Racializing indigeneity to be about blood quantum is another way of eliminating Indigenous nations whose indigeneity is not based in genetics but in their citizenship in a Native nation based on ancestry, not race. Scholar Kim TallBear shows how DNA testing, although useful in identifying close biological relatives, is problematic. Tribal citizenship is a legal category. TallBear notes that the “markers” that are identified and applied to Native nations reflect the misinterpretations of the researcher.
