Found out I’m mixed race not white

[NewHeritage]

Long story short but an online dna test has discovered one of my parents isn’t biologically my parent. I have found the name of my biological parent and also talked to other “new” relatives online after making contact with them.

I now have a slightly daft question……I don’t know what “race” my parent was. I mean I do, but I don’t know the name/label/category. They were South American, from (British) Guyana and an indigenous American. So what race are indigenous Americans from South America?

Not Latino as British Guyana I don’t think is a Latino country. Not Afro-Caribbean as they weren’t from Africa or the Caribbean (though there is some African ancestry in the mix according to my dna results which makes sense as there were a lot of African slaves in Guyana in the past. So my dna results are like 50% European, 5% African and 45% Indo-american. But is indo-american a race?

An indigenous American is the race that was there before white Westerners ‘discovered’ North or South American. So, Amazon rainforest Indians are indigenous, so were the Incas, so were the ‘Indians’ you’d see in cowboy films.

Your race is whatever you feel most comfortable describing yourself as. The established categories aren’t exclusive and frankly there are many people who don’t identify with the options offered.

You are a human being. All these sub divisions are essentially meaningless.

Maybe using the phrase Native American works? Your parent was an indigenous native of the Americas?

Using online genetic companies to determine your ethnicity/background is a bit problematic. It doesn't really tell you your background - the algorithms they use don't understand race and ethnicity. Different companies are likely to give you different percentages. And the data they have is heavily skewed towards white Americans and Europeans.

Can you create a reverse family tree a try to find family members on that side? It'll probably give you a better picture.

People take great pride in their racial identities and the heritage that comes with that. To say it’s meaningless completely fails to recognise the very real differences that people face in their life experiences based on their race.

Heritage isn't meaningless!

Exactly. It’s especially important to those of us who are mixed.

I think Amerindian, Amerindian Guyanese or native Guyanese are commonly used terms but it’s up to you how you define yourself or what term you want to use.

Yes I’ve got a family tree going back to the 1800s on the new side of the family, one of my new cousins had done one. So it’s a specific tribe of South America as far back as she’s done it. So no idea where the African bit comes in….maybe that’s an error but there is likely to have been rapes/affairs/stuff not spoken about I guess going back so it’s very possible.

I get that labels are to a large extent meaningless. I am who I’ve always been. But am interested I guess and don’t really know what to say to people when trying to explain.

Indigenous Americans are indigenous, that is their "race", for the purposes of demographics. In different countries, indigenous peoples use different terms to describe themselves which also change over time so we may say eg. First Nations in Canada, Native American or just native in the USA. In South America the term Amerindian is often used. There are 10 indigenous languages in Guyana and your parent might have spoken or been part of an indigenous group, or may have just been related to them genetically which is what is showing up in your family tree.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IndigenouspeoplessinGuyana

Must have been a shock to find out this news though. How are you feeling about it? Do you want to do more investigating of this side of your heritage?

What a discovery! Are you doing ok? I would guess ‘indigenous South American’ or ‘indigenous Guyanese’ or eventually as you learn more you might identify more with that tribe? Are there family members you can talk to about it? They might have helpful guidance about the way they self identify that helps you take on more or that part of your identity.

My mum is half Guyanese and half Japanese was told that Guyanese are from west Indies, sorry if I spelt it wrong

Thank you….the relatives I’ve contacted online use the name of the tribe to describe themselves……but it would be fairly meaningless to most people in the uk and I certainly don’t think it will be a tick box on any forms! 😄

yes, it’s been a big shock. All my parents (inc the new one)are dead so nobody to talk to /ask about this really. I haven’t found any new half siblings, lots of cousins, and second cousins, etc, etc. I’ve been googling about British Guyana a lot…….doesn’t sound like the safest place to go for a holiday though!

Thank you, I didn’t know that. Thought west indies was just the Caribbean islands but you’re right.

Wow, that’s a lot to process.

Although you can’t speak to your parents about it now, at least you have found the new family who are obviously interested in tracing their family members if they’re on the database.

Which dna service did you use? I did 23andme and I’ve never been matched with anyone above 1.9% which feels really odd. No names or locations I recognise at all.

British (and French) Guyana has a complicated history. There's little academic research for you to access. Culturally, families centered around Georgetown and Berbice see themselves as West Indian, even though Guyana is firmly part of the South American sub-continent. I think this is because of the colonial history of the country: indentured servants and slaves, imported by the British, from India and Africa and the Caribbean. No, it's not the safest place to visit but it can be done. It's your best bet for getting to the root of things. There is a large Guyanese diaspora in North America. Try joining some Facebook groups as a starter.

I believe there is a genealogical society in (British) Guyana, they might be able to help with your research. www.gbggs.org

I used 23andme and ancestry and then uploaded my raw data to gedmatch and MyHeritage.

They’re human that’s their race and so are you. It’s as simple as that.

Amazing, thank you.

I knew someone from Guyana, she was lovely. She looked Italian/southern European.

Interesting discovery, op!

@FlightOfTheProcrastinator if you’re English you might have more luck with ancestry?

Yes! People have always said I look a bit Spanish or Italian.

Hi OP, I’m of Caribbean/West Indian origin (British for a few generations on both side)

I would also class Guyana as part of the West Indies - it’s often a cultural and colonial & historical definition and not just geographic - the island have different culture depending on who colonisers/slave owners were.

Really, I just wanted to say that WI ppl are normally a melting pot when DNA is done - mine showed Nigerian, Benin , Amerindian, Scottish, Welsh, Swedish, Danish, Irish and Ghanaian heritage.
It all depends on the history of the island (my family are from a few WI Islands), the origins of the enslaved folk and whether they were transported in from other islands/colonisers or direct from Africa.

Also many islands changed hands over the 400 odd years of colonialism.

Then you have the pirates/ship workers/slave owners and drivers from all over.

sorry - this is a bit long but hopefully provides some explanation as many think WI people are just that. We aren’t, we are heavily mixed. Your lineage is remarkably ‘limited’ to be honest.