About Kinfolkology
MISSION/ETHICS/ETHOS
Kinfolkology recognizes that slavery’s injustices are compounded by an archive fragmented by intention and neglect. Kinfolkology seeks out the fullest representations of identity and tends to scattered pieces with patience and care. Kinfolkology scales the walls of digital silos and prizes narratives over snapshots. Kinfolkology finds meaning and community in record-linking, story-seeking, and family-finding.
Kinfolkology recognizes that without active intervention, data that represents violence and dehumanization can reify harm. Kinfolkology takes up the digital as a tools of memorialization, justice and redress. Kinfolkology prioritizes ethical data practices and keeps one eye fixed beyond the spreadsheet.
Kinfolkology honors the claims of kinfolk, past and present. Kinfolkology recognizes that the dead belong to the living: not as property, but as ones for whom love has been proclaimed.
ORIGINS/PURPOSE/VISION
In April of 2023, Eola Lewis Dance and Dr. Jennie K. Williams, Ph.D. co-founded Kinfolkology with a vision for integrating datawork related to slavery and the lives of the enslaved with the engagement of Descendant communities. Kinfolkology is guided by an understanding that while enslaved ancestors are no longer living, they were and are part of communities and families that are very much alive.
PEOPLE
Kinfolkology is supported by a dynamic advisory board of Descendants, scholars, specialists and storytellers. You can view the entire Kinfolkology team here.
STRUCTURAL PARITY
Kinfolkology is committed to building structural parity with Descendant communities. Structural parity is a model of shared organizational authority or governance developed by the Montpelier Descendants Committee. In essence of Kinfolkology’s commitment to structural parity, Kinfolkology x Community workshops are devoted to collaboration and co-visioning with Descendant communities.
DATAWORK
Kinfolkology hosts two databases. Oceans of Kinfolk is a database of the coastwise traffic of enslaved persons in antebellum America. Oceans of Kinfolk includes the names of more than 63,000 enslaved persons who were trafficked to New Orleans from domestic ports between 1818 and 1860. Louisiana Kindred is a developing database of enslaved people who were sold in antebellum New Orleans. Read about Kinfolkology’s data ethics here.