466 research outputs found

    Genetic ancestry tracing and the African identity: a double- edged sword?

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    As both a geneticist and a Nigerian living in the United States, the author responds to the prospect of African Americans using genetic science to trace their ancestry to the African continent. He articulates concerns about both the limitations of the science to offer satisfying, accurate, and meaningful results, and the ability of individuals to make real, life-altering sense of these results. However, he notes that given the history and impact of slavery on African Americans, the desire to trace roots to Africa is both real and understandable

    A comparative analysis of Andre Gide's Oedipe and Ola Rotimi's The Gods Are Not to Blame, 2000

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    Although there have been numerous and varied treatments of Oedipus throughout the ages, there is to date no detailed analytical study of myth based on Andre Gides Oedine and Ola Rotimis The Gods Are Not to Blame. This study is a critical analysis of these two dramatic texts, which have been reworked from fifth century Greek tragedy. The principal aim is to compare these two plays taken from different cultures, in an effort to show that they both have a common originSophocles Oedipus the King. Through this comparison, the author wishes to show that each playwright presents Oedipus as a classic, which transcends cultural boundaries, thus making Sophocles drama a classic work in world literature. The study is presented in four chapters. The first chapter serves as an introduction, which deals with the origin of the Oedipus theme and some of the major writers who helped to popularize it. This chapter will also present references, theses and other critical works written on the plays in question. The second and third chapters deal with the plays of each playwright: Oedipe by Andre Gide and The Gods Are Not to Blame by Ola Rotimi. Each chapter will include a brief sketch of the authors life, a resume of the plays, and the development of major and minor characters. The fourth chapter will deal with the similarities and the contrasts in the plays and will also serve as the conclusion

    Enabling Genomic Revolution in Africa

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    Whole genome sequence-based haplotypes reveal single origin of the sickle allele during the Holocene Wet Phase

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    ABSTRACTFive classical designations of sickle haplotypes are based on the presence/absence of restriction sites and named after ethnic groups or geographic regions from which patients originated. Each haplotype is thought to represent an independent occurrence of the sickle mutation. We investigated the origins of the sickle mutation using whole genome sequence data. We identified 156 carriers from the 1000 Genomes Project, the African Genome Variation Project, and Qatar. We defined a new haplotypic classification using 27 polymorphisms in linkage disequilibrium with rs334. Network analysis revealed a common haplotype that differed from the ancestral haplotype only by the derived sickle mutation at rs334 and correlated collectively with the Central African Republic/Bantu, Cameroon, and Arabian/Indian designations. Other haplotypes were derived from this haplotype and fell into two clusters, one comprised of haplotypes correlated with the Senegal designation and the other comprised of haplotypes correlated with both the Benin and Senegal designations. The near-exclusive presence of the original sickle haplotype in the Central African Republic, Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa is consistent with this haplotype predating the Bantu Expansion. Modeling of balancing selection indicated that the heterozygote advantage was 15.2%, an equilibrium frequency of 12.0% was reached after 87 generations, and the selective environment predated the mutation. The posterior distribution of the ancestral recombination graph yielded an age of the sickle mutation of 259 generations, corresponding to 7,300 years and the Holocene Wet Phase. These results clarify the origin of the sickle allele and improve and simplify the classification of sickle haplotypes.</jats:p

    Genetic history of Chad

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