some science and genealogy magazines. I've read articles that "explain" Native reluctance to participate in DNA studies and testing as Native fear of the unknown and an inability to comprehend modern science.
That's an assumption made without consulting Native people on how they feel about it. I have also read articles written by Native people advising tribal nations to be wary of using DNA as a marker of who is Native. Some current tribal members, whose families have been in the tribe for generations, have mixed ancestry due to past captives in war, past enslavement of Natives by European Americans, rape (into modern times) and voluntary intermarriage (into modern times). So some members would have a lower percentage of Native DNA than others. The concern in the articles that I read was that placing too much importance on "blood quantum" or DNA, could lead tribes into racist views of who is a "real" tribal member. That does not sound to me like fearful ignorance of DNA technology.
Another concern about DNA testing among some Native people is that there are non Natives who have always identified as another ethnicity, usually White European, who seek to claim that distant Native ancestry makes them "instant Indians" and therefore entitled to treaty rights established between individual tribal nations and the US government. They have no interest in Native cultures or well being, only in what they think they can get for themselves out of DNA tests. Others have romanticized ideas about Native people from pop culture and want to claim membership without ever learning what the culture really is.
Add that to how pseudo science has been used in the past to "prove" Native inferiority, and you have some valid reasons for Native reluctance to participate in any scientific studies.
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