CEMinar: Jennifer Raff, Untangling the population histories of the ancient Unangax in the central and western Aleutian Islands

Jennifer Raff is an award-winning author and associate professor of anthropology at the University of Kansas (KU). 

Her research focuses on understanding human history through the lens of genetics. She works with Indigenous communities and tribes across North America who wish to use ancient and contemporary DNA as a tool for investigating questions of recent and more distant histories. 

Her first book, “Origin: A genetic history of the Americas” was a critical success, described as “an authoritative tale from the trenches told by a fearless scientist,” a “necessary and elegant text,” and by The New York Times as “the book anyone interested in the peopling of the Americas must read.”  Origin, which was a New York Times bestseller for two weeks, received multiple awards including the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science (2023). 

Raff has also written numerous articles on genetics, history, and human variation for the general public, emphasizing not only the translation of complicated scientific concepts into accessible language, but also the ethics and complicated history of research on these subjects. She was described by the New York Times as “at the forefront of a culture change in our science.” 

Zoom link: https://asu.zoom.us/j/81686937630