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Our Children/Our Future: Examining How Indigenous Peoples in the US Assert Self-Determination and Prioritize Child Wellbeing
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The Double-Edged Nature of Whiteness for Multiracial People with White Ancestry in the US and UK
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Impact of the 1742–1743 Plague Epidemic on Global Excess Deaths and Social Dynamics in the City of Santa Fe and Along the Royal Road Between Buenos Aires and Lima
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“My Dad Is Racist as Hell:” Navigating Racism, Monoracism, and White Privilege by Proxy in Multiracial Families
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Transforming Academic Literacy: Centering Indigenous Identities in the Classroom
Journal Description
Genealogy
Genealogy
is an international, scholarly, peer-reviewed, open access journal devoted to the analysis of genealogical narratives (with applications for family, race/ethnic, gender, migration and science studies) and scholarship that uses genealogical theory and methodologies to examine historical processes. The journal is published quarterly online by MDPI.
- Open Access— free for readers, with article processing charges (APC) paid by authors or their institutions.
- High Visibility: indexed within Scopus, ESCI (Web of Science), and many other databases.
- Rapid Publication: manuscripts are peer-reviewed and a first decision is provided to authors approximately 26.3 days after submission; acceptance to publication is undertaken in 4.7 days (median values for papers published in this journal in the first half of 2025).
- Recognition of Reviewers: reviewers who provide timely, thorough peer-review reports receive vouchers entitling them to a discount on the APC of their next publication in any MDPI journal, in appreciation of the work done.
Impact Factor:
0.6 (2024);
5-Year Impact Factor:
1.0 (2024)
Latest Articles
Countering Colonial Memory Through Public and Popular Culture in Cape Town
Genealogy 2025, 9(3), 78; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9030078 (registering DOI) - 12 Aug 2025
Abstract
Historical legacies of enslavement and apartheid structural violence underpin the societal fabric of Cape Town. Walking through the city of Cape Town, colonial reminders and bastions of white supremacy remain evident in statues, street names and the continued spatial apartheid present in the
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Historical legacies of enslavement and apartheid structural violence underpin the societal fabric of Cape Town. Walking through the city of Cape Town, colonial reminders and bastions of white supremacy remain evident in statues, street names and the continued spatial apartheid present in the public space. Sites of intergenerational trauma remain scattered through the city, retraced and reclaimed through the efforts of community members, activists, artists and museums. This paper focuses on how race and memory are represented, resisted and challenged within popular culture in Cape Town, South Africa. Through considering museums and music as sites of public memory, this paper highlights how collective memory is being constructed in post-apartheid South Africa in ways that challenge white supremacist and colonial memory. Focusing on two case studies, the Iziko Slave Lodge and Youngsta CPT’s song YVR, this paper shows how colonial and apartheid conceptualisations of race are constantly being contested in post-apartheid popular culture to resist colonial memory and recreate new public memories.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Race and Memory: Perspectives from the U.S. and South Africa)
Open AccessArticle
The Swedish Adoption World and the Process of Coming to Terms with Transnational Adoption
by
Tobias Hübinette
Genealogy 2025, 9(3), 77; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9030077 - 6 Aug 2025
Abstract
In October 2021 the Swedish government committee of inquiry, the Adoption Commission, was appointed, which presented its final report in June 2025. The Adoption Commission investigated irregular and unethical adoptions to Sweden from the 1950s until today, and it was a part of
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In October 2021 the Swedish government committee of inquiry, the Adoption Commission, was appointed, which presented its final report in June 2025. The Adoption Commission investigated irregular and unethical adoptions to Sweden from the 1950s until today, and it was a part of an ongoing global process of coming to terms with past concerning transnational adoptions. This qualitative media text study examines how the Adoption Commission was perceived by the Swedish adoption world’s three stakeholders, the adoptive parents, the adoption organizations, and the adoptees, between 2021 and 2024 and in relation to transitional justice theories, with a focus on the issues of retributive and restorative justice.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adoption Is Stranger than Fiction)
Open AccessArticle
