Did Genghis Khan – Mongol warlord, Conqueror of Eurasia and all round good bloke – or someone of his ilk, roger my ancestor at some point in time?
- Is a question I’ve increasingly pondered during my stay in Korea. Before Korea, I never envisioned having any Asian ancestry whatsoever but given the number of comments, observations and slurs Koreans have made about my appearance it has made me wonder whether there is some Asian ancestry lurking somewhere in my DNA.
What got me thinking about it today was when I was in the cab talking with the friendly taxi driver in Korean, he asked me where I was from, I replied “Australia”, he then said “You’re of Asian descent, aren’t you?”, to which I replied, before fully thinking over what he just asked, “Yes!”. - This is a big problem of mine here, I also reply yes to questions quickly, even when I haven’t fully given myself enough time to figure out what they’re actually saying. You have no idea, what problems that’s got me into in the past! But, this little interaction did get me curious as to why he thinks I’m of Asian descent? – Was it my general appearance at the time? – Slicked, dark hair, olive complexion, medium build. Or, was it my mannerisms? – Do I somehow act ‘Asian’ rather than ‘Caucasian’? Who knows, but this all has got me wondering …
You may think it’s ludicrous for a person of almost entirely Caucasian ancestry to think they may have Mongol ancestry. But, a study a few years back discovered that 16 million people across or descended from the Eurasian lands Genghis Khan conquered contain his DNA. Furthermore, Westerners such as this man have been found to contain Genghis Khan’s distinctive genetic structure.
Genealogy is something I’ve been increasingly interested in in the past ten years partly because I’m from a New World nation and as such am not fully aware of my many and mixed ancestors, and also because I receive comments from time to time from people about my genetic make-up. I’m Caucasian of medium build, medium height, olive complexion and brown hair – which can vary greatly in colour according to sun exposure. In Australia, people sometimes assume I’m of Mediterranean descent due to my appearance. Whereas, in Korea I’ve been asked if I come from anywhere from Russia and Germany to the Philippines and Vietnam, go figure!
A lot of this could easily be put down to ignorance on the part of the person inquiring as many Koreans haven’t had all that much interaction with non-Koreans and will assume if you’re not blonde haired, blue eyed and tall, you can’t possibly be a Westerner! However, maybe they do see something I didn’t see until Asia. I even had a native Chinese teacher in my first year say I look like I’m Chinese!
I’ve also encountered comments/slurs on my appearance, almost always from older folks, saying ‘혼혈아’ (mixed breed/ half breed) or ‘똥개’ (mongrel) as I walk by. These comments often leave me wondering just what do they think I’m mixed with!
It’s not surprising to be a daily source of racism in Korea as Korean people largely still believe, and the Korean education still actively promotes that Korean people are a unique and special race of people. They seem to forget that over the course of the past 5,000 years the Mongols, Japanese, Chinese, Manchus, Russians, Americans plus countless others have either traded, based themselves, settled, invaded, conquered, raped and pillaged on this peninsula at some point in time.
Beside light-hearted ribbing here and there, I don’t bother questioning these values over here anymore as I’ve realised it’ll get you nowhere as even highly-educated friends fervently believe this 우리 민족 ‘one people’ nonsense despite oodles of evidence to the contrary. Hell, walking around the streets here I see evidence of Mongol, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, South East Asian, Pacific Island and even Caucasian phenotypes in people’s faces! Deep down, I think most Koreans know their genetic ancestry is quite varied but would rather not admit it and rather focus on the importance of being and acting Korean instead for the sake of national unity.
Am I Asian? - I'll let you decide ...
Me and Mao - we kinda look alike don't we?!
What I do know is that I’m a fifth generation (at the latest, 2,000th generation at the earliest!?) Australian predominately of English, Scottish, Irish and Cornish descent. I also know that I have some Jewish ancestry four generations back courtesy of an ancestor by the name of Annie Gouldthorpe, and although never conclusively proven due to inaccurate records and/or prejudice on the part of Government officials and/or my ancestors at the time have distant Aboriginal ancestry, most likely of the Wiradjuri people from five generations back. – This is something that can’t be proven without a conclusive DNA test (which I’ll get round to one day) but is something I’m positive of. I bought my mother a National Geographic Genographic Project DNA pack a few years ago but it only seemed to find that she contains haplogroup H human mitochondrial DNA – like 50% of Europeans.
I’ve also assumed – just judging on appearance – that my mother’s British ancestors reached the British Isles via southern Europe whereas my father’s reached the British Isles via northern Europe. But, that’s just wild guesstimation on my part and can’t be proven without extensive genetic DNA testing …
One thing’s for certain, DNA testing is providing enormous amounts of knowledge and information on human migration patterns and the genetic ancestry of both groups of people and individuals. Another thing it is showing – which is a good thing – is that we humans are a lot more mixed that we often like to believe. Take Pauline Hanson, for example.
This makes a mockery of racism and nationalism as human history has been defined by the ebbs and flows and intermingling and separating of groups of people over time as this map brilliantly illustrates. Hopefully, with increased knowledge and information on our ethnic make-up and history, racism and nationalism will be things of the past by 2100 and we’ll all see each other as human, first and foremost.
As for me, I’m sure I’ve got some Asian ancestry somewhere but deep down – like us all – I’m from mother Africa.
Deep down we're all African
Posted by elcanguro76 
