Genealogy

16 pages, 277 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“Our Children Are Dead”: Past and Anticipated Adversity Shaping Caregiving and Cultural Reproduction among Banyamulenge Refugee Families in Rwanda

by Benjamin Tuyishimire, Juul M. Kwaks and Lidewyde H. Berckmoes

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 119; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030119 - 18 Sep 2024

Abstract

It is well known that experiences of extreme adversity strongly impact caregiving and family dynamics. In this study, we explore how caregiving is shaped by experiences of war and displacement among a community experiencing protracted, ongoing conflict and displacement, namely, Congolese Banyamulenge refugee [...] Read more.

It is well known that experiences of extreme adversity strongly impact caregiving and family dynamics. In this study, we explore how caregiving is shaped by experiences of war and displacement among a community experiencing protracted, ongoing conflict and displacement, namely, Congolese Banyamulenge refugee families in Rwanda. The findings are based on six months of ethnographic team research with Banyamulenge refugee families living in semi-urban southern Rwanda. Among the caregivers, including people who arrived several years ago and others who have lived in Rwanda for over two decades, we found a strong longing for home and past cattle-herding life. We also found that caregivers emphasized the transmission of “survival tactics” as well as Banyamulenge identity and culture. We argue that these caregiving objectives and practices speak to the community’s experiences of material and existential losses in the past, as well as those anticipated in the unknown future. Second, parental caregiving efforts appear to lead to increased intergenerational dissonance, with children wishing to integrate into their host community. While this finding appears in line with much of the migration literature about intergenerational family relationships and conflict, we find that children’s orientation is not only informed by the host environment but also stems from a desire to relieve their parents’ suffering from loss and help them invest in more optimistic futures. Finally, while our findings suggest profound changes in social and cultural reproduction in the long term, we argue for caution, as ongoing changes in war dynamics in DR Congo may inform shifts in ideas on belonging among the children. The findings provide new insights for understanding how caregiving may be affected by war and displacement while effecting change in war-affected, displaced communities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Family, Generation and Change in the Context of Crisis)

13 pages, 268 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Mai kāpae i ke a‘o a ka makua, aia he ola ma laila: Shifting Power through Hawaiian Language Reclamation

by Justin Kepo‘o Keli‘ipa‘akaua, Shelley Muneoka and Kathryn L. Braun

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 118; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030118 - 13 Sep 2024

Abstract

Language loss hinders the expression of Indigenous Peoples and their unique worldviews, impairing the intergenerational transfer of knowledge. In Hawai‘i, where a vast majority of the population was fluent and “universally literate” in ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i from the mid to late 1800s, colonial impositions [...] Read more.

Language loss hinders the expression of Indigenous Peoples and their unique worldviews, impairing the intergenerational transfer of knowledge. In Hawai‘i, where a vast majority of the population was fluent and “universally literate” in ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i from the mid to late 1800s, colonial impositions drastically reduced the number of fluent speakers to roughly 2000 by the 1970s. Efforts to revitalize the language since then have greatly increased the number of current ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i speakers and resources. Building upon this great work, the Hā Kūpuna National Resource Center for Native Hawaiian Elders at the University of Hawai‘i has initiated projects to contribute to the reclamation of ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i by increasing our contemporary understanding of ancestral Hawaiian perspectives on elders. To support these projects, significant changes in power structures within our organization were necessary. Insights gained from these projects include gaining clarity on the evolution of the usage of the word “kupuna”, identifying more nuanced perspectives on elders, understanding the importance of family relationships on caregiving outcomes, and understanding the importance of carefully translating English words into ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Shifting Structural Power and Advancing Transformational Changes Among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC): Elevating the Voices of the Community)

19 pages, 300 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Gendered Labor Continuum: Immigrant Mothers Confronting Uncertainty and Pandemic Constraints

by Daniela Ugarte Villalobos and Pelin Gul

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 117; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030117 - 13 Sep 2024

Abstract

The literature on migration shows that legal status in receiving countries shapes immigrant experiences. While these studies effectively address the impact of precarious legal statuses on immigrant experiences, they often examine women’s labor in public and private spheres separately. Yet, women’s lives have [...] Read more.

