Journal of Family History; Guest Editors: Cecilie Bjerre & Gareth Millward (Univ. of Southern Denmark), and Laura Kings (Univ. of Leeds) (Web)

Proposals by: 15.02.2025

For over thirty years, the Journal of Family History has provided an essential forum for scholarship on the history of family, kinship, and population across global contexts. The editors invite submissions for a special issue, which seeks to expand a understanding of how families have been conceptualized and contested within welfare states.

Special Issue Theme
The family is widely regarded as the core social unit in welfare states, often mirroring the rise of the nuclear family in industrial capitalism. However, defining “family” remains fraught with historical, cultural, and contextual complexities. Definitions vary not only across time and place but also between the state and individual families, with significant implications for social security, healthcare, citizenship, and rights to family life. These tensions are pivotal, affecting how individuals and groups access critical resources and claim their place within the social fabric.
This special issue builds on themes from a recent UK-Nordic workshop, which gathered scholars to investigate family definitions in the welfare state and explore their impact. The edotirs aim to broaden this discussion to include comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives on the following questions: What defines a family within welfare states, and how do these definitions evolve over time? How do legal, moral, and cultural definitions of family affect access to welfare benefits and rights? And how do conflicting interpretations of “family” between citizens and the state shape experiences?

The editors invite contributions that address themes such as: Legal and Biological Parenthood |
Marriage and Kinship | State and Family Definitions | Intersectional Perspectives. Read more … (PDF)

Source: genus-request@listserv.gu.se