What Happened to the Family Tree?

In an era driven by data, what kinds of information counts, and who decides? While we often think of data as numbers, spreadsheets or digital records, many communities have long relied on oral history, memory and story as essential forms of knowledge. This event centers lineage as data — the ancestral, cultural and place-based transmissions that shape who we are, where we are from and how we belong. What happens when that thread of lineage is broken by displacement, forced migration, incarceration or structural erasure? And how are people and communities reclaiming connection after these lines have been broken? 

Together, we will explore how oral stories and intergenerational knowledge function as living archives, and how reclaiming them becomes an act of survival, resistance and repair. This conversation honors lineage as more than ancestry: it is about the wisdom, values and relationships passed across generations, often outside formal institutions. By connecting this theme to broader questions about data, justice and representation, we ask: what kinds of knowledge systems have been excluded from dominant data practices? And how might remembering — and reweaving — lineage help restore what’s been lost?

Presented in collaboration with artist and Theatrical Director Lisa Channer and additional panelists to be announced, this conversation will reflect on memory, identity and the creative strategies people are using to hold onto the stories that hold them. 

The 2025-27 (In)Justice Series on Data & Power presented by the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Minnesota critically examines data: how it’s collected, who controls it and what it reveals (or conceals) about power, identity and justice. Supported by the MnDRIVE Human in the Data Initiative.

Accessibility & Accommodations
Institute for Advanced Study (In)Justice Series events are professionally CART captioned and are available in person at the Best Buy Theater at Northrop or online via Zoom. Some accommodation requests may take us time to arrange, so please make requests for this event by Thursday, March 5, 2026. If you are registering after this date, please still reach out to us so we can explore available options. Contact: Carolina Maranon-Cobos, gust0952@umn.edu.

UMN Conversations at Northrop is a collection of lectures, panel discussions, and other conversations focused on important and timely issues presented in collaboration among numerous University of Minnesota departments and held at Northrop.