonization and added new insights in the subcontinental maternal ancestry of Brazilians from regions never studied at this level.

Readings of the coloniality of power in the COVID-19 global dynamics: A brief reflection on Global South's socio-political locations.

The article seeks to understand the position of Global South communities and ethnicities in contemporary global politics, using the COVID-19 crisis to illustrate and evidence the practical application of the decolonial theories. In two separate topics, it chronologically analyzes the racialization of the pandemics through the examples of the Asian and African (diasporic and continental) communities' respective homogenous stereotypes and their emergence between the outbreak of and attempted cure to the virus, comparing them to the ethno-racial categories historically attributed to the groups.

Dumbo: a trajetória de um atleta como síntese da conexão Brasil-Angola / Dumbo, the way of one athlete as the synthesis of connection Brasil-Angola / Dumbo, la trayectoria de un deportista como síntesis de la conexión Brasil-Angola

Em cem anos de história no movimento olímpico, o Brasil foi representado por 52 atletas que nasceram em território estrangeiro. Nenhum deles nasceu no continente africano. Em Jogos Paralímpicos, porém, o país contou em 2016 com a presença do jogador Maurício Dumbo, nascido em Angola e naturalizado brasileiro. Este artigo tem como objetivo apresentar a história de vida de um desses imigrantes, mostrando qual o papel que o esporte teve na integração dele à sociedade brasileira. Como metodologia, optou-se pelas narrativas biográficas. Como resultados, vê-se que ainda existe preconceito e diversas barreiras na integração de migrantes vindos da África para o Brasil, todavia, percebe-se que o esporte foi um fator importante na construção de uma rede de socialização de Dumbo e que a adoção da nacionalidade brasileira não significou um rompimento com a sua origem angolana.

In a hundred years of history in the Olympic movement, Brazil was represented by 52 athletes who were born abroad. None of them was born on the African continent. In Paralympic Games, however, the country counted in 2016 with the player Maurício Dumbo, born in Angola and naturalized Brazilian. This article aims to present the life story of one of these immigrants, showing the role that sport played in his integration into Brazilian society. As a methodology, biographical narratives were chosen. As a result, it can be seen that there is still prejudice and several barriers in the integration of migrants from Africa to Brazil, however, it is clear that sport was an important factor in the construction of a social network of Dumbo, who the adoption of Brazilian nationality did not mean a break with his Angolan origin.

En cien años de historia en el movimiento olímpico, Brasil estuvo representado por 52 deportistas que nacieron en el extranjero. Ninguno de ellos nació en el continente africano. En los Juegos Paralímpicos el país contó en 2016 con el jugador Maurício Dumbo, nacido en Angola y naturalizado brasileño. Este artículo tiene como objetivo presentar la historia de vida de uno de estos inmigrantes, mostrando el papel que jugó el deporte en su integración a la sociedad brasileña. Como metodología se eligieron narrativas biográficas. Como resultado, se puede ver que aún existen prejuicios y varias barreras en la integración de los migrantes de África a Brasil, sin embargo, es claro que el deporte fue un factor importante en la construcción de una red social de Dumbo con los brasileños, quienes la adopción de la nacionalidad brasileña no significó una ruptura con su origen angoleño.

Origins, Admixture Dynamics, and Homogenization of the African Gene Pool in the Americas.

The Transatlantic Slave Trade transported more than 9 million Africans to the Americas between the early 16th and the mid-19th centuries. We performed a genome-wide analysis using 6,267 individuals from 25 populations to infer how different African groups contributed to North-, South-American, and Caribbean populations, in the context of geographic and geopolitical factors, and compared genetic data with demographic history records of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. We observed that West-Central Africa and Western Africa-associated ancestry clusters are more prevalent in northern latitudes of the Americas, whereas the South/East Africa-associated ancestry cluster is more prevalent in southern latitudes of the Americas. This pattern results from geographic and geopolitical factors leading to population differentiation. However, there is a substantial decrease in the between-population differentiation of the African gene pool within the Americas, when compared with the regions of origin from Africa, underscoring the importance of historical factors favoring admixture between individuals with different African origins in the New World. This between-population homogenization in the Americas is consistent with the excess of West-Central Africa ancestry (the most prevalent in the Americas) in the United States and Southeast-Brazil, with respect to historical-demography expectations. We also inferred that in most of the Americas, intercontinental admixture intensification occurred between 1750 and 1850, which correlates strongly with the peak of arrivals from Africa. This study contributes with a population genetics perspective to the ongoing social, cultural, and political debate regarding ancestry, admixture, and the mestizaje process in the Americas.