The literature on migration shows that legal status in receiving countries shapes immigrant experiences. While these studies effectively address the impact of precarious legal statuses on immigrant experiences, they often examine women’s labor in public and private spheres separately. Yet, women’s lives have long involved a continuum of paid and unpaid labor. The COVID-19 pandemic brought this continuum into sharp focus by spotlighting the influence of home and work dynamics. This study explores how immigrant women’s labor in both public and private spheres are interconnected. Drawing on 18 initial interviews with Venezuelan mothers in NYC from 2020, and 13 follow-up interviews in 2024, we examine the impacts of structural forces on these women’s labor arrangements and their strategies to navigate these impacts during and after the pandemic. Our findings reveal that while pandemic restrictions disrupted traditional labor market dynamics, they simultaneously intensified women’s engagement in domestic roles. Despite this, the mothers exercised agency by exiting the labor market and engaging in patriarchal bargaining at home. Post-pandemic, they lost access to the coping strategy, and their improved legal status did little to alleviate their labor struggles. This study highlights the significance of a “gendered labor continuum” in contexts that lack institutional support and undervalue immigrant women’s labor. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post-COVID Politics of Displacement: Marginalization, Precarity and Identity)

15 pages, 239 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Indigeneity, Nationhood, Racialization, and the U.S. Settler State: Why Political Status Matters to Native ‘Identity’ Formation

by Dina Gilio-Whitaker

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 116; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030116 - 10 Sep 2024

Abstract

This essay is a chapter excerpted from my forthcoming book, Who Gets to be Indian: Ethnic Fraud and Other Difficult Conversations about Native American Identity The chapter shows the ways that Indianness, framed as Indian or Native American “identity”, is inseparable from state [...] Read more.

This essay is a chapter excerpted from my forthcoming book, Who Gets to be Indian: Ethnic Fraud and Other Difficult Conversations about Native American Identity The chapter shows the ways that Indianness, framed as Indian or Native American “identity”, is inseparable from state subjectivity based on the history of political relations between tribes and the United States. It argues that tribes’ political status and relationship to the state are central to how Native American identity is shaped, rejecting the understanding of Native identity as race-based. The term “Indigenous” is discussed as not being equivalent to “Native American” and is not a racial formation in international fora. Social changes during the twentieth century brought new ways to diffuse and co-opt Nativeness through disaggregating it from political status and reinforcing racialization with the rise in urban pan-Indianism and neo-tribalism. Distinguishing Nativeness as political status from racialization is critical given ongoing attacks on tribal sovereignty in Supreme Court challenges based on alleged violations to the equal protection principle. Native American “identity” is inextricable from tribal nationhood and state formation, and thus cannot simply be dismissed as a colonial construct. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue (Un)Settling Genealogies: Self-Indigenization in Media, Arts, Politics, and Academia)

15 pages, 296 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Negotiating University, Fulfilling the Dream: The Case of Black Students

by Carl E. James and Michael Asres

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 115; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030115 - 7 Sep 2024

Abstract

The experiences of Black students in Canadian higher education shed light on the societal and institutional challenges that influence their social and economic aspirations. In today’s societal and economic context, obtaining a postsecondary education degree is not just preferred but essential for securing [...] Read more.

The experiences of Black students in Canadian higher education shed light on the societal and institutional challenges that influence their social and economic aspirations. In today’s societal and economic context, obtaining a postsecondary education degree is not just preferred but essential for securing the employment opportunities that most young people desire. For Black communities in particular, a university degree is often seen as the primary pathway to upward social mobility. However, Black students’ journeys toward higher education are frequently hindered by systemic barriers and institutional challenges. While there is extensive literature detailing the systemic forces that obstruct access to higher education for Black Canadians, there is limited academic focus on how these forces continue to affect Black students once they enter higher education. This article addresses this gap by investigating the educational experiences of Black students in Canadian universities, emphasizing the challenges posed by systemic racism and institutional barriers. Utilizing data from interviews and focus groups with Black undergraduate and graduate students from a university in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), the study explores how historical and contemporary issues of anti-Black racism shape their academic journeys. It discusses the broader implications of these experiences and highlights the need for comprehensive institutional reforms to create genuinely inclusive and equitable educational environments. By centering the voices of Black students, this research aims to contribute to the ongoing dialog on racial equity in higher education. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Politics of Race, Ethnic, and Indigenous Peoples Relations in Multicultural Societies)

