Legacies of Legibility: Genealogical Story-Telling as an Echo of State Power

Abstract

Genealogy necessitates historical records, the majority of which derive from government sources, despite families’ “private” lives. State records weren’t intended to service future family historians, but were a means to state-formation and power. Consequently, records used by family historians reflect statist concerns, not state subjects’. Genealogy databases and censuses were analyzed to determine how many derive from state sources. An individual, anecdotal example focused upon a US Census record illuminates genealogical insight and misunderstanding; despite relevance, interpretation problems confront family historians. Genealogical research is limited by modernity's governmentality and the state gaze, impacts generally under-acknowledged by the average family historian.