"Em Defesa da Humanidade": A Associação Cultural do Negro / "In Defense of Humanity": The Black Cultural Association / "En Défense de l'Humanité": L'Association Culturelle du Noir / "En Defensa de la Humanidad": La Asociación Cultural del Negro

RESUMO O objetivo deste artigo é analisar a trajetória histórica da Associação Cultural do Negro, fundada em São Paulo em 1954. Serão discutidas suas formas de organização, luta e interlocução na arena nacional e internacional. A agremiação é abordada especialmente à luz de seu papel na rede afro-atlântica, uma dinâmica de rede de conexões político-culturais na qual os africanos e seus descendentes do Mundo Atlântico estabeleceram contatos e interligações, trocaram informações e experiências, discutiram ideias e projetos emancipatórios, influenciando uns aos outros.

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to analyze the historical trajectory of the Associação Cultural do Negro [Black Cultural Association] founded in São Paulo in 1954. To do so, we discuss its methods of organization, struggle, and dialogue within the national and international arena, with a particular focus on its role in the Afro-Atlantic network, a dynamic mesh of political-cultural connections in which Africans and their descendants on either side of the Atlantic established contacts and interconnections, exchanged information and experiences, and discussed ideas and projects on emancipation, influencing one another.

RÉSUMÉ L'objectif de cet article est d'analyser la trajectoire historique de l'Association culturelle du Noir, fondée à São Paulo en 1954. On discutera de ses formes d'organisation, de lutte et d'interlocution sur la scène nationale et internationale. On abordera particulièrement cette association à la lumière de son rôle dans le réseau afro-atlantique, à savoir une dynamique de connexions politico-culturelles au sein de laquelle les Africains et leurs descendants du Monde atlantique ont pu établir des contacts et des liens, échanger des informations et des expériences, débattre d'idées et de projets émancipateurs, dans le cadre d'une influence mutuelle.

RESUMEN El objetivo de este artículo es analizar la trayectoria histórica de la Associação Cultural do Negro, fundada en São Paulo en 1954. Se discuten sus formas de organización, su lucha y su interlocución en el escenario nacional e internacional. El asociacionismo es abordado especialmente a la luz de su papel en la red afroatlántica, una dinámica de red de conexiones político-culturales dentro de la cual los africanos y sus descendientes del mundo atlántico establecieron contactos e interconexiones, intercambiaron información y experiencias, y debatieron ideas y proyectos emancipadores, influyéndose unos a otros.

Subjetividades em trânsito: identidade, diáspora africana e cultura imaterial / Subjetividades en tránsito: la identidad, la diáspora y cultura inmaterial / Subjectivities in transit: identity, african diaspora and intangible culture

RESUMO A proposta do artigo pretende trazer contribuições para a valorização da memória oral da diáspora africana no contexto latino-brasileiro contemporâneo, com ênfase na relação entre identidade e diáspora africana do início do século XXI. Para o desenvolvimento do artigo foram utilizados os dados etnográficos coletados, entre os anos de 2013 e 2015, no Estado do Rio de Janeiro, com angolanos que vivem na capital carioca e têm interesse pela manutenção de uma memória oral da diáspora africana contemporânea no Brasil. Assim sendo, a potência das ideias e crenças foram analisadas para que se identifiquem as redes de movimento e reprodução social e subjetiva, que mobilizam os sujeitos envolvidos na pesquisa, enfatizando a importância da salvaguarda da memória atlântica contemporânea, para que não seja esquecida e nem silenciada.

RESUMEN El artículo propuesto tiene como objetivo reunir las contribuciones para la valorización de la memoria oral de la diáspora africana en el contexto contemporáneo latinobrasileño, con énfasis en la relación entre la identidad y la diáspora africana de principios del siglo XXI. Para el desarrollo del artículo se utilizaron datos etnográficos recogidos entre 2013 y 2015 en el Estado de Río de Janeiro con los angoleños que viven en la capital carioca y tienen un interés en mantener una memoria oral de la diáspora africana contemporánea en Brasil. Por lo tanto, se analizó el poder de las ideas y creencias con el fin de identificar las redes de circulación y reproducción social y subjetiva que movilizan los sujetos involucrados en la investigación, haciendo hincapié en la importancia de salvaguardar la memoria contemporánea del Atlántico, para que no se la olvide ni silencie.