10 pages, 213 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Introduction: Wartime Ephemera and the Transmission of Diverse Family and Community Histories

by Chris Kempshall and Catriona Pennell

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 114; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030114 - 6 Sep 2024

Abstract

This Special Issue seeks to broaden our understanding of the role of ephemera and material culture in preserving conflict experiences and memories, with particular focus on the diverse—and potentially subversive—nature of family history, community narration, and generational transmission [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wartime Ephemera and the Transmission of Diverse Family and Community Histories)

41 pages, 9915 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Children’s Clothing in a Picture: Explorations of Photography, Childhood and Children’s Fashions in Early 20th Century Greece and Its US Diaspora

by Margarita Dounia

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 113; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030113 - 4 Sep 2024

Abstract

Children’s dress is a constituent element of individual and group identity as well as an indicator of social change. Exploring childhood in three Greek rural communities in Laconia, Kythera, and Crete as well as in their respective diaspora in the United States, this [...] Read more.

Children’s dress is a constituent element of individual and group identity as well as an indicator of social change. Exploring childhood in three Greek rural communities in Laconia, Kythera, and Crete as well as in their respective diaspora in the United States, this study aims at shedding light on the (re)presentation of children in photographic records through clothing, perceived as the material projection on the self and the group (familial, ethnic, transnational). Drawing from theoretical and methodological approaches of distinct fields, such as history, fashion, photography, material and visual studies, and social anthropology, the study explores dynamic changes and shifting meanings in the way children were perceived and projected or asserted themselves through tangible sources, namely photographs, and clothing. The time period examined spans from the 1900s to the late 1930s without rigidly defining, as shifts witnessed in this time period were occurring in the last years of the 19th century, while the aftermath of the 1930s recession years could be felt beyond the period under study. Full article

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13 pages, 294 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Can We Succeed with Inclusive Education for Sámi Pupils?

by Hege Merete Somby

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 112; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030112 - 3 Sep 2024

Abstract

Since Norwegian compulsory education increasingly recognises Sámi rights and the Sámi as an Indigenous people, the question of how we can provide inclusive education for Sámi pupils by recognising Sámi culture in teaching remains. I argue in this literary research, that inclusive education [...] Read more.

Since Norwegian compulsory education increasingly recognises Sámi rights and the Sámi as an Indigenous people, the question of how we can provide inclusive education for Sámi pupils by recognising Sámi culture in teaching remains. I argue in this literary research, that inclusive education, both as a concept and as a practice in school, stems from a pathological field, targeting individual needs, and therefore misses the target when educating pupils with an Indigenous cultural belonging. Inclusion as a concept centres on practices such as fellowship, participation, equal access, quality, equity and justice, but its legacy is anchored in individual needs, influencing how we think about inclusion and implementing inclusive measures. This way of thinking still guides the national strategy for inclusive education but will not be sufficient for Sámi pupils, since they, as a group, are not disabled. So-called inclusive measures will rather enhance the integration of Sámi pupils into the Norwegian framework of schooling defined by the majority’s expectations for fellowship, participation and so forth. While Indigenous inclusion takes integrative measures which uphold the status quo, thus dependent on a majority perspective, indigenising has an Indigenous baseline. I argue that non-Sámi society needs to re-contextualise itself towards the Sámi society if we want an education for all. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Indigenous Issues in Education)

11 pages, 216 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“Colour” Clashes in Colonial Coaches: Everyday Experiences of the Baboos in Railways

by Paromita Das Gupta

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 111; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030111 - 29 Aug 2024

Abstract

This article examines a distinctive and debated social group called the “Baboos” in late colonial India, particularly in Bengal. The Baboos represented the Western-educated, aspiring middle class who were integral to the British administration. They were often viewed skeptically for adopting the English [...] Read more.