The United Nations as a New World Government: Conspiracy Theories, American Isolationism, and Exceptionalism
by
Helen Murphey
Genealogy 2025, 9(3), 76; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9030076 - 29 Jul 2025
Abstract
This paper analyzes the historical genealogy of conspiracy theories about a global supergovernment by focusing on one period of American history in which it attained particular visibility. The formation of the United Nations in 1945 and the onset of the Cold War galvanized
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This paper analyzes the historical genealogy of conspiracy theories about a global supergovernment by focusing on one period of American history in which it attained particular visibility. The formation of the United Nations in 1945 and the onset of the Cold War galvanized speculation on the political margins that a shadowy, malevolent international government was seeking world domination by targeting the United States and its political culture. At the same time, mainstream United States foreign policy was marked by a desire to both reshape international institutions to resist Soviet influence while also avoiding any domestic changes that might result from international engagement. This paper suggests that conspiracy theory functioned as a mechanism resolving the vicious circle occasioned by these competing foreign policy priorities. Through a narrative analysis of conspiratorial sentiments in North Dakota Representative Usher L. Burdick’s warnings about the United Nations as a threat to American liberty and sovereignty, this article highlights the continuities between mainstream American exceptionalism and conspiratorial ideas.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conspiracy Theories: Genealogies and Political Uses)
Open AccessArticle
Karaites: Their Names and Migration Routes
by
Alexander Beider
Genealogy 2025, 9(3), 75; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9030075 - 25 Jul 2025
Abstract
The article provides an analysis of the geographic origins of Karaites in four areas where Karaite congregations were commonly found after the Middle Ages, namely, Arabic Middle East (territories of modern Iraq, Syria, Israel, and Egypt), Constantinople/Istanbul and its area, the Crimean Peninsula,
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The article provides an analysis of the geographic origins of Karaites in four areas where Karaite congregations were commonly found after the Middle Ages, namely, Arabic Middle East (territories of modern Iraq, Syria, Israel, and Egypt), Constantinople/Istanbul and its area, the Crimean Peninsula, and Eastern European territories belonging today to Lithuania and Ukraine. It combines available historical, onomastic, and linguistic data revealing the migrations of Karaites to and inside these regions. For the first two regions, no ambiguity exists about the roots of local Karaites. Their ancestors were Jews who adopted the Karaite version of Judaism. For the Crimean communities, various factors favor the hypothesis about the territories of the Byzantine Empire (which later became Ottoman), and more specifically, Constantinople and its area are the only major source for their development. The Karaite communities in such historical Eastern European provinces as Lithuania (properly speaking), Volhynia, and Red Ruthenia were created after migrations from Crimea to these territories. The article also discusses medieval, cultural, and potentially genetic links between Karaites and Rabbanite Jews in the areas in question. It also addresses one phonological feature, the sibilant confusion, shared by the Galician–Volhynian dialect of the Karaim language and the Lithuanian dialect of Yiddish.
Full article
Open AccessArticle
No Child Left Behind: Insights from Reunification Research to Liberate Aboriginal Families from Child Abduction Systems
by
B.J. Newton
Genealogy 2025, 9(3), 74; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9030074 - 25 Jul 2025
Abstract
Bring them home, keep them home is research based in New South Wales (NSW) Australia, that aims to understand successful and sustainable reunification for Aboriginal families who have children in out-of-home care (OOHC). This research is led by Aboriginal researchers, and partners with
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Bring them home, keep them home is research based in New South Wales (NSW) Australia, that aims to understand successful and sustainable reunification for Aboriginal families who have children in out-of-home care (OOHC). This research is led by Aboriginal researchers, and partners with Aboriginal organisations. It is informed by the experiences of 20 Aboriginal parents and family members, and more than 200 practitioners and professionals working in child protection and reunification. This paper traces the evolution of Bring them home, keep them home which is now at the forefront of influence for NSW child protection reforms. Using specific examples, it highlights the role of research advocacy and resistance in challenging and disrupting systems in ways that amplify the voices of Aboriginal families and communities and embeds these voices as the foundation for radical innovation for child reunification approaches. The paper shares lessons being learned and insights for Aboriginal-led research with communities in the pursuit of restorative justice, system change, and self-determination. Providing a framework for liberating Aboriginal families from child abduction systems, this paper seeks to offer a truth-telling and practical contribution to the international efforts of Indigenous resistance to child abduction systems.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Self Determination in First Peoples Child Protection)
