Refocusing the Modern American Family

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Refocusing the Modern American Family

Veranstalter
Emmy Noether Research Group; “Family Values and Social Change: The US-American Family in the 20th Century”; Jun. Prof. Dr. Isabel Heinemann; Andre Dechert, M.A.; Jana Hoffmann
Veranstaltungsort
Liudgerhaus, Überwasserkirchplatz 3, 48143 Münster
Ort
Münster
Land
Deutschland
Vom - Bis
27.06.2013 - 29.06.2013
Deadline
24.06.2013
Website
https://www.uni-muenster.de/Geschichte/histsem/NwG-ZG/Forschen/Abschlusstagung.html
Von
Isabel Heinemann, Andre Dechert, Jana Hoffmann

“Family is the cornerstone of American society.” Throughout the 20th century, politicians, social experts, journalists, ‘regular people’, all agreed that the importance of the family cannot and must not be underestimated. They believed that the well-being of American society was deeply rooted in the institution of family. However, as American society changed throughout the 20th century, so did concepts of family. Countless debates illustrate that the ideal of the white heterosexual middle-class nuclear family – which had been established at the turn of the 19th century – has been contested on numerous terrains.

Historical works on the history of the American family are legion. However, these works rather concentrate on statistics on family life, or specific aspects of childhood, fatherhood/motherhood, masculinity/femininity or sexuality. Not only are these works often categorized by the dichotomy of men’s and women’s studies. They also pay little attention to the underlying values, norms, and ideals that shape the conduct of family life. Accordingly, there is little treatment of the changes in family values and ideals, especially in the context of general social change. Our research group asks how family values, norms and ideals changed in the United States throughout the 20th century. Thus, our research projects offer major conclusions about processes of social change and their impact on individual lives. Also, we take into consideration the intersection of categories race, class, gender, sexuality, and religion on the formation of norms and values.

As we are entering the final stages of our projects we are hosting a concluding conference that refocuses research on the American family and its values, norms and ideals. On a general level we want to address the question of how family values and ideals changed throughout the 20th century. What was considered an ideal family, which family concepts were pathologized? In detail, we will focus on five specific aspects of family values and normative change: (1) Childhood and Generational Conflict; (2) Religious Belief and Family Values; (3) The Family as an Object of Social Therapy; (4) The Family as a Subject of Popular Culture, and (5) Family Values and Social Change in Modern Western Societies.

Programm

Thursday, June 27, 2012:

14.30-15.00: Welcome and Introduction to the Conference
Isabel Heinemann: Refocusing the Modern American Family

15.00-17.00: Section 1: Childhood and Generational Conflict
Chair: Simon Wendt, Frankfurt a.M.

Claudia Roesch, Münster: Familia, Machismo, Compadrazgo? - Mexican American Families and Changing Social Norms in the 20th Century USA.

Laura Lovett, Amherst: From Free Children to Family Values: Children in the American Women’s Movement.

Grace Hale, Child’s Play: Making an Alternative Culture in Athens, Georgia in the Reagan Era.

Comment: Astrid Baerwolf, Münster

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18.00-20.00 Keynote:
Joanne Meyerowitz, Yale University: Exporting the Modern American Family: U.S. Foreign Assistance and the Politics of Gender, 1960s-1980s.

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Friday, June 28, 2012:

9.00-10.30: Section 2: The Family as an Object of Social Therapy, Part I
Chair: Andre Dechert, Münster

Anne Overbeck, Berlin: “The Mass of Ignorant Negroes Still Breeds Disastrously.” The Debate on Birth Control for African Americans in the 1920s and 1930s.

Isabel Heinemann, Münster: Preserving the Bedrock of Society: Public Debates and Expert Discourses on Divorce, Women’s Work and Reproduction in the 20th Century United States.

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11.00-12.30: Section 2: The Family as an Object of Social Therapy, Part II
Chair: Claudia Roesch, Münster

Jennifer Nelson, University of Redlands: Coven to Client: The Reproductive (Maternal) Body in Feminist Women’s Health Activism.

Johanna Schoen, Rutgers University: The Construction of Anti-Abortion Narratives: Abortion Providers, Women, and Fetuses as Objects in Anti-Abortion Rhetoric.

Comment: Corinna Unger, Jacobs University Bremen

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14.00-15.30 Section 3: The Family as a Subject of Popular Culture
Chair: Sandra Kraft, Münster

Christina von Hodenberg, Queen Mary, University of London: Archie, Edith and their Viewers: Post-patriarchal Marriage on 1970s Television.

Andre Dechert, Münster: Dad on TV. Public Debates on Fatherhood and Family Representations in US-American Sitcoms, 1981-92.

Comment: Simon Wendt

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16.00-18.00: Section 4: Religious Beliefs and Family Values
Chair: Heike Bungert, Münster

Michael Hochgeschwender, München: Family Values, Gender Norms and Value Transmission in US-American Catholicism of the 20th Century.

Jana Hoffmann, Münster: Family Values in American Mainline-Protestantism, 1950-1980.

Anja Maria Bassimir, Mainz: Envisioning the ‘American Family’: An Analysis of Family Ideals in Evangelical Magazines.

Comment: Uta Balbier, London

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Saturday, June 29, 2013

9.00-12.00: Roundtable: Family Values and Social Change in Modern Western Societies
Chair: Isabel Heinemann, Münster

Joanne Meyerowitz, Yale University
Till van Rahden, Université de Montréal
Christopher Neumaier, ZZF Potsdam
Elisabeth Timm, Münster

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Kontakt

Andre Dechert

Rosenstr. 9, 48143 Münster

0251/83-25459

andre.dechert@uni-muenster.de

https://www.uni-muenster.de/Geschichte/histsem/NwG-ZG/Forschen/Abschlusstagung.html
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