ABSTRACT The article proposes to contribute to the valorization of the oral memory of the African diaspora in the contemporary Latin-Brazilian context, with emphasis on the relationship between identity and African diaspora of the beginning of the 21st century. Ethnographic data collected between the years of 2013 and 2015 in the State of Rio de Janeiro were used for the development of the article. Interviews with Angolans living in the capital of Rio de Janeiro and interested in maintaining an oral memory of the contemporary African diaspora in Brazil were conducted. Therefore, the power of ideas and beliefs were analyzed to identify the networks of social and subjective movement and reproduction that mobilize the subjects involved in the research, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding the contemporary Atlantic memory, so that it is neither forgotten nor silenced.

Cardiovascular risk status of Afro-origin populations across the spectrum of economic development: findings from the Modeling the Epidemiologic Transition Study.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular risk factors are increasing in most developing countries. To date, however, very little standardized data has been collected on the primary risk factors across the spectrum of economic development. Data are particularly sparse from Africa. METHODS: In the Modeling the Epidemiologic Transition Study (METS) we examined population-based samples of men and women, ages 25-45 of African ancestry in metropolitan Chicago, Kingston, Jamaica, rural Ghana, Cape Town, South Africa, and the Seychelles. Key measures of cardiovascular disease risk are described. RESULTS: The risk factor profile varied widely in both total summary estimates of cardiovascular risk and in the magnitude of component factors. Hypertension ranged from 7% in women from Ghana to 35% in US men. Total cholesterol was well under 200 mg/dl for all groups, with a mean of 155 mg/dl among men in Ghana, South Africa and Jamaica. Among women total cholesterol values varied relatively little by country, following between 160 and 178 mg/dl for all 5 groups. Levels of HDL-C were virtually identical in men and women from all study sites. Obesity ranged from 64% among women in the US to 2% among Ghanaian men, with a roughly corresponding trend in diabetes. Based on the Framingham risk score a clear trend toward higher total risk in association with socioeconomic development was observed among men, while among women there was considerable overlap, with the US participants having only a modestly higher risk score. CONCLUSIONS: These data provide a comprehensive estimate of cardiovascular risk across a range of countries at differing stages of social and economic development and demonstrate the heterogeneity in the character and degree of emerging cardiovascular risk. Severe hypercholesterolemia, as characteristic in the US and much of Western Europe at the onset of the coronary epidemic, is unlikely to be a feature of the cardiovascular risk profile in these countries in the foreseeable future, suggesting that stroke may remain the dominant cardiovascular event.

Palenque de San Basilio in Colombia: genetic data support an oral history of a paternal ancestry in Congo.

The Palenque, a black community in rural Colombia, have an oral history of fugitive African slaves founding a free village near Cartagena in the seventeenth century. Recently, linguists have identified some 200 words in regular use that originate in a Kikongo language, with Yombe, mainly spoken in the Congo region, being the most likely source. The non-recombining portion of the Y chromosome (NRY) and mitochondrial DNA were analysed to establish whether there was greater similarity between present-day members of the Palenque and Yombe than between the Palenque and 42 other African groups (for all individuals,n= 2799) from which forced slaves might have been taken. NRY data are consistent with the linguistic evidence that Yombe is the most likely group from which the original male settlers of Palenque came. Mitochondrial DNA data suggested substantial maternal sub-Saharan African ancestry and a strong founder effect but did not associate Palenque with any particular African group. In addition, based on cultural data including inhabitants' claims of linguistic differences, it has been hypothesized that the two districts of the village (Abajo and Arriba) have different origins, with Arriba founded by men originating in Congo and Abajo by those born in Colombia. Although significant genetic structuring distinguished the two from each other, no supporting evidence for this hypothesis was found.

