26 November 2015

More over-hyped Welsh genetic genealogy

In a post in May this year, Is Genetic Genealogy Being Over-hyped? I made reference to respected British genetic genealogist Debbie Kennett's critique of a TV programme Who are the Welsh broadcast on the Welsh language TV station S4C.
The station has now broadcast a second program which Debbie characterises as "a misleading mix of serious science and genetic astrology. You can read her blog post "My review of DNA Cymru Part 2 - the controversy continues:" Unfortunately for those of us outside the UK who would like to make our own assessment the program itself is only available on the BBC iPlayer.
Debbie's blog post contains interesting comments on phylogeography, the process of matching a genealogical lineage with its present-day geographical distribution.

2 comments:

Gail Roger said...

I have a third cousin once removed who was excitedly reporting her results with DNA Cymru on Facebook last spring. When I asked her about it, she told me we should share the same "motherline" results - we wouldn't, my maternal line goes generations into northern Staffordshire. I don't know if "motherline" is DNA Cymru terminology, but it soon emerged that she was unclear on the concepts of Y-DNA, MtDNA, and autosomal DNA. I don't think she'd appreciate being sent the link to this article, but I appreciate the opportunity to read it! Thank-you!

Gail Roger said...

I have a third cousin once removed who was excitedly reporting her results with DNA Cymru on Facebook last spring. When I asked her about it, she told me we should share the same "motherline" results - we wouldn't, my maternal line goes generations into northern Staffordshire. I don't know if "motherline" is DNA Cymru terminology, but it soon emerged that she was unclear on the concepts of Y-DNA, MtDNA, and autosomal DNA. I don't think she'd appreciate being sent the link to this article, but I appreciate the opportunity to read it! Thank-you!