Babeş-Bolyai University – Center for Population Studies
The Romanian Academy – Center for Transylvanian Studies

The Center for Population Studies of Babeş-Bolyai University and the Cluj-Napoca Center for Transylvanian Studies of the Romanian Academy organize between 8 and 11 October 2009 the International Conference Families in Europe between the 19th and the 21st Centuries. From the Traditional Model to Contemporary PACS. Papers will be presented within one of the six sections dealing with all the problems related to European families from the French Revolution to the contemporary era. The organizers would prefer that participants (historians, demographers, sociologists, theologians, jurists, etc.) discuss in their papers not only aspects concerning families in their country of origin, but also general topics regarding families and population policies in Europe over the course of time (19th–21st century). The official languages of the conference will be Romanian and English. Simultaneous interpretation will be provided.

Accommodation and board for the entire duration of the conference will be provided by the organizers, who will also publish the volume of conference papers. The participation fee is 40 Euro, payable upon arrival in Cluj, when participants are officially registered and receive a copy of the volume. Organizers may waive the fee for some participants on the basis of a written request and within the limits of a reasonable amount of such requests.

Please confirm your participation at this event by sending a CV, the title, and a summary of approx. 400–500 words by 31.01.2009 at the latest. Contact persons: Prof. Ioan Bolovan, Ph.D.: bolovani#yahoo.com; senior researcher Marius Eppel, Ph. D.: mariuseppel#yahoo.fr; senior researcher Daniela Deteşan, Ph. D.: detesandaniela1976#yahoo.com; researcher Diana Covaci, Ph. D. Candidate: dianacovaci#yahoo.com; researcher Elena Crinela Holom, Ph. D. Candidate: elena_crinela#yahoo.com; senior researcher Luminiţa Dumănescu, Ph. D. Candidate: luminita_dumanescu#yahoo.com; senior researcher Bogdan Crăciun, Ph. D. Candidate: bogdanacademia#yahoo.com

The authors of the papers selected for presentation within the six sections of the conference will be notified by way of a circular letter by 15.02.2009 at the latest. Once accepted, the papers will be published in the conference volume before the beginning of the conference, and therefore authors are kindly invited to write their papers in keeping with the editing requirements of the Romanian Journal of Population Studies (http://www.csp.ubbcluj.ro/rjps.html) and send them before 30.06.2009.

Director, Prof. Traian Rotariu, Ph.D.
Director, Prof. Ioan Aurel Pop, Ph.D., Correspondent Member of the Romanian Academy

1.Establishing a family (19th–21st Centuries). Marriage – individual choice or arranged by others

It has been often said that in traditional pre-industrial societies marriage was something that had to do first and foremost with the family and with its interests and not so much with the individuals concerned. People were mostly defined by their membership to a family, a family which usually also decided their future. Marriages would be arranged by parents and relatives as part of what were sometimes complex matrimonial strategies, as demanded mainly by the dominantly economic function of the family. But what did these strategies involve? What were the eligibility criteria? Were there any differences between social groups in terms of arranging such marriages? Who was most likely to employ such methods?

It is said today that marriages are increasingly based upon a free, personal, individual choice. Under these circumstances, one first aspect of interest concerns the causes that led to such changes. How significant were these changes? Are there any clear signs of a decrease in homogamy? Is the choice of spouses really that „free“?

An answer to these questions requires a fertile dialogue between past and present and concrete demographic, ethnographic, historical, sociological, and even economic examples.

2. Family models in the two Europes in historical perspective

This section is meant to present, describe, and analyze the family models identified between the 19th and the 21st centuries in Europe, within a comparative East–West approach. A starting point could be the demarcation line proposed by John Hajnal (1965), one that stretches from St. Petersburg to Trieste. Also relevant might be the classifications operated by Peter Laslett (1983), Karl Kaser (2001), or Michael Mitterauer (2003).

From case studies to complete historical-demographic databases, the papers may focus on: marital age, rules for the establishment of a family in (pre)industrial societies, the system of inheritance and the transfer of assets to the young generation, changes in family structure in the course of time, the geographic distribution of family models, the relationship between the establishment of a family and economic opportunities or the institutional context, etc.

Attention will be given to both quantitative and qualitative aspects in the attempt to inventory and classify behaviors and family models (see the family model with two children with the Saxons in Transylvania-Romania, the family with only one child in southern Hungary, Banat, and Southeastern Slovakia, the family with several children with the Romanians, etc.).

