New paper: Genetic ancestry in Puerto Rican Afro-descendants

I am very excited to announce the publication of our recent paper Genetic ancestry in Puerto Rican Afro-descendants illustrates diverse histories of African Diasporic populations published in The American Journal of Biological Anthropology. In this work former undergraduate researcher Emma Ulrich and I worked in collaboration with Jada Benn Torres (Vanderbilt University) and La Corporación Piñones se Integra (COPI) from Loíza, Puerto Rico to investigate genetic ancestry and diversity among Puerto Ricans of African descent. This study builds upon long-term ethnographic and genetic research conducted by Dr. Benn Torres and her team, and responds to the interests of community members in using DNA to investigate local histories. Using methods like local ancestry estimation & AS-MDS Emma and I characterized the DNA contributions of African & European ancestors to the genomes of 30 consenting participants who self-identified as Afro-Puerto Rican. Our study contributes to a growing body of work illustrating the wide diversity of origins, histories & experiences among Afro-descendants in Latin America, and highlights the heritage and contributions of Afro-Puerto Ricans to our island's history.

To learn more about COPI and their amazing dance troupe Majestad Negra visit their website: https://copipr.com/