This article examines a distinctive and debated social group called the “Baboos” in late colonial India, particularly in Bengal. The Baboos represented the Western-educated, aspiring middle class who were integral to the British administration. They were often viewed skeptically for adopting the English language and Western lifestyle. This study delves into the quotidian lives of the Baboos, particularly their interactions with the colonial rulers in public transport, which became a crucial contact zone. Despite facing racial conflicts and discrimination in these shared spaces, the Baboos were not passive victims. They used diverse strategies to combat injustices and voice their grievances publicly. Within this larger narrative of discriminating treatment, another power narrative was played out by the Baboos among their own population. Conscious of their distinct functional status, the Baboos sought to distance themselves from those Indians who did not match their ideas of “respect”. Everyday experiences formed the basis of the public outrage reflected continually in regional newspapers and, subsequently, in the larger narratives of resistance and nationalism. How the Baboos negotiated their position in the public spaces sheds light on their claims of civil rights and their ways of using the colonizer’s tropes of equality, justice, and fairness back at them. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Contesting Power: Race, Ethnicity, and Self-Representations in Global Perspectives)

16 pages, 274 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Precarious Care across Migrant Generations in Tanzania

by Simon Turner and Yvette Ruzibiza

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 110; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030110 - 25 Aug 2024

Abstract

Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this article is concerned with how undocumented refugees and migrants use invisibility strategies to navigate a hostile host environment in Western Tanzania. This article explores how the shifts in Tanzania’s refugee policy have affected different generations of refugees differently, [...] Read more.

Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this article is concerned with how undocumented refugees and migrants use invisibility strategies to navigate a hostile host environment in Western Tanzania. This article explores how the shifts in Tanzania’s refugee policy have affected different generations of refugees differently, and how older cohorts assist newer cohorts. This article argues that the challenges of migration are productive of ‘affective circuits’ and of generating new forms of kinship. It argues that it can be productive to bring together the different understandings of generations, as it was found that generations as cohorts can transform into generations as kin in situations of rupture and adversity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Family, Generation and Change in the Context of Crisis)

12 pages, 240 KiB

Open AccessEssay

Religious, Genetic, and Psychosocial Understandings of ‘The Sins of the Fathers’ and Their Implications for Family Historians

by Susan M. Moore

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 109; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030109 - 22 Aug 2024

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the idea that the misdeeds of ancestors will have negative consequences for their descendants, as encapsulated by biblical quotes about ‘the sins of the fathers’. The prevalence of these ideas in religion and folklore, through [...] Read more.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the idea that the misdeeds of ancestors will have negative consequences for their descendants, as encapsulated by biblical quotes about ‘the sins of the fathers’. The prevalence of these ideas in religion and folklore, through the notion of family curses, is discussed, as is an analysis of what constitutes ‘sin’. How the so-called sins of our forebears might reach across future generations is considered in two ways. The first is that detrimental characteristics, behaviours, and health conditions can be transmitted to descendants via genetic, epigenetic, environmental, and psychosocial mechanisms (and the interactions between these). The second is that descendants can feel guilt and shame as a result of the actions of their ancestors. Overcoming the effects of ancestral fault and disadvantage may occur through improvements in living standards, medical advances, more tolerant and inclusive cultural beliefs, as well as other environmental and social changes. These processes are also likely to be assisted by greater knowledge and understanding of one’s own family history. Such knowledge, in historical context, has the potential to facilitate both personal psychotherapeutic change and decisions about appropriate reparations where these are indicated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Family History)

13 pages, 269 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Windows of Empathy: Creating Mediated Spaces for Education and Dialogue

by Faiza Hirji

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 108; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030108 - 20 Aug 2024

Abstract

In this article, I address the inadequacies in how we currently conceptualize spaces for dialogue and debate around issues involving race and religion. Even in a climate where many organizations now acknowledge equity, diversity, and inclusion requirements, there are still numerous challenges, particularly [...] Read more.

In this article, I address the inadequacies in how we currently conceptualize spaces for dialogue and debate around issues involving race and religion. Even in a climate where many organizations now acknowledge equity, diversity, and inclusion requirements, there are still numerous challenges, particularly for racialized individuals, including those who may experience overlapping forms of oppression. Drawing on concepts such as intersectionality, muted group theory, and the public sphere, I suggest that many existing channels and approaches are especially inadequate for academics and activists who are racialized or belong to religions that are marginalized in Western societies, such as Islam. These avenues do not allow for an articulation of the complex, sometimes contradictory realities lived by these individuals, where choosing a seemingly progressive side consistently and publicly may mean disowning or disadvantaging one’s own family or community members. Ultimately, I argue both that we must reconsider the potential for education and dialogue enabled by seemingly one-way platforms, such as film and television, and that the platform is less important than the approach we bring to using it, since increasingly we must prioritize windows for empathy within any mediated spaces we employ for learning or dialogue. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Politics of Race, Ethnic, and Indigenous Peoples Relations in Multicultural Societies)

