Full Description
This edited volume looks at the reproduction and transformation of family norms in contemporary times. Set against a context of far-right politics calling for a return to more conservative identity politics and family norms, and building on late 20th century social movements which challenged essentialist and functionalist understandings of identities and families, it considers a variety of non-traditional family structures.
Written by scholars based in Argentina, Ghana, Italy, Portugal, the UK, and the USA, the chapters question what 'counts' as a family in contemporary times and considers how the discourses of power which operate in institutional and geographical contexts impact how families are recognized and valued. The book includes analysis of non-traditional and non-heteronormative families such as single-parent families, childless families, families with animal companions, LGBTQ families, families across the Global South, mixed heritage families and families of friends. Drawing on post-structuralist, critical, and feminist theories the contributors discuss how power relationships linked to gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality, dis/ability and other in/equalities intersect and operate in defining what counts as a family.
Contents
1. Introduction, Marie-Pierre Moreau, Cynthia Okpokiri and Catherine Lee (Anglia Ruskin University, UK)
2. Shifting Family Meanings: A Sociological Overview, João Paulo Mendes Carvalho and Cláudia Casimiro (CIEG/ISCSP - University of Lisbon, Portugal)
3. Children's Valuations of Family Life in Kinship Care - Cost-Effective Substitute Care or Multiple Ambivalent Affiliations in Flux, Paul Shuttleworth (Sussex University, UK)
4. Language of Instruction Choice and Family Disruptions in Ghana, Vincent Adzahlie-Mensah (University of Education, Winneba, Ghana)
5. Black British Families: Liminality and the Liabilities of Language, Parise Carmichael-Murphy (University of Manchester, UK)
6. Older Lesbians and Families of Friends, Catherine Lee (Anglia Ruskin University, UK)
7. Queering Familialism? Lesbian and Gay Claims of Parenthood and the Transformation of Intimate Citizenship in Italy, Paolo Gusmeroli and Luca Trappolin (University of Padua, Italy)
8. Kithship: Protective Aspects of a Family of Choice for Older Transgender Persons, Sara J. English (Winthrop University, USA)
9. Family Practices and Strategies of Middle-Class Teachers in Argentina in the Context of Covid-19: Transformations and Discomforts in the Face of Care Processes and Labor Relations, Passerino, L. and Zenklusen, D. (Universidad Nacional de Rafaela, Argentina)
10. 'In True Naval Fashion': Young People's Perspectives on Family Communication, Bowser-Angermann, J., Gray, L., Wood, A., Fossey, M. and Godier-McBard, (ARU, UK)
11. From Active to Activist Parenting: Educational Struggle and the Injuries of Institutonalised Misrecognition, Nathan Fretwell and John Barker (Middlesex University, UK)
12. Concluding comments, Cynthia Okpokiri, Marie-Pierre Moreau and Catherine Lee (Anglia Ruskin University, UK)
Index
