Genealogy and Archaeology: Analyzing Generational Positioning in Historical Narratives

In: Journal of comparative family studies, Volume 42, Issue 3, p. 319-327

Abstract

The article introduces an analytical perspective which can assist in charting generation-specific modes of sense-making and self-understanding in memory accounts, biographical and historical narratives. The point of departure is the double meaning of "generation" as it is found in the theoretic debate. On the one hand, generational positioning is informed by the genealogical sequence of parents, children and grand-children–corresponding with the intergenerational transmission of memories. On the other hand, we the fact of being part of a specific age cohort provides a framework for the interpretation of former experiences, mirrored in Karl Mannheim's concept of the generation as a community of shared experiences. The two modes of generational selfpositioning, which are coined as "genealogical" and "archaeological" here, inform processes of historical sense-making and interpretation. Which type of generational "logic" applies has a major impact on the ways in which coherent and meaningful links between past, present and future are constructed. Tracing up generational positioning in memory accounts and narratives of the past can, thus, be used as an analytical tool for getting access to narrative patterns–and to the functioning of historical consciousness as a provider of identity and orientation. This will be illustrated below with empirical evidence.