Open AccessEssay
“Turns Out, I’m 100% That B—”: A Scholarly Essay on DNA Ancestry Tests and Family Relationships
by
Lisa Delacruz Combs
Genealogy 2025, 9(3), 73; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9030073 - 24 Jul 2025
Abstract
With increasing attention on DNA ancestry tests, scholars have explored how these tests inform modern understandings of race. Current research reveals the flaws and misinterpretations that arise when DNA tests, such as those offered by 23andMe and AncestryDNA, are used as a proxy
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With increasing attention on DNA ancestry tests, scholars have explored how these tests inform modern understandings of race. Current research reveals the flaws and misinterpretations that arise when DNA tests, such as those offered by 23andMe and AncestryDNA, are used as a proxy for racial identity. While prominent in popular culture, the legitimacy and implications of these tests remain contested in the scholarly literature. Some researchers have explored how the increased availability of DNA tests affects how multiracial individuals identify and disclose their racial and ethnic identities, though this exploration remains limited. As discourse about mixed race identity and ancestry tests becomes more nuanced, I argue for the utility of using diunital perspectives, an expansive lens that resists either/or thinking, to complicate conversations about ancestry tests and multiraciality. This scholarly essay integrates personal narrative and a genealogical deconstruction of monoracialism to explore the question, “How can DNA tests contribute to the unlearning of monoracialism?” I share two personal vignettes to illustrate how these tests can reveal a preference for discrete racial categories. Drawing from Critical Race Theory, strategic essentialism, and diunital perspectives, I examine how DNA tests intersect with identity, family, and monoracialism, concluding with implications for disrupting monoracial logics.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Family Ancestral Histories Through Genetic Genealogy)
Open AccessArticle
Jewish Presence in the Land of Israel in the 19th Century: Insights from the Montefiore Censuses
by
Raquel Levy-Toledano, Wim Penninx and Sergio DellaPergola
Genealogy 2025, 9(3), 72; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9030072 - 17 Jul 2025
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This article presents a new evaluation and analysis of the five censuses undertaken at the initiative of philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore among the Jewish population of Palestine/the Land of Israel between 1839 and 1875. The main purpose of the censuses was to ascertain
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This article presents a new evaluation and analysis of the five censuses undertaken at the initiative of philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore among the Jewish population of Palestine/the Land of Israel between 1839 and 1875. The main purpose of the censuses was to ascertain the composition and needs of a generally poor Jewish population in order to better provide to its welfare. The information collected concerned basic demographic characteristics, countries of origin—namely along the main divide of Ashkenazi and Sephardi/Mizrahi Jews—and periods of immigration, social composition, and religiosity. By combining the different censuses into an integrated database, the authors are able to show changes intervening over time not only regarding the aggregate population, but also concerning individual and household profiles. The data aggregation allows us to better understanding the material conditions of the Jewish population and to outline with greater accuracy the relationship between socio-cultural communities and socio-economic stratification. The analysis unveiled the patterns of Jewish immigration all along the surveyed period and its variations by size and by countries of origin. These data provide important evidence concerning the overall Jewish presence in the Land of Israel and demonstrate that immigration was a significant factor well before the formal beginning of Aliyah in the early 1880s. No such analysis of the whole set of Montefiore censuses had been performed previously. The findings will prove very useful to historians and social scientists in their further investigation of the area and its populations in the 19th century.
