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Demystifying Culture and Folklore

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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Religious Records

The Religious beliefs of our ancestors influenced, not only their daily lives, it often impacted the direction of their life journey. It caused some to pull up roots and leave friends and family members behind in their country of origin in order to pursue emigration, and perhaps religious freedom as well. Many relocated their own families to new areas with others of similar beliefs. Wherever they were, they have left records behind that tell that part of their stories. Every country-specific certificate program includes research into this vital part of their family story. In addition to Birth, Marriage and Death records, we need to look for Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, along with other religious ceremonies, according to their beliefs and customs. Here are many of the religious records courses: American: Religious Records – Part 1 American: Religious Records – Part 2 Australian: Church Records  Canadian: Religious Records  Eastern European: Church Records English: Parish Records  English: Poor Law & Parish Chest Records  English: Non-Anglican Church Records  German: Church Records  Irish: Conformist and Non-Conformist Church Records Italian: Catholic Church Records – Part 1  Italian: Catholic Church Records – Part 2  Research: Jewish Records  Scottish: Old Parish Records  Scottish: Beyond the OPRs  Religious Records provide an intimate glimpse into the personal lives of its members. Three additional courses that will assist you in expanding this aspect of your ancestors’ research are listed below. Each will inspire you to dig deeper and learn what motivated the decisions they made – sometimes altering the futures…

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Our Primary Cultures

When Demystifying Culture and Folklore, we see that who we are is a compilation of many influences. Some of these can be traced to ancestral traditions, behavior, historical events, etc. and lead to insights about our progenitors as well as ourselves. In Module 1, we look at The Value of Folklore within a Culture. This involves identifying and understanding our root cultures and the various factors contributing to its structure. Time is spent exploring several aspects, which is a good exercise to recognize the origins of our family traditions and beliefs. Within this analysis are the three primary cultures of race, ethnicity, and nationality. These are the core elements of who we are that we inherited directly from our ancestors. There will likely be overlaps as very few of us can claim a single origin. Sub-cultures are where we personally connect and are revealed by our involvement and degree of participation. Folkways bring these elements together and keep the folklore of the group alive into future generations. As you uncover the surviving fragments, many will experience “aha” moments and declare “That’s why they do what they do!” As you work through the course material, you will discover which cultures have influenced your family and identify the elements that have survived and are being perpetuated to the next generations. You may be surprised by what is revealed. Demystifying Culture and Folklore takes you on a journey, one that you didn’t realize you were already on. Pieces begin to fit together to reveal…

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