Genealogy is at the cusp of acceptance as an academic discipline. However, there are no peer-reviewed scholarly journals in which to publish the outcome of research into, and upon, genealogy per se. While genealogy shares many techniques and attributes with history as a subject of study, it is wider in both investigation and impact. Popular and scholarly history have much to gain by including the skills and methods of the genealogical researcher. One option is to present genealogy, history and biography as popular, mass-market books. The two-fold aspiration is (1) that the public will be drawn to an understanding of history and the place of genealogy in historical researches, and (2) that history professionals will understand and apply the methodologies of genealogy to both popular and scholarly history publishing. Using the currently-popular genealogy and local/personal history as the "draw", it is possible to interest and educate the public in historical and social matters. The same is achieved by linking biography and genealogy to popular literature. The overall impact on public understanding, it is suggested, is far greater than would be achieved by any trickle-down effect from more conventional scholarly publishing. (This would be a valid contention to test by research, but no claim is made here that it has been investigated other than by anecdotal reports). It is proposed that the publications submitted for consideration form a coherent body of work in that they demonstrate the value of genealogical methodology and research skills in aeras as apparently diverse and literary biography and local history; that their intellectual merit resides in bringing new information to light and applying that to the better understand of people, places, events; and that there is a contribution to knowledge thereby. That this knowledge now resides in a "popular" public domain is not to its detriment: rather, it renders it more valuable, and in any case it is not hidden from specialist examination by being out in the wild. The publications submitted make explicit the key skills of learning and research at doctoral level, including analysis, creativity, criticality, discrimination, evaluation, research management and synthesis, and that the candidate is a competent researcher who knows the subjects and can plan, implement and evaluate research activities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:618852 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Durie, Bruce |
| Publisher | University of Strathclyde |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://oleg.lib.strath.ac.uk:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=23881 |
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