Tracing the Roots: Heritage of Second-Generation Indian Americans

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Uncovering the heritage of a second-generation Indian American is a deceivingly convoluted task that dates back to the first major migrations of mankind. Despite the simplicity of deducing the origin of the family, the legacy of an Indian is extremely multifaceted due to India’s extensive and complicated history. This essay ventures to claim that the heritage of a second-generation Indian American contains long lost foreign roots and dates back to the first major human migrations, which is explicated by: immigration patterns, Indian history, Haplogroups and specific genetic variation.
The maternal and paternal ancestors lived in a state called Andhra Pradesh in Southern India for five to six generations (mom). It can be extrapolated that the lineages have lived in that area since the British colonization of India due to a lack of migration between states at that time (1). Furthermore, because, Southern India was not conquered, by the hundreds of empires that ruled over India prior to the British colonization, the …show more content…

These immigrants mixed with the native Dravidian speakers and allegedly established the highly contested Hindu caste system to place themselves at the top of a new found patriarchal organization. This division in society was so substantial that there is a statistically significant genetic difference between Indians of higher caster versus Indians of lower caste due to the lack of breeding between the many different castes (4). Numerous studies display that there exists a significant genetic contribution from Eurasian populations in the genetics of upper casts Indians (5). The extent to which the hierarchical caste system has influenced Indian genetics is a stepping stone to deciphering the thousand-year-old legacy of a second generation Indian

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