Ancesterology
Ancesterology (also Ancestorology) is a research methodology used to study the African Diaspora through the interdisciplinary lenses of history, cultural anthropology and visual studies. Ancesterology uses a qualitative design approach to analyze evidence such as (participant) observation, lived experiences, interviews, textual analysis and abductive reasoning to answer questions that cannot be otherwise answered by quantitative data. Where applicable, research design using the [https://books.google.com/books?ido2ULEAAAQBAJ&qancesterology#vsnippet&qancesterology&f=false Ancesterology method], tabulates data from primary and secondary sources such as census records, vital records (e.g. birth, marriage, death, divorce), and socioeconomic composites to authenticate historical causality.
Unlike other research methods, Ancestorology begins with a genealogical question (e.g. "Who was my great grandfather?"). Theories about names, geography or other signifying information is evaluated for accuracy through cultural anthropology (e.g. food, music, and social organization), public policy or imagery to develop a hypothesis of how a person African decent might have lived or contributed to the local society. Ancesterology considers the whole of the human experience as tool validate presence.
Terminology
The term "Ancesterology" was first used in 2017 by Dr. Paula D. Royster at the Conference Legacy of Slavery and Indentured Labour, Migration and Diaspora in Paramaribo, Suriname. Ancesterology distinguishes itself by referencing the agent noun "-er" rather than "-or" but there is no disambiguation in meaning, they both mean the same thing: a person who does something. The difference between the two is that “or” is situated to professional status (e.g. doctor, auditor, professor) and “er” implies non-professional (e.g. carpenter, traveler, driver, helper). The intentionality of spelling Ancesterology with -er is to represent regular, everyday people.
Methodology for good research practices
Ancesterology begin with a personal narrative either as a first-hand witness or by way of family storytelling as passed down from generation to generation. In decentering the prevailing storyline that begins with the concept if enslavement, Ancesteology begins with the concepts of family in spite of and prior to enslavement. "Once sources of information are identified, the evidence must be evaluated for authenticity (an external assessment) and accuracy (an internal assessment), synthesized for coherency and finally, interpreted for relevancy as related to the research question. This is the standard historical research methodology used in Western academes." There are four phases to this methodology:
Phase I
A pedigree chart begins with collecting genealogy data. Basic information regarding the individual of interest such as name, date and place of birth and death, parents names, are collected form primary and secondary sources including oral histories
Phase II
Various areas of study in history are applicable. World, regional or nation-state history determines a chronological overview of events, actors and outcomes. Information collected from this phase is validated against information collected in Phase I.
Phase III
The Cultural Anthropology perspective observes (or participates in) the life of a community to understand its story. Areas of interests for the African diaspora are nomenclature, funerary rites and rituals, spiritual practices, socialization, foods, music, arts, textiles and public policies.
Phase IV
Visual Studies examines sites of resistance and rebellion, churches, cemeteries, photographs, langauge, symbols and "semioptics" and other material culture for signs of resistance and rebellion.
Equity and Equality
Enslaved Africans deracinated from their homes, deprive them of gernaltial wealth, systems of justice, knowledge, language, cultural practices and histories.Ancesterology is concerned with both the origins and implications of racism as experienced by the African Diaspora since coming into contact with Westerners. It identifies the reasons for creating categories of people, causes that trigger power and the controlled movements of species—whether or not the species are human, animals or plants, from their places of origin to other areas of the world while subjecting the species to various forms of assimilation, mutation, and other types of change. It takes into account moral, institutional and emotive judgments as valid processes to consider in the development of universal and transgenerational theories of Diaspora. Most importantly, this methodology confronts a priori viewpoints of what constitutes knowledge, how knowledge is verified for accuracy and how knowledge is produced from an Afrocentric standpoint and gives deference to lived experiences, language, transcendentalism, appositeness and subjectivity.
Often forgotten in the conversations on reparations and social justice is the impact that severing families had on the continuity of transmitting ancient history from one generation to the next. The value of knowledge of self, manifests itself in current discourse relative to voting rights, participation in shaping public policies, apathy regrading change, and so on. Geographical and language dislocations over time and space have reinjured the original trauma of displacement and isolation. “For African-Americans, traumatic victimization must be put into historical context as generations of families have endured injustices, racial discrimination and profiling perpetrated through slavery, denial of civil rights such as land ownership or voting, systemic abuses barring individuals from job opportunities and/or living in certain neighborhoods, predatory mortgage or rental agreements, racially motivated homicide, mistreatment through segregation laws, marginalization, and mass incarceration”
Ancesterology inspects this trauma and its effects through rigid comparative analyses of individual memory and the canonical text to test the accuracy of what has been said to have happened and what actually did happen.
