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I love genealogy. It’s part of why I’m in the field(s) I’m in. I also have the privilege of lots of surviving documentation & info—b/c my ancestors were able to be visible to be counted, were viewed by those doing the counting as complete beings, & saved family records. (1/11) https://twitter.com/florencehrs/status/1344344445509136384
However, I probably have ancestors I will never know much about b/c they did not have the financial capital or social status/privilege to either be counted, or for their material lives to endure. (2/11)
I have long been uncomfortable with how DNA is conflated with heritage, and how many people (mostly white, middle class folks) tend to over-emphasize their blood relation to a specific person or type of ancestor to imply...what? That they’re EXTRA special? (3/11)
I grew up in a household that did just this. I grew up believing I had a duty to carry on some sort of familial legacy biologically & intellectually, b/c of this. It took years to grapple w/ what I was told my ancestors did, what they actually did, & what it meant for me. (4/11)
Other folks have used it to excuse themselves from any kind of responsibility in the present. “Well MY ancestors never participated in genocide/colonized/enslaved people; Well, MY ancestors were just poor farmers, they didn’t take anyone’s land.” (5/11)
I don’t think this means we need to stop doing genealogical research. It can be fun & cool, & it’s important to know where you “come from.” But be careful w/ how you think about it; how you talk to children about it. How are you using this knowledge of your “inheritance?” (6/11)
Which relatives are you most proud of? Which do you emphasize, & which do you ignore? What does it mean to share knowledge of certain relatives w/ other people? What are you accomplishing when you talk about your genetic background? When you join a racist org like the DAR? (7/11)
The way in which racists are twisting genealogical info in the thread QT’d by OP to make totally ahistorical and non-scientific claims about other people’s ancestry is disgusting and wrong. Inheritance is not all blood & genetic data. That is only a tiny part of a person. (8/11)
I am proud of some of my ancestors. But they were complete, complex human beings who are from periods that are totally alien to me. I am not bound to them, or to their ideals, but I am responsible for the decisions they and others made. (9/11)
I think it’s our duty as individuals to grapple with our individual and collective genealogical inheritance responsibly, and to teach other people about the intersections of historical, moral, and genetic inheritance, and how they intertwine. (10/11)
So go ahead and celebrate your ancestry & relatives, but please reflect on who you’re celebrating and why; on how you are able to have this info; and whether your choices to be vocal/how perpetuate white supremacist narratives & ideals. (11/11)
