Genealogy

Descent and Emergence

For the genealogist, the present emerged and descended from a series of discontinuities that could have, under different circumstances and in a different context, produced something quite different. In genealogy, the utilization of history to explain the past is eliminated in favor of a contingent and contextual approach. This requires a suspension of belief in current views of knowledge acquisition and the development of a deep suspicion about any natural and self-evident truths [Page 417]about the subjects and objects of interest. Contrasting genealogy with history helps explain how it works in practical terms: A history that explains the past further entrenches current conditions, whereas a history of the present seeks to understand how the present has come to be organized. Historical events are linked together into a rational, linear progression from an origin toward the current order of things, whereas the genealogist seeks to demonstrate that the present is not the product of an inevitable series of events. Genealogy removes the comfort of the present as a natural and better place than the past so that the present may seem equally as contingent. In practical terms, the method of genealogy involves an examination of the descent and emergence of various historical trajectories. Descent deconstructs the taken-for-granted nature of the present, enabling the genealogist to identify the precontexts of the taken for granted. It investigates and uncovers contingencies, accidents, and mistakes to relate a story of knowledge production that does not take a linear, inevitable path. While descent disturbs the given, emergence points out interactions in the details of descent that result in what appears to be a given. In other words, the present has struggled to emerge through multiple contingencies and accidents, without goals or progress, as the current resting point rather than a terminus.

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