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State Library of New South Wales, Sydney<\/span><\/p>\n The event was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the role of family history in shaping our views of ourselves and our place in history and society as well as methods, practice, and motivations. It was really helpful to meet and speak with both family and academic historians working on a range of projects and areas and the symposium allowed plenty of discussion and networking time to allow us to compare notes and experiences. We collected lots of contact details and were able to record a number of interviews with genealogists who had diverse and interesting stories to tell.<\/p>\n The first session gave us opportunity to reflect on \u201cWhy Family History Matters\u201d with Stephen Foster of ANU and \u201cThe Impact of Family History\u201d with Tanya Evans of Macquarie University, both of whom outlined the many ways in which family history generates invaluable and unique insights and conceptualisations of the past and spoke passionately about the current challenges and opportunities for academics to embrace and foster closer ties with the genealogical community. Emma Shaw from University of Newcastle presented the findings of her extensive study of Australian family historians, which demonstrated how important it is to question our assumptions about family historians, outlining the diversity of backgrounds, motivations, and purposes among the community.<\/p>\n Stephen Foster, Emma Shaw<\/span><\/p>\n Our second set of speakers brought diverse experience and expertise to broaden our understanding of family history and its importance to varying communities and the links between genealogy and wider discourses of migration, landscape, race, politics, family, and social relationships. Anne Monsur described the intersection between her academic research on Lebanese migration to Australia with the personal and familial stories of many members, explaining the many positive outcomes and increased understandings generated by her work, but also narrating some of the ethical questions that she had addressed. Indira Chowdhury of the Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bengaluru discussed how exilic memories of landscape in post-Partition India have impacted on family identities and narratives of family origins and history, outlining the inherently interlinked aspects of oral history, social and political contexts, and the construction of identities. \u201cHero of the Day\u201d Award had to go to Ronald Briggs, who at very(!) short notice and with someone else\u2019s slides gave a comprehensive overview of the work of the State Library\u2019s work in tracing indigenous ancestors, covering the full range of potential sites of archival records but also, importantly, outlining the many ways in which the Connecting Culture team provide support in navigating these resources and encouraging and ensuring access to allow individuals to rediscover links broken by legal and social discrimination to ancestral individuals, groups, cultures, and lands.<\/p>\n Anne Monsur, Indira Chowdhury<\/span><\/p>\n Rounding off the day was Double Helix History\u2019s very own Jerome De Groot, presenting on our project and reflecting on the growth of DNA sequencing as a tool for family history and the many practical, commercial, and ethical considerations that the explosion in direct to consumer testing brings up. As ever, this led to a wide ranging and fascinating discussion among attendees, many of whom shared their experiences, successes, frustrations, and concerns. Interestingly, a large proportion of the audience raised their hands when asked if they had sent their DNA for genealogical sequencing \u2013 it was very clear that we had a highly engaged and informed audience.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=”3.0.106″ in_same_term=”off” show_prev=”on” show_next=”on” prev_text=”Previous” next_text=”Next” locked=”on” parent_locked=”off” \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”3.0.106″ show_avatar=”on” show_reply=”on” show_count=”on” background_layout=”light” header_font_size_tablet=”51″ header_line_height_tablet=”2″ custom_button=”on” button_icon_placement=”right” button_text_color=”#ffffff” button_use_icon=”off” locked=”on” parent_locked=”off” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Related posts” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ background_layout=”light” locked=”on” parent_locked=”off”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Contact Us” text_text_color=”#aaaaaa” parent_locked=”off” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” module_class=”contact-us” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n +44 (0) 161 306 6000<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Find Us Title” background_layout=”dark” text_text_color=”#ffffff” parent_locked=”off” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Address” background_layout=”dark” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” module_id=”address” parent_locked=”off” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/projects.alc.manchester.ac.uk\/double-helix-history\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/SLNSW1-300x128.png\")
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Tanya Evans<\/span><\/p>\nRelated<\/h1>\n
Related posts:<\/h3>
Public History and neoliberalism<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
Stephen McGann talks about his book 'Flesh and Blood'<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
DNA and Creativity<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div>
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