This was a guest lecture I made for the PHG 303 course, Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing: Uses and Issues, in the Institute for Public Health Genetics at the School of Public Health, University of Washington. My presentation is about the interactions between historical narratives and population genetics, using the Philippines as a case study. More specifically, it discusses at length the common myth passed in many Filipino families that they possess Spanish ancestry and then the reactions young Filipino(-Americans) have when getting a direct-to-consumer genetic test that shows little to no significant Spanish ancestry. This talk is ultimately about the relationship of DTCGT and colonial mentality (internalized oppression), and a desire among culturally, linguistically, and genetically indigenous Filipinos to claim heritage from former colonizers as a way to gain proximity to whiteness and minimize their indigenous heritage. This fits into a larger body of work done by scholars of indigenous studies in the Philippines in the fields and frameworks of Sikolohiyang Pilipino, Pantayong Pananaw, and Pilipinolohiya.
Sterling Herrera Shaw (Tue,) studied this question.