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Open AccessArticle
Constructing Indigenous Histories in Orality: A Study of the Mizo and Angami Oral Narratives
by
Zothanchhingi Khiangte, Dolikajyoti Sharma and Pallabita Roy Choudhury
Genealogy 2025, 9(3), 71; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9030071 - 16 Jul 2025
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Oral narratives play a crucial role in shaping the historical consciousness of Indigenous communities in Northeast India, where history writing is a relatively recent phenomenon. Among the Mizos, Nagas, Khasis, Kuki-Chins, and other Indigenous tribes of Northeast India, including the Bodos, the Garos,
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Oral narratives play a crucial role in shaping the historical consciousness of Indigenous communities in Northeast India, where history writing is a relatively recent phenomenon. Among the Mizos, Nagas, Khasis, Kuki-Chins, and other Indigenous tribes of Northeast India, including the Bodos, the Garos, the Dimasas, or the Karbis of Assam, much of what is considered written history emerged during British colonial rule. Native historians later continued it in postcolonial India. However, written history, especially when based on fragmented colonial records, includes interpretive gaps. In such contexts, oral traditions provide complementary, and frequently, more authoritative frameworks rooted in cultural memory and collective transmission. Oral narratives, including ritual poetry, folk songs, myths, and folktales, serve as vital mediums for reconstructing the past. Scholars such as Jan Vansina view oral narratives as essential for understanding the histories of societies without written records, while Paul Thompson sees them as both a discovery and a recovery of cultural memory. Romila Thapar argues that narratives become indicative of perspectives and conditions in societies of the past, functioning as a palimpsest with multiple layers of meaning accruing over generations as they are recreated or reiterated over time. The folk narratives of the Mizos and Angami Nagas not only recount their origins and historical migrations, but also map significant geographical and cultural landmarks, such as Khezakheno and Lungterok in Nagaland, Rounglevaisuo in Manipur, and Chhinlung or Rih Dil on the Mizoram–Myanmar border. These narratives constitute a cultural understanding of the past, aligning with Greg Dening’s concept of “public knowledge of the past,” which is “culturally shared.” Additionally, as Linda Tuhiwai Smith posits, such stories, as embodiments of the past, and of socio-cultural practices of communities, create spaces of resistance and reappropriation of Indigenous identities even as they reiterate the marginalization of these communities. This paper deploys these ideas to examine how oral narratives can be used to decolonize grand narratives of history, enabling Indigenous peoples, such as the Mizos and the Angamis in North East India, to reaffirm their positionalities within the postcolonial nation.
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Open AccessArticle
Citizenship Education in a World of Identity in Flux, Intercultural Conflict, and the Need for Belonging
by
Charl Wolhuter, Johannes Lodewickus (Hannes) van der Walt and Nico A. Broer
Genealogy 2025, 9(3), 70; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9030070 - 15 Jul 2025
Abstract
The human need for belonging and identity (stemming from the need for belonging) is strong. This article begins by discussing these needs, drawing on the theories of Abraham Maslow and Erik Erikson. Forceful societal trends in the early twenty-first-century world have been creating
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The human need for belonging and identity (stemming from the need for belonging) is strong. This article begins by discussing these needs, drawing on the theories of Abraham Maslow and Erik Erikson. Forceful societal trends in the early twenty-first-century world have been creating a new societal context that tends to disrupt historical, relatively simple trajectories of identity formation. These trends are then subsumed under two megatrends that operate in the contemporary world. The first is globalisation, evident in the world since c.1990 as “Globalisation 3.0”. One outcome of Globalisation 3.0 is identity flux. Around 2015, a trend of deglobalisation became evident around the world. Populism is one of the manifestations of this counter-trend, a manifestation that is also visible in identity formation patterns. Education, citizenship educationin particular, has long been looked up to as instrument of political socialisation and identity formation, and these counter-trends tend to impact it, as well. The thesis of this article is that citizenship education, as it is presented in the education systems of the contemporary world, could be deemed to be anachronistically simple and hence requires adaptations in response to the exigencies of this new, changed global context. Finally, we suggest some guidelines for a reconceptualised citizenship education attuned to the exigencies of the new unfolding global context.
