The human genome diversity project - 'Peoples', 'populations' and the cultural politics of identification

This article examines the relationship between indigenous sovereignty and identification as instanced by the legal and political debates informing the Human Genome Diversity Project. The HGDP proposes to map the history of human origins and migrations by the identification and measurement of populations . I analyze the impact of the criticisms of this agenda and methodology by indigenous nations, organizations, and advocacy groups, focusing on the incommensurability of populations with indigenous identifications as peoples . My argument is that the work of identification is the mediation of the terms and conditions of indigenous sovereignty in the very real places where their intellectual property rights and the ethics of scientific research are negotiated.