Focus on Family Historians How Ancestor Research Affects Self-Understanding and Well-Being

• Other Authors: Moore, Susan M (Editor), Rosenthal, Doreen (Editor)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2022
• Subjects: Humanities; Social interaction; family history; psychology; ancestry; identity construction; family tree; war trauma; attachment; identity; immigration; forgetting; emotional geography; context; environments; homelands; heritage; genealogical motivation; family history and identity; family history and altruism; family history and curiosity; secular rituals; post-religious; sacred stories; pilgrimage; family ritual; ceremony; historical consciousness; family history research; family historians; temporal orientation; case study; adoption; late-discovery; family secrets; shock and losses; historical trauma; traumatic reenactment; psychoanalysis; infant attachment; stress biology; Adverse Childhood Experiences; genealogy; depression; trauma; prolonged grief disorder; adverse childhood experiences; alcoholic; alcohol use disorder; bereavement; biological identity; family identity; DNA testing; thematic analysis; biogeographic ancestry; n/a; archaeology; bereavement studies; continuing bonds; problematic stuff; ancestors; personhood
• Online Access: DOAB: download the publication; DOAB: description of the publication

The articles in this Special Issue of Genealogy titled "Focus of Family Historians: How Ancestor Research Affects Self-Understanding and Well-Being" cover topics including the psychosocial motivations that impel family history research, its therapeutic and healing aspects, and the emotional outcomes of dealing with unexpected findings. Broader issues, such as the ubiquity of ancestral acknowledgement and veneration throughout history and its links with religion are also explored. Papers include scholarly interpretations of case-based material, empirical research, and interpretive literature reviews emanating from a wide range of social science disciplines.