Full article
Open AccessReview
Social and Demographic Determinants of Consanguineous Marriage: Insights from a Literature Review
by
Gabriela Popescu, Cristina Rusu, Alexandra Maștaleru, Andra Oancea, Carmen Marinela Cumpăt, Mihaela Cătălina Luca, Cristina Grosu and Maria Magdalena Leon
Genealogy 2025, 9(3), 69; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9030069 - 4 Jul 2025
Abstract
Consanguinity is the marriage of two related persons. This type of marriage is one of the main pillars when it comes to recessive hereditary diseases, birth defects, infertility, miscarriages, abortion, and infant deaths. Intermarriage continues to be a common practice in various communities
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Consanguinity is the marriage of two related persons. This type of marriage is one of the main pillars when it comes to recessive hereditary diseases, birth defects, infertility, miscarriages, abortion, and infant deaths. Intermarriage continues to be a common practice in various communities in North Africa, the Middle East, and West and South Asia, as well as among migrants from Europe and North America, even though in more and more countries it has become illegal. Even if security and stability are some of the motivations for consanguineous marriage, studies show that women often suffer physical and verbal abuse from their husbands. However, because of the blood bond, tolerance for these habits is much higher. In addition, it seems that the divorce rate is much lower because separation would affect the entire state of the family. The choice of partner is significantly influenced by variables such as limited access to education and financial resources. Illiterate people coming from poor rural areas are much more likely to choose consanguineous marriage to maintain wealth in the family. The lack of medical knowledge about the negative effects of consanguinity leads to an increased rate of abortions, infant deaths, and births of children with congenital birth defects. Today, because of the process of urbanization and increased levels of knowledge, the younger generation is becoming increasingly less receptive to this particular form of marriage. In addition, as education has become more accessible to women, they have become more independent and eager to fulfill their own goals and not the wishes of the family. In conclusion, contrary to the many apparent advantages of consanguineous marriage, partners should put genetic risks first, as medical problems bring with them increased costs in the medical system and also within the family, leading to even lower economic status and consequently perpetuation of this type of marriage.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Genealogical Communities: Community History, Myths, Cultures)
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Open AccessArticle
Collaborative Anti-Racist Perinatal Care: A Case Study of the Healthy Birth Initiatives–Providence Health System Partnership
by
Roberta Suzette Hunte, Susanne Klawetter, Monique Gill, Desha Reed-Holden and Kevin Cherry
Genealogy 2025, 9(3), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9030068 - 4 Jul 2025
Abstract
This article describes a case study of the partnership between Healthy Birth Initiatives, a community-based organization (CBO) and Black-led public health nurse home visiting program, and the maternal health division of the Providence Health System located in the Pacific Northwest. This study’s purpose
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This article describes a case study of the partnership between Healthy Birth Initiatives, a community-based organization (CBO) and Black-led public health nurse home visiting program, and the maternal health division of the Providence Health System located in the Pacific Northwest. This study’s purpose was to explore the formation, significance, and impact of this partnership from the perspectives of staff and leadership members from both organizations. We conducted a case study through qualitative interviews with staff, participant observation, and debrief of leadership meetings. We completed a hybrid deductive–inductive thematic analysis of the data, followed by member checking with study participants and other key interest holders. Key facilitators of the CBO–health system partnership included the vital role of leaders in prioritizing the partnership; health system willingness to incorporate new information from the CBO to improve care; and health system utilization of resources to institutionalize changes that emerged from this partnership. Challenges to the CBO–health system partnership included CBO resource limitations; fragmented referral processes and information sharing; and the persistence required to nurture the relationship without formalized roles. This study contributes to the literature by offering staff perspectives on how a CBO–health system partnership formed, successes, early lessons learned, and practical suggestions for how to develop stronger alignment to provide culturally responsive patient-centered care to Black families.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Healthcare Settings and Medical Education Institutions: Lived Experiences, Interventions, Policies, Theories and Best Practices)
Open AccessArticle
A Biography of Bones: Tracing the Shifting Meanings of Griqua Remains from Their 1961 Exhumation to the Present
by
Richard Levi Raber and David Morris
Genealogy 2025, 9(3), 67; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9030067 - 26 Jun 2025
Abstract
Buried in 1858, Cornelis Kok II’s grave lay undisturbed in Campbell, Northern Cape, until 1961 when a multiracial coalition, driven by their own sets of interests, unearthed the Griqua leader’s remains. The bones again took centre stage with the collapse of apartheid when
