Inherited Paths

A Documentary on Motherlands

Migration Department

Project head: Dr. Jonna Rock,  Dr. Zeynep Yanaşmayan

Running time March 2026 until May 2027
Status Current project

“Inherited Paths” is a documentary about motherlands – places that embody family origins, collective memory and a sense of belonging.

Guiding research questions

“Inherited Paths” follows mother-daughter pairs in Bulgaria, Germany and Italy, exploring how relationships with ancestral homelands evolve over time.
At the heart of the film are the stories of mothers and daughters who have returned to their ancestral homelands. It explores how the protagonists navigate their experiences of migration and how their notions of home and family evolve and are carried across generations.
The film project is fundamentally dialogic and participatory, positioning protagonists as active co-creators who shape their own narratives through feedback and reflective conversations.
Dr. Jonna Rock, Project lead

Some people claim citizenship in countries like Germany, Bulgaria, and Italy because their ancestors came from there. This public engagement film project, “Inherited Paths” follows the experiences of mothers and daughters who currently have Bulgarian, German and Italian citizenship because their ancestors many generations ago originated from these countries. The film portrays intimate stories of the mother-daughter pairs, illuminating how they navigate privilege and stigma in their homelands, while reflecting on specific political policies that have allowed access to citizenship in response to past family (hi)stories of displacement and hardship because of one’s “inherited paths”. Fundamentally, with this film project, we make our ongoing research accessible beyond academic circles, inspiring reflection on the meanings and the implications of one’s family (hi)stories for belonging today. “Inherited Paths” make visible the mother-daughter relationships in Bulgaria, Germany and Italy – and in a contemporary European context marked by growing divisions and uncertainties.

Link to the project website: https://www.inheritedpaths.eu

Funding: Volkswagen Foundation (Third-party funding)

Cooperation partner:

Melissa Blanchard and Thales Speroni (CNRS- Centre Norbert Elias), Zeynep Kaşlı and Marhabo Saparova (ISS- Erasmus Universität Rotterdam)