Edited by Hede Maria Cavell, Thursday, 3 Mar 2022, 12:12
There have
been many advances made within the world of science as there had been for other
generations. How many of us, (of a certain age!) remember watching a programme
called, ’Tomorrows’ World’ and thinking would that really happen? The talk that
one day a plastic card would replace actual money, the square box called a ‘microwave’
which could cook food quicker than the conventional oven a little round disc
that would replace vinyl records. How
wrong was l ! How did they sneak past and make such an impact within our lives without
us giving them so much as a thought other than it was the new, ‘must have’ of
the time?
Science has
played such a big part of discovering who we really are too. As l study history, one of the main things
that interest me is how identity and heritage is passed through the
generations. We are so fortunate and lucky to be able to discover this through
DNA which can assist us with our understanding of previous generations.
I recently had my DNA tested and l found out
that l was not half of Hungarian descent but of Polish, French and German.
This then
begged the question, can it be that there were no links genetically that matched to the websites databank ? Or could it be due to the fact someone is born in a certain country we automatically assume, (as they might also), that their parents also came
from that country? In the past was such a subject discussed or was it in some cultures
taboo? Was history such an important part of life? How did people find out
about their heritage? Why is it that some today can make older generations feel guilty or ashamed
for what they assumed their culture and identity to be? Why is it that some
people would feel aggrieved and feel that they have been misled? When looking into the past we must learn to
put things into the context of time and not the present and if we are able to
do that, we will then be able to open the box to a more accurate historical
world.
We are so fortunate to be able to have DNA testing,
but we must also remember that the older generations did not, so the methods of
recording ancestry and heritage would obviously be different.
History is evolving
all the time and so is the testing and recording of DNA. Tracing ancestry can give us an insight to fitting pieces of puzzles together
so that we can have a more definitive picture of history but, to be able to do
that, we have to learn to be more understanding in our nature to previous generations and how their heritage and ancestry would have been recorded.
Setting the historical records straight.
There have been many advances made within the world of science as there had been for other generations. How many of us, (of a certain age!) remember watching a programme called, ’Tomorrows’ World’ and thinking would that really happen? The talk that one day a plastic card would replace actual money, the square box called a ‘microwave’ which could cook food quicker than the conventional oven a little round disc that would replace vinyl records. How wrong was l ! How did they sneak past and make such an impact within our lives without us giving them so much as a thought other than it was the new, ‘must have’ of the time?
Science has played such a big part of discovering who we really are too. As l study history, one of the main things that interest me is how identity and heritage is passed through the generations. We are so fortunate and lucky to be able to discover this through DNA which can assist us with our understanding of previous generations.
I recently had my DNA tested and l found out that l was not half of Hungarian descent but of Polish, French and German.
This then begged the question, can it be that there were no links genetically that matched to the websites databank ? Or could it be due to the fact someone is born in a certain country we automatically assume, (as they might also), that their parents also came from that country? In the past was such a subject discussed or was it in some cultures taboo? Was history such an important part of life? How did people find out about their heritage? Why is it that some today can make older generations feel guilty or ashamed for what they assumed their culture and identity to be? Why is it that some people would feel aggrieved and feel that they have been misled? When looking into the past we must learn to put things into the context of time and not the present and if we are able to do that, we will then be able to open the box to a more accurate historical world.
We are so fortunate to be able to have DNA testing, but we must also remember that the older generations did not, so the methods of recording ancestry and heritage would obviously be different.
History is evolving all the time and so is the testing and recording of DNA. Tracing ancestry can give us an insight to fitting pieces of puzzles together so that we can have a more definitive picture of history but, to be able to do that, we have to learn to be more understanding in our nature to previous generations and how their heritage and ancestry would have been recorded.