Join us for PhD candidate Sierra Cotrona’s dissertation proposal defense, “Biodistances Among Kuki-Zos and Nagas of Northeast India: Metric and Morphological Approaches.” Sierra’s research explores how patterns in dental traits can help us understand the history, migration, and relationships of the Kuki-Zo and Naga peoples—two culturally distinct groups living in the same region of Northeast India. By examining teeth as biological records, this study offers new insights into the peopling and diversity of South Asia and the ways that culture, language, and biology intersect in human history.
This event is free and open to the public. Everyone is welcome to learn about how physical anthropology helps illuminate connections between communities, ancestry, and the human past.
🧬"Biodistances Among Kuki-Zos and Nagas of Northeast India: Metric and Morphological Approaches" Sierra Cotrona, PhD dissertation proposal defense
📅 Date: Thursday, November 21st
🕓 Time: 10:30am-12:30pm
📍 Location: Zoom
💻 Zoom Link:
https://alaska.zoom.us/j/89583086440
Abstract
The classification of tribes in India, a remnant of British occupation, usually relies on linguistic groups. People are grouped into scheduled tribes, and then subclassified based on class/caste and locality. Two such groups in Northeast India are the Kuki-Zo and Naga groups, who inhabit the same region but speak different languages and have distinct cultural norms. Studies regarding the origin of both tribes are few and have reached different conclusions. This research seeks to contribute to the existing literature that hypothesizes migration, peopling, and diversification of South Asia by using dental metrics and morphology as a proxy for genetic information to create a biodistance analysis between four Kuki-Zo and Naga groups of Northeast India.
About the UAF Department of Anthropology
The UAF Department of Anthropology explores the rich diversity of human experience—past and present—through archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, and linguistic anthropology. Our students and faculty are dedicated to understanding people and cultures in Alaska and around the world, combining fieldwork, research, and community engagement to advance knowledge and inspire discovery.
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