Near the Bookshelf: Ancestors and Relatives

In 2013,  Eviatar Zerubavel's book Ancestors and Relatives: Genealogy, Identity, and Community was released in paperback. This interview is from Rutgers University, where Zerubavel is a professor of sociology. 

I remember the book caused a bit a stir on genealogy lists when it was first published in 2011. I quickly added the book to my "to read" list. I was intrigued by his premise that "[r]ather than simply find out who our ancestors were and identify our relatives, we actually construct the genealogical narratives that make them our ancestors and relatives." As an immigration historian I am all about constructing identity. I was equally fascinated by the complaints that genealogists had about it. One that sticks in my mind was that he hadn't spoken to any actual genealogists. This seemed odd to me because, in my experience, sociologists are all about talking to people. Sociology and history, particularly in migration studies, have many similarities and reach many of the same conclusions with one big exception. Sociologists study the living and historians study the dead.

I still haven't managed to read Ancestors and Relatives, but after reading this interview, it has moved up the list considerably.  

FYI: American Historical Association's Annual Conference

At about the same time the "flurry" of activity on the APG list was swirling around cyberspace, thousands of historians were gathering in Chicago for the 126th Annual Conference of the American Historical Association. Why do I mention this? Because one of the topics in several of the APG posts was the AHA itself.

This year's conference was covered by social media in ways it hasn't been before. Then again, perhaps I just didn't notice in previous years. What I can say, is that seeing  Facebook posts and Tweets about the conference made me a wee bit sad I was not able to attend.

The Broadside has an archive of Twitter hashtags of interest to historians here, including #AHA2012. You can either click on the links to see the archive or search the hashtag of your choice on Twitter.

An excellent round-up of blog posts, articles, interviews, and more about/from the conference is here at AHA Today, the blog of the Association. Of particular interest is the interview with Jim Grossman, Executive Director of the AHA with Rick Kogan of WGN radio. Grossman and Kogan touch on many aspects of history, including genealogy and local history, in this 19 minute piece (available here to stream or download in mp3 format).

Happy Reading and Listening!