ABSTRACT
This chapter examines several examples of genetic admixture in human populations. Anthropologists and geneticists have conducted many studies on mestizo populations in Mexico in an effort to estimate admixture rates and understand population history. Studies of Mexican American populations in the United States show a pattern of admixture, though with higher proportions of European admixture, likely due to continued gene flow from European Americans in the United States. Anthropologist Andrew Merriwether and his colleagues conducted such a comparison on Mexican Americans living in the San Luis Valley ill Colorado. Initial studies of European admixture suggested that roughly 20 percent of the gene pool of African Americans was European in origin. It has been suggested that there has been some admixture in the opposite direction, that is, the introduction of African genes into European American populations. Studies of the genetics of African American populations show the very loose relationship between genetics and cultural identity.