30 pages, 6638 KiB

Open AccessArticle

15 December 1929, “Tying Trees at Robinzon’s”; 16 December 1929, “Unemployed”—A Work Diary (1928–1931) of a Jewish Agricultural Laborer in the Establishment of the Citrus Orchards in Eretz Israel

by Arnon Hershkovitz

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 107; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030107 - 19 Aug 2024

Abstract

This article presents a detailed analysis of a unique item from the author’s family archive: the work diary of his grandfather, Mordechai Livnat (Libman). In this diary, Livnat meticulously recorded, between 1928 and 1931, the details of his work as an agricultural laborer [...] Read more.

This article presents a detailed analysis of a unique item from the author’s family archive: the work diary of his grandfather, Mordechai Livnat (Libman). In this diary, Livnat meticulously recorded, between 1928 and 1931, the details of his work as an agricultural laborer in Herzliya—at the time, a small village in the central part of Eretz Israel (aka pre-State Israel)—primarily during the establishment of the new colony’s citrus orchards. The diary documents employment details, employer information, working hours, and wages received. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the information contained in the diary paint a comprehensive picture that allows us to learn about the lives of Jewish agricultural laborers in Eretz Israel at that time. In particular, the hardships faced by these workers stand out, primarily job insecurity, which manifested mainly in their dependence on the weather and the need to work for multiple employers. This article also sheds light on aspects related to agricultural work before the introduction of technological advancements to the agricultural sector, which was mainly manual then, and its impact on the daily routine of the agricultural laborer. The diary is analyzed using an inductive approach—from the text outwards—in a way that emphasizes the complexity and importance of the connections between the macro and micro in historical research. This way, it is demonstrated how items collected during genealogy research can shed important light on historical knowledge, and not just the other way around. Full article

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17 pages, 250 KiB

Open AccessArticle

‘I Don’t Want to Look Too Fresh off the Boat, You Know?’ Nationhood and Belonging: The Cruel Optimism of Contemporary Australian Multiculturalism

by Lauren Camilla Nilsson-Siu

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 106; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030106 - 19 Aug 2024

Abstract

Taking the debate about cultural appropriation as a starting point, this article explores the relationship different members of the South Asian Australian diaspora have to the Australian multicultural project. Specifically, this article employs an archive of interviews from 2018 with second-generation South Asian [...] Read more.

Taking the debate about cultural appropriation as a starting point, this article explores the relationship different members of the South Asian Australian diaspora have to the Australian multicultural project. Specifically, this article employs an archive of interviews from 2018 with second-generation South Asian Australian women and their (first-generation) mothers and/or grandmothers and explores how they feel about the cultural appropriation of South Asian cultural artefacts (hereafter, ‘Indo chic’). These interviews revealed that first-generation respondents were generally uncritical of Indo chic and perceived non-South Asian Australians consuming South Asian cultural artefacts as a sign of positive cross-cultural exchange that is emblematic of Australian multiculturalism. The second-generation respondents, however, felt threatened by Indo chic and felt appropriation was a racist microaggression that served to reiterate their racial difference (and inferiority) in a white settler society. The generational difference in sentiment reveals a productive fissure within migrant Australian communities to interrogate our feelings about being and feeling ‘Australian’. This article argues that conversations and debates about ‘Indo chic’ within South Asian Australian diasporas reveal the contours of what it is like to be a South Asian woman in contemporary multicultural Australia while also revealing flaws in the Australian multicultural project. In this article, I employ an affective analysis of their responses, drawing on Lauren Berlant’s idea of ‘cruel optimism’ and Sara Ahmed’s conceptions of love and the nation to fully explore the complicated somatics ‘Indo chic’ debates reveal for my respondents. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tracking Asian Diasporic Experiences)

18 pages, 304 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Erasing Our Humanity: Crisis, Social Emotional Learning, and Generational Fractures in the Nduta Refugee Camp

by Kelsey A. Dalrymple

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 105; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030105 - 14 Aug 2024

Abstract

Ample scholarship thoroughly documents how modern humanitarian aid enacts legacies of colonialism and processes of Westernization through the imposition of foreign values and promotion of ‘universal’ norms. Extensive research has also explored processes of socio-cultural-moral transformation due to crisis and displacement. This paper [...] Read more.

