Demystifying Culture and Folklore

The National Institute for Genealogical Studies’ course Demystifying Culture and Folklore encourages students to explore their primary cultures (race, ethnicity, nationality) and their subcultures (religion, family, occupations, etc.), to determine how these have influenced their ancestors’ generation, and how they have been influenced by the intergenerational folklore passed down from their ancestors. Check out these past Blog Posts to read more about how this course helps us to discover elements of our own primary ancestral cultures, and perhaps start to recognize and understand ways folklore and subcultures have influenced and shaped our families today. Part 1: Demystifying Culture and Folklore: Intro  Each component of Demystifying Culture and Folklore, will stimulate the need for deeper investigation to pursue “the rest of the story” to verify what was revealed. Part 2: Our Primary Cultures  As you work through the course, you will discover which cultures have influenced your family and identify the elements that have survived and are being perpetuated to the next generations. Pieces begin to fit together to reveal how race, ethnicity and nationality are uniquely interwoven in your family. Part 3: Our Immigrant Ancestors’ Culture  Our Immigrant Ancestors faced many challenges and their original root cultures traveled with them, embedded in their very being and preserved within the traditions they practiced. Their responses are often reflecting their culture’s beliefs. Part 4: Cultural Assimilation  Cultural Assimilation was challenging for our ancestors as they either embraced their new culture or struggled to maintain their folkways in the midst of conflicting social or occupational…

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Business Skills Courses

Are you interested in developing Business Skills to take your genealogical research to the next level? The International Institute of Genealogical Studies offers a Business Skills Package that includes 18 courses to give students a good understanding of how to start and manage a genealogical business. Business Skills Courses – The Foundation – 4 courses Business Skills: Creating a Business Business Skills: Business Administration Business Skills: Establishing & Promoting Your Website Business Skills: Marketing Your Services & Products These four courses form the basic foundation to increase the skills needed for a successful business. The step-by-step process ensures you have covered all the requirements. From set up, to day-to-day management, to finding your online distinction, to letting the world know of your existence, your mandatory business practices will be covered. Business Skills Courses – Finding Your Niche – 2 courses Business Skills: Career Development: Choosing a Niche – Part 1 Business Skills: Career Development: Choosing a Niche – Part 2 An integral part of your Career Development involves Choosing a Niche. These two courses feature excellent suggestions for possible business opportunities available to genealogists. Course materials and assignments allow you to examine the requirements relating to a variety of research themes. After analyzing these results, you will easily see how you can draw from your own unique skill set to enhance your genealogical research strategies for your clients. Business Skills Package – Researcher Essentials – 12 additional courses Creating Genealogy Programs for Adults & the Younger Generation Demystifying Culture & Folklore…

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Follow us on Pinterest

Do you use Pinterest? It is a free social media website where you can create a collection of visual bookmarks on whatever topic you are interested in. This quickly became very popular, but…. Did you know that it is NOT just for Recipes and Crafts? You can actually use it for Genealogy! It can become a useful online tool. The International Institute of Genealogical Studies has a Pinterest account and you can follow us HERE. As you are researching online, you visit many websites while working on your research projects – how can you organize and keep track of them? Where can you keep them all in one place and have access to them wherever you are? In our Social Media Tools for the Wise Genealogist course, you will learn that Pinterest is a visual bookmarking website. It allows you to create “Boards” for various topics, which are like Bulletin Boards. You can “Pin” various website bookmarks to the appropriate topical board to be referenced later. These pins capture an image from that webpage and display it inside the board, along with a short description. The URL is linked so that when the image is clicked, that website will open. Boards are created with a title, which reflects your research topics and are usually displayed alphabetically. Inside your board, choose one of the pins with an image that best expresses what that board is about and save it to be displayed as the “cover” of that board. This provides a quick…

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Cultural Assimilation

Cultures involve more than just identifying specific groups of people. They actually involve deeply rooted psychological elements which tend to govern the behaviour of the members. The folkways of a family, such as traditions, foods, music, stories, etc., can be an asset when assimilating into another culture that is very similar to their own; however, it can also be a hinderance in adapting to a new environment that is glaringly different. Exploring some of the more subtle aspects of Cultural Assimilation reveals how they impacted not only the interactions of our ancestors in their new environments, but how they may have been aided, or hampered, by the folkways of their cultural group. As you research this aspect, you will need to investigate whether our ancestors fit in easily, or if they struggled to relate. This could be especially revealing when you study the challenges they may have faced in their places of employment. Every day would have exposed new situations with so many norms for them to learn that were not “normal” to them at all. In some cultures, adapting would naturally have been easy; however, other cultural differences would emerge in stark contrast to the expected social interactions, creating uncomfortable or embarrassing situations. By breaking down these elements and analyzing cultural identities, you can begin to piece together a picture of what our ancestors faced in their acculturation process. This could very well reveal the origins of family traits that seemed out of character, but seem to persist in…

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Our Immigrant Ancestors’ Culture

Our Immigrant Ancestors faced many challenges as they embarked on the journey of resettling in a new and foreign land. Their original root cultures traveled with them, embedded in their very being and preserved within the traditions they practiced. As we Demystifying Culture and Folklore of those bravely making these life-changing decisions, we may also discover the encounters and trials they faced. How they responded often reflects their culture’s beliefs. When we look at How Culture Affected Our Immigrant Ancestors’ Lives, many aspects become clear. We are all familiar with the term “Culture Shock,” but have you personally experienced it? Shock says, “This is not the same as what I have been used to!” Many major changes are to be expected in our new circumstances, but there are always surprise encounters that catch us off guard with stumbling blocks and obstacles to deal with that we didn’t see coming. Misunderstandings are sure to occur as cultural differences emerge and an alternate perspective is revealed. How did our ancestors adapt to their new environments? What did they keep “from the old country” and what was exchanged for their new experiences? Their struggles were real and their stories may be revealed as you carefully explore this time period in their lives. Everyone’s story will be different, but with familiar similarities as they found their place in their new communities. Whether it was in the work place, or interacting with new neighbours, our ancestors made adjustments to fit in. It is interesting to…

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