This volume takes a more comprehensive view of past familial dynamics than has been previously attempted. By applying interdisciplinary perspectives to periods ranging from the Prehistoric to the Modern, it informs a wider understanding of the term family, and the implications of family dynamics for children and their social networks in the past. Contributors drawn from across the humanities and social sciences present research addressing three primary themes: modes of kinship and familial structure, the convergence and divergence between the idealised image and realities of family life, and the provision of care within families. These themes are interconnected, as the idea and image of family shapes familial structure, which in turn defines the type of care and protection that families provide to their members. The papers in this volume provide new research to challenge assumptions and provoke new ways of thinking about past families as functionally adaptive, socially connected, and ideologically powerful units of society, just as they are in the present. A broad focus on the networks created by familial units also allows the experiences of historically underrepresented women and children to be highlighted in a way that underlines their interconnectedness with all members of past societies. The Family in Past Perspective fills a much-needed niche across disciplinary boundaries. The wide scope of the book has research implications, and informs, fields ranging from bioarchaeology to women's history and childhood studies within archaeology and more traditional social historical disciplines and anthropology.

Book Information
ISBN 9781032015101
Author Ellen J. Kendall
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Taylor & Francis Ltd
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 156g