The relationship is real.

The biology says so.

But the biology says something specific, and being precise about what it says is part of respecting both the science and the people whose lives it touches.

The Clan Connections

The communities that participated in the DNA study brought their own frameworks for understanding what the finding meant, and those frameworks added dimensions to the story that the genetic analysis alone could not provide.

In the Tlingit and related Northwest Coast Indigenous social systems, clan membership is determined through the maternal line.