Navigating Identity: The Intersection of Social and Biological Identity from the World War II Battle of Tarawa

4区 生物学 Q2 Medicine
Rebecca Taylor, Briana New, C. Tegtmeyer
{"title":"Navigating Identity: The Intersection of Social and Biological Identity from the World War II Battle of Tarawa","authors":"Rebecca Taylor, Briana New, C. Tegtmeyer","doi":"10.1353/hub.2017.0098","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The 1943 Battle of Tarawa resulted in the loss of approximately 1,000 US service members on or around Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, Republic of Kiribati. Nearly half these casualties were accounted for after the battle. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) has worked to identify the remaining ~510 unaccounted-for service members and has successfully identified ~160 service members to date. Demographic data pulled from historical documentation of the US losses indicate a relatively homogeneous population (99% White, 81% 17–23 years of age, and only two individuals with a documented religious preference other than Protestant or Catholic). Using this demographic data as a framework, three case studies are presented to demonstrate how a holistic biosocial approach to building identity could facilitate forensic identifications. The temporal and sociocultural contextualization of analyses enables anthropologists to navigate inconsistencies between 21st-century and historical (1940s) social identity concepts to overcome challenges to identification. The case studies demonstrate how biological evidence, genetic evidence, and material evidence (material culture) differently contribute to the social identity of an individual and can impact identification efforts when analytical conclusions are incongruent with historical documentation. The first case of US Battle of Tarawa casualties examines how morphometric biological affinity assessments are biased by the fluidity of social identity concepts when complex morphological and metric indicators of biological affinity are not represented in historical race categories. The second case demonstrates how biogeographic genetic affinity predictions, through a discussion of the G2a4 haplogroup, need to be examined holistically in the context of other lines of evidence. The third case highlights how material evidence can further define social identity beyond physicality, genetic structure, and race. The challenges of interpreting identity from human remains, as highlighted through these examples, are commonly encountered by anthropologists working in disaster victim identification and other humanitarian contexts. Thus, it is imperative for anthropologists to be self-aware of implicit biases toward the current prevailing definitions of biological and social identity and to consider historical perceptions of identity when working in these contexts.","PeriodicalId":13053,"journal":{"name":"Human Biology","volume":"45 1","pages":"-"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2021-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Human Biology","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/hub.2017.0098","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Medicine","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

The 1943 Battle of Tarawa resulted in the loss of approximately 1,000 US service members on or around Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, Republic of Kiribati. Nearly half these casualties were accounted for after the battle. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) has worked to identify the remaining ~510 unaccounted-for service members and has successfully identified ~160 service members to date. Demographic data pulled from historical documentation of the US losses indicate a relatively homogeneous population (99% White, 81% 17–23 years of age, and only two individuals with a documented religious preference other than Protestant or Catholic). Using this demographic data as a framework, three case studies are presented to demonstrate how a holistic biosocial approach to building identity could facilitate forensic identifications. The temporal and sociocultural contextualization of analyses enables anthropologists to navigate inconsistencies between 21st-century and historical (1940s) social identity concepts to overcome challenges to identification. The case studies demonstrate how biological evidence, genetic evidence, and material evidence (material culture) differently contribute to the social identity of an individual and can impact identification efforts when analytical conclusions are incongruent with historical documentation. The first case of US Battle of Tarawa casualties examines how morphometric biological affinity assessments are biased by the fluidity of social identity concepts when complex morphological and metric indicators of biological affinity are not represented in historical race categories. The second case demonstrates how biogeographic genetic affinity predictions, through a discussion of the G2a4 haplogroup, need to be examined holistically in the context of other lines of evidence. The third case highlights how material evidence can further define social identity beyond physicality, genetic structure, and race. The challenges of interpreting identity from human remains, as highlighted through these examples, are commonly encountered by anthropologists working in disaster victim identification and other humanitarian contexts. Thus, it is imperative for anthropologists to be self-aware of implicit biases toward the current prevailing definitions of biological and social identity and to consider historical perceptions of identity when working in these contexts.
导航身份:从第二次世界大战塔拉瓦战役的社会和生物身份的交集
1943年的塔拉瓦战役导致了大约1000名美国军人在基里巴斯共和国塔拉瓦环礁的比蒂奥岛上或周围地区的损失。近一半的伤亡是在战后统计的。美国国防部战俘/失踪人员会计局(DPAA)一直在努力确定剩余的约510名下落不明的服役人员,迄今为止已成功确定了约160名服役人员。从美国损失的历史文献中提取的人口统计数据表明,人口相对同质(99%是白人,81%是17-23岁,只有两个人有除新教或天主教以外的宗教偏好)。以这些人口统计数据为框架,提出了三个案例研究,以展示如何利用整体生物社会方法来建立身份,从而促进法医鉴定。分析的时间和社会文化语境化使人类学家能够驾驭21世纪和历史(20世纪40年代)社会身份概念之间的不一致性,以克服识别的挑战。这些案例研究展示了生物证据、遗传证据和物证(物质文化)如何以不同的方式对个人的社会身份做出贡献,并在分析结论与历史文献不一致时影响身份识别工作。美国塔拉瓦战役伤亡的第一个案例检验了当复杂的形态和度量指标的生物亲和性在历史种族类别中没有表现出来时,形态计量学的生物亲和性评估如何受到社会身份概念的流动性的影响。第二个案例表明,通过对G2a4单倍群的讨论,生物地理遗传亲和性预测需要在其他证据线的背景下进行整体检查。第三个案例强调了物证如何能够进一步定义超越身体、基因结构和种族的社会身份。从人类遗骸中解读身份的挑战,正如这些例子所强调的那样,是在灾难受害者身份识别和其他人道主义背景下工作的人类学家经常遇到的挑战。因此,人类学家必须意识到对当前流行的生物和社会身份定义的隐性偏见,并在这些背景下工作时考虑对身份的历史看法。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
Human Biology
Human Biology 生物-生物学
CiteScore
1.90
自引率
0.00%
发文量
88
审稿时长
>12 weeks
期刊介绍: Human Biology publishes original scientific articles, brief communications, letters to the editor, and review articles on the general topic of biological anthropology. Our main focus is understanding human biological variation and human evolution through a broad range of approaches. We encourage investigators to submit any study on human biological diversity presented from an evolutionary or adaptive perspective. Priority will be given to interdisciplinary studies that seek to better explain the interaction between cultural processes and biological processes in our evolution. Methodological papers are also encouraged. Any computational approach intended to summarize cultural variation is encouraged. Studies that are essentially descriptive or concern only a limited geographic area are acceptable only when they have a wider relevance to understanding human biological variation. Manuscripts may cover any of the following disciplines, once the anthropological focus is apparent: human population genetics, evolutionary and genetic demography, quantitative genetics, evolutionary biology, ancient DNA studies, biological diversity interpreted in terms of adaptation (biometry, physical anthropology), and interdisciplinary research linking biological and cultural diversity (inferred from linguistic variability, ethnological diversity, archaeological evidence, etc.).
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信