Ethnomedicinal survey of a maroon community in Brazil's Atlantic tropical forest.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Considerable medicinal plant research in Brazil has focused on indigenous and mixed-race (caboclo and caiçara) communities, but relatively few studies have examined the medicinal plants and associated healing traditions of the descendants of enslaved Africans. This study surveyed the medicinal plants employed by a relatively isolated maroon community of Afro-Brazilians in the Atlantic coastal rainforests of Bahia, Brazil, a global biodiversity hotspot. The studied community is exceptional in that the residents were defacto slaves until several years ago, with no access to western medicine. We examined the following questions: 1) What medicinal plants are used in this community? 2) What are the principal taxonomic groups, life forms, source habitats, and geographical origins? 3) What species stand out as measured by use value and frequency indices? and 4) Is the community's geographical isolation and African ancestry reflected in their medicinal uses of the local flora? MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was carried out in the Quilombo Salamina Putumuju maroon community in Bahia, Brazil. Data were collected from May to October 2014 from 74 individuals (37 men and 37 women) by means of semi-structured interviews, walk in the woods, and vouchering of identified species. We used the Cultural Value Index (CV), the Relative Frequency Index (RF), and the Use Value Index (UV) to determine the importance of medicinal plant resources. Continuity of African medicinal plant uses and traditions was determined through self-reporting and comparison with previously published works. RESULTS: We recorded 118 medicinal plant species distributed in 100 genera and 51 families. The best represented families were: Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae and Myrtaceae. Most plant medicines were used to treat respiratory, digestive systems, genitourinary, and skin problems. The most common medicinal life form was herbs (44%), followed by trees (28%) and shrubs (18%). Native species (55%) were used somewhat more than exotic species (45%), and non-cultivated species (51%) were slightly more numerous than cultivated species (49%). In spite of abundant nearby old-growth forests, trails and gardens were the most common collection sites. A mean of 13.2 medicinal plant species were cited per participant. The highest CV was recorded for Cymbopogon citratus (0.20) followed by Lippia alba (0.19) and Stryphnodendron cf. adstringens (0.17). The highest RF included C. citratus (0.69), L. alba (0.59), and Eugenia uniflora (0.55). The highest UV figures were recorded for S. cf. adstringens (1.68), followed by Sida cf. cordifolia (0.97) and C. citratus (0.93).Fifteen species (13%) of this maroon medicinal flora trace their ancestry to Africa or African-derived healing traditions. CONCLUSION: The Salamina maroon community maintains considerable knowledge of the medicinal value of the local flora. However, little of this knowledge is derived from the surrounding old-growth tropical forests. Their pharmacopoeia is a hybrid mix of wild and cultivated species, natives and exotics. Among those species representing the community's isolation and African ancestry, most are associated with spiritual and magical medicine.

The early colonial atlantic world: New insights on the African Diaspora from isotopic and ancient DNA analyses of a multiethnic 15th-17th century burial population from the Canary Islands, Spain.

OBJECTIVES: The Canary Islands are considered one of the first places where Atlantic slave plantations with labourers of African origin were established, during the 15th century AD. In Gran Canaria (Canary Islands, Spain), a unique cemetery dated to the 15th and 17th centuries was discovered adjacent to an ancient sugar plantation with funerary practices that could be related to enslaved people. In this article, we investigate the origin and possible birthplace of each individual buried in this cemetery, as well as the identity and social status of these people. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The sample consists of 14 individuals radiocarbon dated to the 15th and 17th centuries AD. We have employed several methods, including the analysis of ancient human DNA, stable isotopes, and skeletal markers of physical activity. RESULTS: 1) the funerary practices indicate a set of rituals not previously recorded in the Canary Islands; 2) genetic data show that some people buried in the cemetery could have North-African and sub-Saharan African lineages; 3) isotopic results suggest that some individuals were born outside Gran Canaria; and 4) markers of physical activity show a pattern of labour involving high levels of effort. DISCUSSION: This set of evidence, along with information from historical sources, suggests that Finca Clavijo was a cemetery for a multiethnic marginalized population that had being likely enslaved. Results also indicate that this population kept practicing non-Christian rituals well into the 17th century. We propose that this was possible because the location of the Canaries, far from mainland Spain and the control of the Spanish Crown, allowed the emergence of a new society with multicultural origins that was more tolerant to foreign rituals and syncretism.

Frequency-Dependent Social Transmission and the Interethnic Transfer of Female Genital Modification in the African Diaspora and Indigenous Populations of Colombia.

We present a quantitative account based on ethnographic and documentary research of the prevalence of female genital modification (FGMo) in the African diaspora and indigenous populations of Colombia. We use these data to test hypotheses concerning the cultural evolutionary drivers of costly trait persistence, attenuation, and intergroup transmission. The uptake of FGMo by indigenous populations in Colombia is consistent with frequency-dependent hypotheses for the social transmission of the FGMo trait from the African diaspora population in the period following the era of slavery in Colombia. The prevalence and severity of practices related to FGMo decline with level of sociocultural integration into mainstream Colombian culture. Our results provide empirical support for the cultural evolutionary models proposed by Ross et al. (2015) to describe the transmission dynamics of FGMo and other costly traits. Analysis of costly trait dynamics contributes knowledge useful to applied anthropology and may be of interest in policy design and human rights monitoring in Colombia and elsewhere.