Genealogy

11 pages, 246 KiB

Open AccessArticle

He Whiringa Wainuku: A Weaving of Māori Genealogies in Land, Water, and Memory

by Meri Haami

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 80; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030080 (registering DOI) - 26 Jun 2024

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Māori conceptualisations of ancestral environs and its connections to memory often reside in the realm of whakapapa (genealogy) having originated from Papatūānuku and Ranginui (primordial ancestors and gods), their loving embrace, and their eventual separation that carved the space for nourishing lands and waters. These stories of whakapapa were passed down intergenerationally through many Māori creative expressions, including waiata (songs), haka (posture dance), pūrākau (stories), whakataukī (proverbial sayings), ruruku (sequence of incantations), and karakia (prayers). This has resulted in a genealogically and environmentally derived Māori music theory. The disruption of settler-colonialism aimed to sever whakapapa from the memory as being reflected in our ancestral environs and within the hearts of Māori. ‘He Whiringa Wainuku’ refers to the weaving of water elements on earth and sets the imagery for decolonising the interconnections of whakapapa, land, water, and memory through Kaupapa Māori methodologies and Māori creative expressions. Full article

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

14 pages, 912 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A ‘Usable Past’?: Irish Affiliation in CANZUS Settler States

by Patrick Broman

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 79; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030079 (registering DOI) - 26 Jun 2024

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Abstract

In a 2023 article in this journal, Esther and Michael Fitzpatrick wrote that “complicated are those diaspora people who yearn to claim ‘Irishness’ in their places as something distinct from colonial settlers”. An Irish identity seems to offer something unique in these contexts, having been embraced by Joe Biden, for example, as a keystone of his political identity. In this article, I utilise census data from the four primary Anglo-settler polities of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States to demonstrate the comparatively greater extent that Irish ethnic antecedents are remembered by local-born Whites. While acknowledging that drivers of ethnic affiliation are personal and multifaceted, and not directly discernible from answers on a questionnaire, I consider the nature of Irishness as a political identity in settler-colonial contexts. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seeing Ethnicity Otherwise: From History, Classification and Terminology to Identities, Health and Mixedness in the Work of Peter J. Aspinall)

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25 pages, 358 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Genealogical Ethics in the United States and the Popularization of Genealogical Research in the Digital Age

by Thomas Daniel Knight

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 78; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030078 - 24 Jun 2024

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Abstract

This article examines genealogical ethics in the digital age. At a time when more resources for research are available digitally than ever previously, digital media also pose challenges for the large-scale dissemination of false or misleading information as well as the incautious presentation of more careful research that then might be misconstrued by some. This article first reviews the literature about the development of academic genealogy and professional ethical standards. It then provides a series of case studies, each of which examines particular situations in which ethical questions have arisen about the presentation of research findings. This article argues for a greater need among lay researchers to pursue careful research and for a greater need among commercial genealogical databases to foster that. It also argues for the need, grounded in the ethical respect for human dignity, to recognize the individuality and to respect the dignity of the life stories of those whom we study and about whom we write, which should undergird the research process and the presentation of findings. In a concluding section, this essay presents several suggestions that could be used by commercial genealogical companies and researchers to promote more careful investigation and to improve the presentation of findings in commercial databases, online trees, genealogical websites, and other genealogical works that do not routinely undergo peer review. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ethics and Family History: Challenges, Dilemmas and Responsibilities)

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Genealogy, Volume 8, Issue 3 (September 2024) – 3 articles

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