Ample scholarship thoroughly documents how modern humanitarian aid enacts legacies of colonialism and processes of Westernization through the imposition of foreign values and promotion of ‘universal’ norms. Extensive research has also explored processes of socio-cultural-moral transformation due to crisis and displacement. This paper extends this work by demonstrating an explicit connection between the two. Drawing on 10 months of ethnographic research that examined how Burundian refugees in Tanzania experience humanitarian social emotional learning (SEL), findings reveal various intersecting lines of crisis in the Nduta refugee camp. This research illuminates how SEL interacts with these lines of crisis to exacerbate intergenerational tensions. The self-centric values promoted through SEL and the pedagogies it employs conflict with the collectivist ethos of the Nduta community, thus breaking the Burundian generational contract of reciprocity, solidarity, and moral responsibility. In this context, SEL operates on conflicting narratives of crisis that clash with generational hopes for the prevention of future crisis in Burundi. These generational fractures are resulting in fears across the Nduta community that the decline of traditional Burundian values and communitarian ethos will not only perpetuate intergenerational experiences of crisis but has also initiated the perceived erasure of their culture and the essence of their humanity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Family, Generation and Change in the Context of Crisis)

11 pages, 1130 KiB

Open AccessEssay

Through My Feet I Come to Know Her: (Re)Storying and Restoring Our Embodied Relationships to Whakapapa and Whenua through Hīkoi (Walking)

by Naomi Simmonds

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 104; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030104 - 14 Aug 2024

Abstract

Walking in the footsteps of our ancestors can provide important ancestral precedents that can support Indigenous wāhine (women) in Aotearoa in working through the challenges we might face today and into the future. At the end of 2020, a group of seven Raukawa [...] Read more.

Walking in the footsteps of our ancestors can provide important ancestral precedents that can support Indigenous wāhine (women) in Aotearoa in working through the challenges we might face today and into the future. At the end of 2020, a group of seven Raukawa wāhine re-walked the journey of their ancestress Māhinaarangi. She walked, whilst heavily pregnant, from the lands of her people on the East Coast of Aotearoa to those of her husband, Tūrongo, in the central North Island. Her hīkoi (walk) offers significant conceptual and physical maps that speak to mātauranga (knowledge) and traditions about childbirth and mothering; the relationships between tribes and between people and the land; intimate knowledge of diverse environments; and endurance and courage to move through space to new lands, all done with a newborn baby. Māhinaarangi was a cartographer in her own right—mapping her story, history, language, tradition, ceremony, knowledge, and therefore herself and her descendants into the land upon which her footsteps fell. Through re-walking her journey, we both take something of that place with us and leave something of ourselves there and thus are involved in (re)storying and (re)storing ancestral places with our own footsteps. Retracing the journeys of our ancestors does more than memorialise their feats; rather, in placing our footprints along their pathways, we reclaim and remake place in uniquely Indigenous and Māori ways. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Decolonial (and Anti-Colonial) Interventions to Genealogy)

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19 pages, 330 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Critical Race Theory: A Multicultural Disrupter

by Rai Reece

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 103; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030103 - 13 Aug 2024

Abstract

The field of sociology has largely ignored critical race theory (CRT) as a relevant theoretical and pedagogical framework for the study of white supremacy and Indigenous and Black race relations in Canada. In the United States, CRT has long been a theoretical framework [...] Read more.

