“…keep an open mind and don’t use your research to try to
prove a conclusion you have reached already”.
I have not attempted to prove any conclusion on genetic origins. For the last time, I have simply quoted the conclusions of the major genetic study conducted by a host of universities led by University College London, which were clearly stated in the Times article that was written by one of the senior investigators on the project. By your own admission, you “don’t have any wish” to address the fact that that these conclusions do not support your own “research” on the subject. For that reason, I rest my case. It is indeed a blog after all, and it is yours.

Oh, r-I-g-h-t.

You cannot extrapolate from Canadian immigrant society, of which you form part, to the Old World of Europe and Asia. Your difficulties with understanding the fundamental concepts in the study of human societies are illustrated by your belief that the people with whom you mix in Canada are ‘northern Italians’, ‘southern Italians’ or ‘Sicilians’.

They are not. They are immigrants to Canada, and their descendants, who grew up in Canada and so are Canadian. In anthropology, it is not individuals who are studied, but societies. You don’t study northern Italian society on the basis of immigrants and their descendants in Toronto. That is the study of northern Italian immigrants in Toronto.

And not even at law, either, where there is no such thing as ‘African citizenship’ or an African passport. Africa is a continent.

I suggest you apply your principles of scientific research to find evidence of that instead of working from the basis of Labour propaganda of 20 years ago.

The elements of Maltese culture which I despise are worthy of contempt. I am not going to pretend to admire or even like them because they are Maltese. If that is the way you reason – that I must like something just because it is Maltese, whether it is objectively admirable or not – then so much for your scientific bent.

It’s fascinating that you interpret any attempt at discussing Malta’s REAL history – that is, as distinct from the identity-building mythology created in the 19th century – as “the denigration of anything Maltese”.

I don’t have any wish to “support” my statements, as this is not an academic website but a platform for discussion of much greater levity. And my statements are hardly misinformed. Unlike you, I read this subject matter for four years at university and have an honours degree in the subject.

Should you wish me to recommend a few properly researched books, written by academics, I can do so.

The fascinating thing is that despite being a scientist, you ignore the primary rule of any investigation: keep an open mind and don’t use your research to try to prove a conclusion you have reached already.

Well done. However, whereas my field of specialisation (and lack of expertise in genetics) is not relevant to the discussion, your lack of expertise definitely is. I have merely stated the findings of the geneticists, which do not support your misinformed statements. And how do you know that this topic is not among my interests? There isn’t a website listing these. As an expatriate, I count among my interests anything pertaining to Maltese history and culture, in the same way that the denigration of anything Maltese is one of your prime interests.

There is no such thing as ‘Africans’ in anthropology. No such thing as ‘Chinese’, either. Anthropology examines society, sometimes at the microscopic level of a particular village. This is exactly what I am trying to explain to you about the distinction between southern Italy and northern Italy.

However, you prefer the realm of dilettantism.

Saying that Mr X is short and that Mr Y is tall is a description of fact and not tantamount to saying that tall is better than short or the other way round.

Amoral familism is not a load of hokum simply because you have only just heard of it in 2015.