Unlike other research methods, Ancestorology begins with a genealogical question (e.g. "Who was my great grandfather?"). Theories about names, geography or other signifying information is evaluated for accuracy through cultural anthropology (e.g. food, music, and social organization), public policy or imagery to develop a hypothesis of how a person African decent might have lived or contributed to the local society. Ancesterology considers the whole of the human experience as tool validate presence.
Terminology
The term "Ancesterology" was first used in 2017 by Dr. Paula D. Royster at the Conference Legacy of Slavery and Indentured Labour, Migration and Diaspora in Paramaribo, Suriname. Ancesterology distinguishes itself by referencing the agent noun "-er" rather than "-or" but there is no disambiguation in meaning, they both mean the same thing: a person who does something. The difference between the two is that “or” is situated to professional status (e.g. doctor, auditor, professor) and “er” implies non-professional (e.g. carpenter, traveler, driver, helper). The intentionality of spelling Ancesterology with -er is to represent regular, everyday people.
Methodology for good research practices
Ancesterology begin with a personal narrative either as a first-hand witness or by way of family storytelling as passed down from generation to generation. In decentering the prevailing storyline that begins with the concept if enslavement, Ancesteology begins with the concepts of family in spite of and prior to enslavement. "Once sources of information are identified, the evidence must be evaluated for authenticity (an external assessment) and accuracy (an internal assessment), synthesized for coherency and finally, interpreted for relevancy as related to the research question. This is the standard historical research methodology used in Western academes." There are four phases to this methodology:
Phase I
A pedigree chart begins with collecting genealogy data. Basic information regarding the individual of interest such as name, date and place of birth and death, parents names, are collected form primary and secondary sources including oral histories
Phase II
Various areas of study in history are applicable. World, regional or nation-state history determines a chronological overview of events, actors and outcomes. Information collected from this phase is validated against information collected in Phase I.
Phase III
The Cultural Anthropology perspective observes (or participates in) the life of a community to understand its story. Areas of interests for the African diaspora are nomenclature, funerary rites and rituals, spiritual practices, socialization, foods, music, arts, textiles and public policies.
Phase IV
Visual Studies examines sites of resistance and rebellion, churches, cemeteries, photographs, langauge, symbols and "semioptics" and other material culture for signs of resistance and rebellion.
Equity and Equality
Enslaved Africans deracinated from their homes, deprive them of gernaltial wealth, systems of justice, knowledge, language, cultural practices and histories.Ancesterology is concerned with both the origins and implications of racism as experienced by the African Diaspora since coming into contact with Westerners. It identifies the reasons for creating categories of people, causes that trigger power and the controlled movements of species—whether or not the species are human, animals or plants, from their places of origin to other areas of the world while subjecting the species to various forms of assimilation, mutation, and other types of change. It takes into account moral, institutional and emotive judgments as valid processes to consider in the development of universal and transgenerational theories of Diaspora. Most importantly, this methodology confronts a priori viewpoints of what constitutes knowledge, how knowledge is verified for accuracy and how knowledge is produced from an Afrocentric standpoint and gives deference to lived experiences, language, transcendentalism, appositeness and subjectivity.
Often forgotten in the conversations on reparations and social justice is the impact that severing families had on the continuity of transmitting ancient history from one generation to the next. The value of knowledge of self, manifests itself in current discourse relative to voting rights, participation in shaping public policies, apathy regrading change, and so on. Geographical and language dislocations over time and space have reinjured the original trauma of displacement and isolation. “For African-Americans, traumatic victimization must be put into historical context as generations of families have endured injustices, racial discrimination and profiling perpetrated through slavery, denial of civil rights such as land ownership or voting, systemic abuses barring individuals from job opportunities and/or living in certain neighborhoods, predatory mortgage or rental agreements, racially motivated homicide, mistreatment through segregation laws, marginalization, and mass incarceration”
Ancesterology inspects this trauma and its effects through rigid comparative analyses of individual memory and the canonical text to test the accuracy of what has been said to have happened and what actually did happen.
Comments