The field of sociology has largely ignored critical race theory (CRT) as a relevant theoretical and pedagogical framework for the study of white supremacy and Indigenous and Black race relations in Canada. In the United States, CRT has long been a theoretical framework tethered to and contextualizing the underpinnings of systemic racism and white supremacy as the cornerstone of structural oppression in American legal society. The initial focus of this work was to study the operationalization of the myriad ways in which race and racial power were constructed and represented in American law and society and the attendant ways in which Black civil rights under American law could never be achieved through the application of legal jurisprudence. CRT’s theoretical milieu has expanded beyond legal research to examine the sphere of racist structural oppression as systemically embedded in immigration, housing, education, employment, healthcare, and child welfare systems. The writing of this article has been an intentional active disruption to the claims that multiculturalism has the answers to race relations in an ever-changing Canadian society. While there are six main tenets of CRT, this article specifically focuses on three core tenets of CRT which argue that (1) racism is an ever-present dynamic of life in Canada; (2) racial subordination remains endemically tied to the political, cultural, and social milieu of white supremacy impacting the lives of Indigenous and Black peoples in Canada; and (3) racism has contributed to all historical and contemporary manifestations of structural oppression related to land theft and anti-Black racism. As such, CRT has much to contribute to race-radical research, pedagogy, and praxis when it comes to understanding race relations in a Canadian society grappling with an ever-changing multicultural narrative. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Politics of Race, Ethnic, and Indigenous Peoples Relations in Multicultural Societies)

17 pages, 6368 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“Go to the Attics, the Closets, and the Basements”: Black Women’s Intergenerational Practices of Memory Keeping in Oxford, Ohio

by Jazma Sutton

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 102; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030102 - 12 Aug 2024

Abstract

In 1993, eighty-nine-year-old Jennie Eunice Elder Suel, from Oxford, Ohio, donated a collection of personal and family documents to Miami University’s Walter Havighurst Special Collections. This article examines the Jennie Elder Suel Collection and the actions made by multiple generations of Black women, [...] Read more.

In 1993, eighty-nine-year-old Jennie Eunice Elder Suel, from Oxford, Ohio, donated a collection of personal and family documents to Miami University’s Walter Havighurst Special Collections. This article examines the Jennie Elder Suel Collection and the actions made by multiple generations of Black women, who chose to preserve their history. The first section traces the development of Suel’s collection and the way in which it is preserved in local archives today. The second section situates the Suel family in a wider context and discusses the archival challenges of recovering the lives and experiences of antebellum Black women in the Midwest, and the following section explores how I have attempted to navigate these challenges through a research method I have innovated called Descendant Archival Practices (DAP). The remainder of the article offers a careful analysis of Black women’s home-based archives and their implications for understanding nineteenth-century Black women’s motivations for archiving themselves. Part of this assessment includes analyzing which records these women deemed valuable to preserve, revealing the inner lives of Black women and the things they cherished. Through these deliberate and heartfelt choices, Black women ensured their legacy through the preservation of their ancestral history. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Researching Families: The Challenges of Evidence, Documentation, and Methodology in Family History and Genealogical Studies)

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11 pages, 486 KiB

Open AccessArticle

MALAMA: Cultivating Food Sovereignty through Backyard Aquaponics with Native Hawaiian Families

by Jane J. Chung-Do, Phoebe W. Hwang, Ilima Ho-Lastimosa, Ikaika Rogerson, Kenneth Ho, Jr., Kauʻi DeMello, Dwight Kauahikaua and Hyeong Jun Ahn

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 101; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030101 - 7 Aug 2024

Abstract

Native Hawaiians were a healthy and robust population who developed a sophisticated food system that was dismantled by colonization. Currently, Native Hawaiians face pervasive health disparities due to the limited access to healthy foods and lifestyles. This study pilot tested a family-based community-driven [...] Read more.

Native Hawaiians were a healthy and robust population who developed a sophisticated food system that was dismantled by colonization. Currently, Native Hawaiians face pervasive health disparities due to the limited access to healthy foods and lifestyles. This study pilot tested a family-based community-driven intervention called MALAMA, which teaches families to build and use a backyard aquaponics system to grow their own food. A total of 21 participants from 10 families completed a three-month curriculum that included a series of hands-on workshops. Participant attendance was recorded and participants completed a behavioral health questionnaire as well as provided clinical indicators at three time points. They also attended a focus group at the end of the curriculum. There was a high level of engagement and no participant attrition. Fruit consumption among all participants significantly increased and there were favorable trends in blood pressure and fish and vegetable consumption. No significant differences were found in the other clinical indicators. Participants found MALAMA to be highly culturally acceptable and identified multiple benefits. Community-driven solutions, such as MALAMA, may be a promising approach to addressing pervasive health disparities and promoting health equity in minority and Indigenous communities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Shifting Structural Power and Advancing Transformational Changes Among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC): Elevating the Voices of the Community)

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