LivingROOTS

The LivingROOTS Project (ongoing) is an invitation to uncover your roots by revisiting your personal family narratives and emotional geography that have shaped who you are. Throughout history, family tradition, culture and memories have been passed down through the art of storytelling. These stories help new generations connect to their history and develop environmental context and form identity. While the ways we tell personal and family stories has evolved over time, their power remains. Anchoring oneself in family history, helps develop a sense of place, connection, belonging, and security. Looking through our family origins we can now extend the project of the self and take in historical, cultural and biological evidence to enhance the narrative. The relationship between these factors is complex and all contribute towards the development of our identity. 

In the context of Brexit, and the separation from Europe, cultural roots became emotively charged with renewed focus. Growing up as a third-culture child, displaced from my family roots, was challenging. Assimilating different cultural practices, certain behaviours, and even ways of speaking, can make you feel disconnected from the people with whom you were born and raised. The self is not simply a passive or a fixed entity, it is constantly evolving, but continues to be shaped by our interactions and interpretations of the environment and the impact of other people and institutions.  

Family history research offers the reflective space to think about our own behaviour, personality and influences from our ancestors. Physically we often attribute our appearance and personality to specific family members; but more than that, our ethnicity, health status and potential risks bear some relation to our family’s past. Exploring family history can lead us into a new and enriched awareness of oneself!