Jennifer Raff on the Genetic History of America

Mar 19, 2022

Jennifer Raff, an anthropological geneticist and assistant professor at the University of Kansas, dives into the groundbreaking revelations from her book on America's genetic history. She discusses how ancient footprints challenge our understanding of early American settlement and highlights the importance of indigenous contributions to American democracy. The conversation also critiques myths surrounding lost civilizations, emphasizing the rich narratives of Native Americans that deserve recognition in our historical context.

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ANECDOTE

White Sands Footprints

Ryan Holiday recounts seeing footprints discovered at White Sands National Park.
The footprints showed parents and a child walking, a common human experience.

INSIGHT

Emotional Impact of White Sands

Jennifer Raff describes her emotional reaction to the White Sands footprints.
She notes the variety of interactions captured, including children playing without adults and humans encountering megafauna.

ANECDOTE

Connecting with Ancient History

Ryan Holiday shares an anecdote of Steve Rinella finding ancient artifacts in a cave.
Rinella realized someone thousands of years ago had the same experience in that spot.

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Ryan talks to Anthropological geneticist Jennifer Raff about her new book Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas, how drastically our understanding of North American history has changed, the important perspective that understanding of history gives you about the world around you, and more.

Dr. Jennifer Raff is an assistant professor at the University of Kansas, in the department of Anthropology. She studies the genomes of contemporary and ancient peoples in order to uncover details of human prehistory. She is a celebrated anthropological geneticist, and recently released her book, “Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas,” is the story of who the first peoples in the Americas were, how and why they made the crossing, how they dispersed south, and how they lived based on a new and powerful kind of evidence: their complete genomes.

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