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Buried in 1858, Cornelis Kok II’s grave lay undisturbed in Campbell, Northern Cape, until 1961 when a multiracial coalition, driven by their own sets of interests, unearthed the Griqua leader’s remains. The bones again took centre stage with the collapse of apartheid when different groups called for their return and reburial, with an assertion, variously, of ascendant Griqua, indigenous, Khoisan, and Khoikhoi identities. The 2007 reinterment again courted controversy and protest, while the contemporary neglect of the new gravesite symbolizes feelings of exclusion and marginalization among some Campbell Griqua today. By tracing the life history of Kok II’s remains, well past his natural life, we demonstrate how they serve as a flashpoint mobilized by actors with different aims and objectives at different moments. These motivations range from scientistic confirmation of genealogy and identity under apartheid rule, to post-apartheid calls for repatriation anchored to a global indigenous rights framework, to factional contestations over ownership. Marshalled towards different political projects, for all these actors, the bones nonetheless serve as a resource and link to a 19th century frontier past.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Race and Memory: Perspectives from the U.S. and South Africa)
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Open AccessArticle
Aboriginal Children in Aboriginal Care: Transforming the Landscape of Child Protection in Australia
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Kate McDonald, Muriel Bamblett, Lisa Curtis, Kylie Ponchard, Nancy Riviello, Necia Stanton and Connie Salamone
Genealogy 2025, 9(3), 66; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9030066 - 26 Jun 2025
Abstract
Aboriginal communities in Australia have long advocated for self-determination in child protection. This includes appeals for greater structural authority in systems of care and protection, with Aboriginal children in the care of Aboriginal agencies. Advocacy from agencies, including the Victorian Aboriginal Child and
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Aboriginal communities in Australia have long advocated for self-determination in child protection. This includes appeals for greater structural authority in systems of care and protection, with Aboriginal children in the care of Aboriginal agencies. Advocacy from agencies, including the Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency (VACCA), has resulted in legislative and funding reforms in Victoria that place Victorian Aboriginal community-controlled organisations (ACCOs) at the forefront of responses supporting Aboriginal children and families. This article provides an overview of that advocacy, the context in which the reform arose. Then, it details how VACCA has implemented the reforms by developing a model for Aboriginal child protection centred on culture, self-determination and human rights. Importantly, it discusses the process and negotiation of transferring authority exercised by the government to ACCOs and offers insights for the system and practice transformation. This article outlines how ACCOs like VACCA are shifting the language, culture and practice of child protection.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Self Determination in First Peoples Child Protection)
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Open AccessArticle
Internalized Oppression Among Young Women of Colour in Norway: Exploring the Racialized Self
by
Tiara Fernanda Aros Olmedo, Hilde Danielsen and Ronald Mayora Synnes
Genealogy 2025, 9(3), 65; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9030065 - 20 Jun 2025
Abstract
This article explores the impact of internalized oppression on young women of colour in Norway, focusing on how it unfolds across individual life trajectories. Drawing on a qualitative methodology, the study is based on narrative in-depth interviews with thirteen participants aged 18 to
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This article explores the impact of internalized oppression on young women of colour in Norway, focusing on how it unfolds across individual life trajectories. Drawing on a qualitative methodology, the study is based on narrative in-depth interviews with thirteen participants aged 18 to 35. The findings reveal that internalized oppression, particularly related to physical appearance, emerges early in life and is often reinforced through social interactions such as bullying, exclusion, and racialized commentary. These experiences frequently convey implicit preferences for whiteness, leading to marginalization and insecurity during adolescence. In response, several participants engaged in practices of assimilation, altering their physical appearance in attempts to embody features aligned with dominant white norms. In adulthood, many of these women have developed a critical awareness of internalized oppression and are engaged in processes of decolonizing their self-perceptions through solidarity with other women of colour. Nevertheless, they continue to grapple with lingering internalized biases. This study highlights the need for further research into the life narratives and everyday experiences of racialized individuals to better understand how they navigate, resist, and unlearn internalized oppression—while also considering the gendered dimension of how such oppression works.
Full article
Open AccessArticle
The Juke Sisters?
by
Delwyn Blondell
Genealogy 2025, 9(3), 64; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9030064 - 20 Jun 2025
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The Jukes: A study in crime, pauperism, disease, and heredity became one of the most well-known eugenic family studies. The study was first published in 1877, based on the research of R.L. Dugdale, and then reexamined by Arthur Estabrook with the support of
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The Jukes: A study in crime, pauperism, disease, and heredity became one of the most well-known eugenic family studies. The study was first published in 1877, based on the research of R.L. Dugdale, and then reexamined by Arthur Estabrook with the support of the Eugenics Record Office in 1916. Taken together, the Juke family studies were used as evidence that generations of moral degenerates and criminals emerged when the ‘feeble-minded’ were allowed to ‘propagate’. This article reviews the story of the Jukes, including their true identities, and concludes that Dugdale did not adequately investigate the parents of the Juke sisters. Instead, he concocted a ‘family’ that lived in a location where relationships were complex. The research that followed only compounded these errors, as the political agenda of eugenics overrode scientific knowledge and ignored the poor quality of the original data.
