Decolonial (and Anti-Colonial) Interventions to Genealogy

Dear Colleagues,

Indigenous communities the world over each have their own concepts of genealogy, many of which consider the living and non-living beings that we share time and space with, spanning the earth beneath us to the heavens above. The cosmos, the earth and humans are all genealogically connected within the Samoan worldview as Lagi (the cosmos) separated from Papa (the earth), who became the progenitor of man. This is cemented within naming practices, “eleele” meaning “earth” and “palapala” meaning “mud”, with both also meaning “blood”; “fatu” means “rock” and “heart”; and “fanua” means “placenta” and “earth” (Tui Atua, 2009). Whakapapa is a Māori way of knowing that encompasses time, space, emotions, plants and animals, going beyond human genealogies to include the origins of all things (Tau, 2001). However, with the colonial and settler-colonial lived realities that we find ourselves within, expansive Indigenous concepts of genealogy wrestle with imposed Western notions of genealogy which are human-centered, such as the nuclear family, cisheterosexual relationships, and patriarchy; understandings of time and temporality; and relationships between people and place.

This Special Issue builds on previous Genealogy Special Issues that examine Indigenous perspectives of genealogy (Kukutai & Mahuika, 2019), decolonizing ways of knowing that privilege non-Western conceptions of genealogy (Breunline & Jackson, 2018) and Indigenous conceptions of identity and community (Carlson & Kennedy, 2021). This Special Issue focuses on decolonial (and anti-colonial) interventions in genealogy. Contributors will articulate how such interventions speak back to and/or outside of Western/colonial genealogical norms that directly influence peoples’ lived experiences and material conditions. We follow Dian Million’s notion that, “to ‘decolonize’ means to understand as fully as possible the forms colonialism takes in our own times.” We welcome contributions that highlight how conflicting genealogical frameworks shape and are relevant to (or not relevant to) Indigenous peoples’ lifewords and communities in contemporary times.

We are interested in themes such as:

• Decolonial and anti-colonial approaches to genealogy;
• Imposed Western notions of genealogy and the upholding of colonialism, cisheteropatriachy and white supremacy;
• Various forms of familial structures, including colonial nuclear families and Indigenous kinships;
• Indigenous reproductive justice, eugenics and blood quantum;
• The relationship between decolonizing and indigenizing;
• Conceptions of genealogy in the construction of communities, public or urban spaces, and institutions;
• Nationalism and Indigenous nationhood;
• Relationships between genealogy, memory, history and place/land.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the guest editors liana[email protected] and [email protected]. Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

Reference list

Breunlin, Rachel, and Antoinette Jackson. Decolonising ways of knowing: Heritage, living communities, and Indigenous understandings of place. Genealogy 2020, 4.

Carlson, Bronwyn, and Tristan Kennedy. Indigenous identity and community. Genealogy 2021, 5.

Efi, Tui Atua Tapua Tamasese. Su'esu'e manogi. In search of fragrance: Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Ta‘isi and the Samoan indigenous reference. Huia. 2018.

Kukutai, Tahu, and Nēpia Mahuika. Indigenous perspectives on genealogical research. Genealogy 2021, 5.

Tau, Te Maire. In defence of oral history: Whakapapa as a case study. Te Karaka 2001, 17, 8–9.

Dr. Liana MacDonald
Dr. Lana Lopesi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Genealogy is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• decolonial
• indigenizing
• decolonizing methodologies and interventions
• indigenous knowledge, histories and epistemologies
• collective memory and histories of place
• more-than-human environments