3. Fertility and reproductive behavior in Europe (19th–21st Centuries)

The study of reproductive behavior and of the phenomena of fecundity and fertility has constantly been in the attention of Western demographers ever since the 19th century. As since the last decade of the 19th century fertility in many European countries has been steadily decreasing, these aspects became even more interesting for researchers. Demographers, but not only them, identified changes in individual reproductive behavior involving the transition from natural fertility to a directed or controlled one.

Birth control was known and practiced by small groups of the population, but in the modern era it became an increasingly widespread phenomenon. What made families and couples limit their fertility? What actual methods did they use? What reasons and factors are responsible for the spatial and temporal differences in fertility? These are only a few of the questions raised by the issue of fertility.

Throughout the 20th century as well, the increase or the decrease in population and the number of actual births were constantly in the attention of specialists, as attitudes varied from Malthusian doctrines, from the fear of „too many,“ to the fear of „too few“ (Massimo Livi Bacci). These issues are still of tremendous interest.

4. Church and family

The Church has played a significant role in the life of individuals, being present in the main moments in their lives: birth, marriage, death. Church canons and dogma provided, for many centuries, the guidelines for daily life. Emerging as a competitor of the Church, the State began to define its own guidelines, and in the 19th century the lay authorities imposed their control over individuals, seeking to sideline or even eliminate the Church from public life. The family, with all of its components—marriage, childbirth, divorce, death of one of the spouses, custody over children, inheritance, etc—has become the object of a heated dispute between the two poles of power: Church and State.

The period between the 19th and the 21st centuries is representative for the manner in which the Church managed its relation to families. The loss of direct influence following the increased secularization of society in the 19th century forced the Church to redefine its social involvement. Is the Church still a landmark for the 21st century family? Has it managed to recover some of the grounds lost to secularization, atheism, and to other „modern errors,“ as Pope Pius IX called them in his Syllabus? What is old and what is new in the relation between Church and family? All of the above and many similar questions may find an answer in the papers presented in this section.

5. State and family

Since their inception, States were interested in controlling the establishment, the organization, and the dissolution of families. With the advent of the secular society, states became more modern and devised specific institutions for the management of civil records and for anything pertaining to the conclusion, the circumstances, the validity, the annulment of a marriage, etc.

After the adoption of the French Civil Code on 21 March 1804, under Napoleon I, significant changes began to affect families. If we compare the Western legal texts concerning families to the Eastern European ones, we notice the massive influence of the Napoleonic code. To what extend did the civil code match the local realities in Europe? How did it influence marital behavior and the organization of families in (pre)industrial societies?

In the Habsburg Empire, the adoption of the Austrian Civil Code in 1811 also increased the secularization of society. Under these circumstances, families were subjected first and foremost to the civil authorities. How did this process affect, comparatively speaking, the various nations in the Empire? What about the other European states? Were there any similar models of family behavior at the micro and the macro level, shaped by the secular legislation? The investigation of the primary sources, of marital records, of the collections of normative-legislative documents regulating marriages, family life, and divorces might allow us to piece together the manner in which people responded to modernization and secularization.

6. The dissolution of families – then and now

Abandonment—Annulment—Decease—Divorce. The four terms describe some of the possible ways of ending a marriage. Their order is far from random: alphabetically and temporally, they represent the main ways in which a couple ceases to operate as such. The nature of the terms becomes even more obvious if related to the civil legislation and to the Church canon. Between „What God has joined together, no man must put asunder“ and the „irreconcilable differences ending the marriage“ we find several centuries of fluctuating relations between Church and State, with families at the meeting point of the interests of the two sources of power, temporal and spiritual. If the Church has remained firm throughout the centuries—opposing and even denying the idea of a divorce—, States admit the possibility of mutually agreed separation without raising any significant objections. Nowadays, many Christian couples face the issue of the dissolution of their marriage, having to choose between observance of Church rules and the desire to start life anew together with a new partner.

Keyspeakers for the six sections:

• Professor Kees Mandemakers Ph. D. (International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam)
• Professor Jan Kok Ph. D. (International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam)
• Professor Antoinette Fauve-Chamoux Ph. D. (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France)
• Professor Frans van Poppel Ph. D. (University of Utrecht)
• Mikolaj Szoltysek Ph. D. (Max-Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany)
• Associate Professor Cornelia Mureşan, Ph.D. (Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
• Professor Nicolae Bocşan, Ph.D. (vice-rector of Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
• Professor Traian Rotariu, Ph.D. (Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
• Senior Researcher Constanţa Vintilă-Ghiţulescu, Ph. D. (Nicolae Iorga Institute of History, Bucharest, Romania)
• Professor Ioan Bolovan, Ph.D. (Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
• Professor Corneliu Pădurean, Ph.D. (Aurel Vlaicu University of Arad, Romania)

aus: Genus@genus.gu.se