Performing Genealogy through Travel Narratives

Tourism scholars have yet to consider ancestral tourism as a stepping-stone in genealogicalidentity formation. Amateur genealogists use information available to them about their ancestorsand the past to form stories of the self in the present. Through a study of the travel narratives ofSwedish-American ancestral tourists, I link the concept of genealogical identities with theories ofperformance, impression management and narrative identity to explore this phenomenon. Thefindings reveal how ancestral tourists bring into existence their genealogical identities throughthe performative narration of their ancestral travels. Authenticity in these experiences emergesthrough the presentation of a coherent story of the self that gives off desired impressions ofkinship and ethnicity, subsequently legitimizing a genealogical identity.