When I say that the land is my ancestor, that is a scientific statement”: Dr. Keolu Fox, a Kānaka Maoli genomic researcher, made this comment at a 2020 presentation. The land itself and the conditions of that land, like altitude and climate, impact our genome just as our human ancestors do. My roots reach out to and draw upon the land of many places, connecting me here, where they reach deeply into the land that created my paternal ancestors.
