Dear Editor,
Further to my letter, `The implications are staggering' (SN, 3l.8.200l), I now wish to list the sixty?three genotypical (and phenotypical) ethnic groups that have arisen from the various combinations of Guyana's six historical ethnic groups. (My letter of that date had a typographical error ? not mine ? but the number 63 is correct).
Beginning with the six historical groups the list goes:
1. African - A ...............2. Amerindian - M .............3. Chinese - C
4. European - E .............5. Indian - I ......................6. Portuguese - P
Using the letters assigned to each historical group the various combinations taking 2,3,4,5 and 6 at a time are:
7. AM ........ .........8. IM ...................9. ME
10. MC .............11. MP .................12. AI
13. AE ...............14. AC ................15. AP
16. IE ................17. IC ..................18. PI
19. EC ...............20. PE ..................21. PC
22. AIM .............23. MAE .............24. MAC
25. MAP .............26. AIE .............27. AIC
28. PAI .............29. ICE ..............30. PIE
31. PEC .............32. MIE .............33. MIC
34. PIM .............35. PEM............. 36. MCP
37. CAP .............38. PIC ..............39. PEA
40. ACE .............41. MEC .............42. AIME
43. MACI .............44. PAIM ..........45. ACEI
46. PEAI .............47. PICE .............48. CAME
49. MAPE .............50. CAMP ........51. PICA
52. MICE .............53. CEMP ..........54. PACE
55. CIMP .............56. PIME .............57. MACEI
58. PACEI .............59. MICEP .........60. PEAMI
61. CAMPE .............62. CAMPI ........63. CAMPIE

Any Guyanese, provided he knows his ancestral heritage would be able to place himself confidently in the appropriate group.

This would avoid anyone being categorized into the all-encompassing so-called `dougla' group - a term which can mean anything, and like all terms which mean anything, in reality, it means nothing, for example, the term `race.'

Why should a person be ashamed of his or her ancestral and cultural heritage? I, for one, do not wish to deny any part of my heritage that I have been able to uncover so far. Only those who suffer from ancestral amnesia would deny their ancestral heritage.

Looking back at the above list some interesting mathematical facts emerge. The theoretical probability of any Guyanese having an African ancestry is 32/63 = 51 per cent, - Indian ancestry 32/63 = 51 per cent; Amerindian ancestry 32/63 = 51 per cent; and the same probability for the other three historical groups.

From this theoretical aspect, the list also reveals that only 9.5 per cent (6/63) of our population can consider themselves to be `pure and unmixed'; while 90.5 per cent (57/63) is of mixed descent. Of course, this is all theory and may or may not have anything to do with reality. What that reality is even our Statistical Bureau does not know and will never know with any acceptable degree of accuracy.

In the meantime, enjoy your new-found ethnicity, and tolerate, respect and be fair to the ethnicity of others.

Yours faithfully,

M L Hackett