The tracing back of a lineage, most commonly with respect to familial bloodlines. The term can have a broader possible meaning when applied to tracing the origins of a way of thinking, ideology, custom, mythology, practice, system, etc. Genealogical investigations are useful because by discovering underlying and historical roots to something that is perceived as natural or “just the way it is,” one can then understand how to change things. This is an important tool for political agency.
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