A Guide to Finding Your Indigenous Ancestry for People of Mexican and Chicano Descent

It is crucial for anyone navigating this territory to understand that Native American tribal affiliation is a tremendously sensitive issue for many reasons. First, Natives across North and South America tend to be community-based. This means that membership in that particular tribe requires one to actually live in that community. Often times, people trying to find their tribal affiliations do not fall into this category. As a result, you must tread lightly here. Here is an example: on my mother’s father’s side, several of my great aunts insist that my mother’s father was a full-blooded Yaqui. Based on my research thus far on the topic, I haven’t found anything definitive to prove this but by triangulating methods, I’ve determined it is very likely. It would be a tremendous error if I were to go around saying I am Yaqui however because I know nothing about that community. Claiming Yaqui without membership would probably anger a lot of people and would eliminate any opportunity I would have to learn more from people who have membership as Yaqui people. The Yaqui people on both sides of the border have specific criteria one must meet to be considered a member. <a href="https://robertpgloria.medium.com/got-native-american-dna-find-your-tribe-ec6d8036f423">Website</a>