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Open AccessArticle
Connections Across the Colonial Divide: The Colenso Family and the Zulu Royal Family in Natal and Zululand
by
Gwilym Colenso
Genealogy 2025, 9(2), 63; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9020063 - 18 Jun 2025
Abstract
In late nineteenth-century Natal, members of the family of the missionary Bishop John William Colenso established relations with members of the Zulu royal family that were recognised as ties of kinship, mutually acknowledged by the reciprocal use of kinship terms between the two
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In late nineteenth-century Natal, members of the family of the missionary Bishop John William Colenso established relations with members of the Zulu royal family that were recognised as ties of kinship, mutually acknowledged by the reciprocal use of kinship terms between the two families. The Colenso family played a part in the struggle to defend Zulu sovereignty in the face of a colonial government intent on undermining the Zulu nation by diminishing the authority of the Zulu King. The visit by the Zulu king, Cetshwayo, to Queen Victoria in 1882 was seen by subsequent generations of Zulu as evidence of a connection between the British and Zulu royal families. While in exile on the island of St Helena, through adopting western dress and lifestyle, Cetshwayo’s son, Dinuzulu, sought to model his family on the British royal family. Bishop Colenso’s daughter, Harriette, played a role in facilitating this image, appearing as if a matriarch of Dinuzulu’s family in photographs which were perhaps intended to compare the two royal families, while also conveying a strong message that succession to the throne was secured by heredity, a message conveyed in representations of the British royal family from the sixteenth century to the present.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Colonial Intimacies: Families and Family Life in the British Empire)
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Open AccessArticle
First Nations Child Removal and New South Wales Out-of-Home Care: A Historical Analysis of the Motivating Philosophies, Imposed Policies, and Underutilised Recommendations
by
James C. Beaufils
Genealogy 2025, 9(2), 62; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9020062 - 9 Jun 2025
Abstract
Interactions between First Nations and non-Indigenous Australians have long been shaped by notions of Western authority and First Nations inferiority, both culturally and biologically. From invasion to the present day, forced removals and intergenerational trauma have deeply affected First Nations Australians, particularly through
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Interactions between First Nations and non-Indigenous Australians have long been shaped by notions of Western authority and First Nations inferiority, both culturally and biologically. From invasion to the present day, forced removals and intergenerational trauma have deeply affected First Nations Australians, particularly through the operations of interacting colonial systems, including child removals and placements. Throughout the 20th century, systematic child removals led to the Stolen Generations, a tragic example of power imbalances, paternalism, and Western ideals, perpetuating trauma across generations. This article examines the context of First Nations removals by the state under the lies of benevolence, exposing the evolution of the colonial system and the systematic dislocation of culture and identity. It highlights the social, legal, and political factors that enabled removal practices and their enduring consequences, including the legacy of forced child separations and cultural erasure. This article argues that policies of absorption and assimilation served to further isolate children from their families, communities, and kinship networks. In doing so, it contends that the systematic disruption of First Nations communities is part of an ongoing process of subjugation, continuing the colonial agenda of cultural and familial disintegration.
Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Genealogical Communities: Multi-Ethnic, Multi-Racial, and Multi-National Genealogies)
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Open AccessArticle
Tracing Roots: Origin and Migration of the Western Nsit Clan in the Niger Delta of Nigeria
by
Uwomano Benjamin Okpevra and Thomas Effiong Thomas
Genealogy 2025, 9(2), 61; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9020061 - 4 Jun 2025
Abstract
This study traces the origin and migration of the Nsit Clan of the Ibibio ethnic nationality, focusing on its distinct characteristics. The origin and migration of the Western Nsit Clan in the Niger Delta of Nigeria constitute a complex historical narrative shaped by
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This study traces the origin and migration of the Nsit Clan of the Ibibio ethnic nationality, focusing on its distinct characteristics. The origin and migration of the Western Nsit Clan in the Niger Delta of Nigeria constitute a complex historical narrative shaped by a confluence of cultural, economic, and environmental factors. Rooted in pre-colonial times, this study delves into the clan’s ancestral origins, tracing the intricate patterns of migration that have defined its historical trajectory. Drawing from a diverse range of primary sources, including oral traditions, and anthropological findings, this research illuminates the cultural dynamics that propelled the clan’s movement across the Niger Delta region. This study also explores the impact of external influences, such as trade and colonialism, on the migration patterns and socio-political organization of the Western Nsit Clan. By unraveling the historical tapestry of this community, this research contributes valuable insights into the broader understanding of the Niger Delta’s rich and multifaceted history. A significant emphasis is placed on the migration patterns of the Western Nsit Clan, analyzing the push and pull factors that compelled movements within the Niger Delta region. Ultimately, this study aims to contribute to a deeper comprehension of the Western Nsit Clan’s historical trajectory, offering valuable insights into the complexities of migration patterns, cultural evolution, and resilience within the context of the Niger Delta’s diverse tapestry.
