Genealogie(n), Sozialwissenschaften und Digital Humanities

Zu drei genealogischen Datenbanken jüdischer und christlicher Populationen Mittelitaliens in der Neuzeit

Abstract

This article presents a research approach that combines genealogy, social sciences and digital humanities. Initiated in the early 2000s, the project concerns itself with the systematic collection and analysis of two central Italian population groups: Jews and Christians, based on a methodological and epistemological reflection on sources and quantitative methods in historiography and ethnology. Starting from the experiences of this project, the article discusses fundamental questions: why and how can we reconstruct an entire population? Which problems occur in the process, both in terms of the sources and the tools developed by researchers and genealogists? Finally, what is the future of databases that we develop?