Margareth Lanzinger (Vienna), Jon Mathieu (Luzern), Juan Hernandez Franco (Murcia), Antonio Irigoyen (Murcia), and Ana Zabalza (Navarra) (Web)

Time: 14.-15.09.2023
Venue: Vienna
Proposals by: 15.06.2022

This workshop is part of the project “Generaciones inciertas. Las familias de los influyentes españoles en tiempos de transformación (1740–1830) | Uncertain Generations. Influential Spanish Families in Times of Transformation (1740–1830)”.

The project is based on the assumption that exploring the activities, undertakings and ways of life of different generations of influential families can help explain social transformations that took place during the second half of the eighteenth and the first decades of the nineteenth centuries. Both the project and workshop aim to bring family and kinship to the fore as historical agents for change – rather than economic developments or governmental measures. In this sense, generation is seen as a key concept that bridges continuity with innovation at the personal and familial levels. Specifically, it is involved in social, economic and political processes and at the same time influences these processes. Thus, our aim is, essentially, to link historical time with family time.

Building upon recent research on historical kinship, we want to examine to what extent changes were influenced by the transition from vertical to horizontal family logics. From this follows the question whether there was indeed a sequence of generations with a generation of founders establishing the family’s wealth, followed by generations of transformation and change. The central question of the workshop is: how did influential families deal with transformations that took place between the mid-eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and how did these families organize their social relations? To answer this question, it is necessary to characterise the different generations, work out their specific profiles and decisive factors such as family and power structures, belongings, gender relations, activities, family and kinship organisation, handling of property and wealth, education, training and professionalisation, conflicts and tensions, public presence and appearances, ideas and ideals. Read more … (Web)