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(This article belongs to the Section Genealogical Communities: Community History, Myths, Cultures)
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Open AccessEssay
Language Abuse: The Politicization and Categorization of People on the Move Through Language and Narrative
by
Maurizio Ambrosini, Senyo Dotsey, Audrey Lumley-Sapanski and Holly Oberle
Genealogy 2025, 9(2), 60; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9020060 - 31 May 2025
Abstract
Over the last three decades, the once-distinct terms ‘asylum’ and ‘immigration’ have become conceptually intertwined. This process is almost complete in Europe, where politicians, media, the public, and even academia often speak of these concepts interchangeably. Blurring these concepts has implications for migratory
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Over the last three decades, the once-distinct terms ‘asylum’ and ‘immigration’ have become conceptually intertwined. This process is almost complete in Europe, where politicians, media, the public, and even academia often speak of these concepts interchangeably. Blurring these concepts has implications for migratory people: it removes legal rights borne by the state and diminishes the claims of humanitarian protection seekers within these movements. We have simultaneously witnessed the recategorization and reinterpretation of the statuses of vulnerable populations on the move, using geolegality to exclude them from otherwise legally entitled protections. We speak to the problems with narrowing the eligibility for protection through geolegality while simultaneously contributing to conceptual indistinction between people that discredits their identities as rights bearers. This short essay reflects on the ethical dilemmas of language use by researchers in shaping and contributing to this situation.
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Open AccessArticle
Indigenous Abolition and the Third Space of Indian Child Welfare
by
Theresa Ysabel Rocha Beardall
Genealogy 2025, 9(2), 59; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9020059 - 31 May 2025
Abstract
This article introduces the Third Space of Indian child welfare to theorize how Indigenous nations simultaneously engage and disrupt settler legal systems while building sovereign, care-based alternatives. Drawing from legal analysis, Indigenous political thought, and sociohistorical synthesis, I trace the historical continuity from
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This article introduces the Third Space of Indian child welfare to theorize how Indigenous nations simultaneously engage and disrupt settler legal systems while building sovereign, care-based alternatives. Drawing from legal analysis, Indigenous political thought, and sociohistorical synthesis, I trace the historical continuity from boarding schools to today’s foster care removals, showing how child welfare operates as a colonial apparatus of family separation. In response, Native nations enact governance through three interrelated strategies: strategic legal engagement, kinship-based care, and tribally controlled family collectives. Building on Bruyneel’s theory of third space sovereignty, Simpson’s nested sovereignty, and Lightfoot’s global Indigenous rights framework, I conceptualize the Third Space as a dynamic field of Indigenous governance that transcends binary settler logics. These practices constitute sovereign abolitionist praxis. They reclaim kinship, resist carceral systems, and build collective futures beyond settler rule. Thus, rather than treating the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) as a federal safeguard, I argue that tribes have repurposed ICWA as a legal and political vehicle for relational governance. This reframing challenges dominant crisis-based narratives and positions Indigenous child welfare as the center of a “global Indigenous politics of care” with implications for theories of sovereignty, family, and abolitionist futures across disciplines, geographies, and social groups. The article concludes by reflecting on the broader implications of the Third Space for other Indigenous and minoritized communities navigating state control and asserting self-determined care.
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(This article belongs to the Special Issue Self Determination in First Peoples Child Protection)
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