Overview

A Story of Connection, Discovery, and the Complexities of Heritage While standing on her grandfather's porch, Cindy was drawn by her ancestors to discover who she is by learning who they were and where they came from. As she uncovered her family history using various genealogy databases, she began to piece together the puzzle of her family's story-from trans-Atlantic migrations and roots in England, the Netherlands, and Germany to the homes and lives built in Virginia, New York, Iowa, and North Carolina. Her quest became a journey across the world. Standing where they stood, she found a connection to them, but she also found questions. Why had they left? Did they find what they hoped for in the new places? Who had they harmed along the way? And what was her role in repairing those relationships on behalf of her ancestors? Through essays and original photography organized by lineage and location, Cindy weaves together narratives that situate her life within the particular nexus of personal and historical legacies of heartbreak and desire. For anyone who has sought their own place in the world, Ancestral Landscapes provides a guide for genealogical research and offers grace for what may be found along the way.

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9781611537109

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Cindy Waszak Geary grew up in the southeastern United States in the 1950s and 60s. She received a PhD in social psychology from the University of North Carolina. For over 30 years, she applied this content knowledge to global health research. This work took her across the United States and around the world to many countries in Africa and Asia. Her travels to new places and different cultures sparked an interest in black and white photography, which she used to document her experiences. As she found herself winding down her public health research career after three decades, she had a strong desire to write stories about social justice through the lens of her own experience.In 2017, she co-authored ""Going to School in Black and White: A Dual Memoir of Desegregation"" with LaHoma Smith Romocki. Cindy and LaHoma describe how, as two teenage girls who lived across town from each other-one black, one white-they were altered by a court-ordered desegregation plan for Durham, NC, in 1970. She began the investigation that became Ancestral Landscapes in 2018.Cindy currently lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, though she also spends time every month in the mountains of North Carolina on land where her maternal grandparents once farmed. When in Chapel Hill, she volunteers at The Farm at Penny Lane, a therapy farm. She also practices yoga, participates in community-based social justice activities, and spends as much time as possible hiking in the woods. She is a mother and a grandmother.

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