“ Fatherhood in Late Modernity. Cultural Images, Social Practices, Structural Frames“
Organizers: Ursula Müller, Mechtild Oechsle (Bielefeld)
Conference Concept
With fathers being paid more attention to in public discourse, a phase seems to come to an end in which changes in gender relations have been seen as being restricted to female life courses. “Modernization of fatherhood” turns out to be a central, though far from being the only, element of “moderniziation” of masculinities, including the question if transition to fatherhood is desirable and successful. As “femininity” has differentiated from “motherliness”, ”masculinity” seems to differentiate from “fatherliness” with regard to cultural images and practices as well. In these processes, non-contemporaneities and contradictions are observable. Research results in various disciplines agree upon large discrepancies existing between men’s changed desires to live fatherhood more actively, and their factual practices. Cultural representations of fatherhood often lay across with fathers’ practices that can be empirically observed. The “multiplication” of cultural images and practices of fatherhood makes it difficult to conclude orientations from structural characteristics of groups of fathers.
Nevertheless, structural frames seem to have impact in a way that still has to be investigated more thoroughly; the structural impact of work organizations is addressed here, but also strategies of standardization by law, and steering by politics that may vary according to the respective countries, and still have to be evaluated referring to their effects.
Evaluation of current trends presupposes the analysis of mutual impact, but as well of contradictions and contra-rotations between models and cultural representations of fatherliness, fathers’ social practices and their blending with the level of psyche and interaction, structural effects of working organization contextualized by structural changes in paid work, as well as political regulations of fatherhood and standardization by law. The claim, but also the chance for multi-level analysis in this field is seen in an interdisciplinary research design, combining perspectives and methodological strategies of various disciplines, and using their potential in order to obtain a more complex understanding of recent developments of fatherhood.
The forthcoming conference invites researchers from a broad spectre of disciplines, such as sociology, history, educational science, literary studies, political science, psychology, law, economics, and cultural studies to scrutinize their articulations of relevant questions and problems in the field of fatherhood and fatherliness, with special respect to open questions that need to be addressed in further research. The aim of the conference is to produce a tableau of research areas and topics that may be further worked out and put into more concrete terms by a collaborative ZiF group of research fellows, in order to provide a basis for developing a research program that may be addressed to funding institutions.
Although the conference program shows a “conventional” design with papers and discussions, it is strongly focussed on exchange and debate. The organizers welcome active participation and are looking forward to an audience which will act as an assembly of discussants.
Final Program
Thursday, April 19, 2007
13.00 – 13.30 Registration
Welcome Address by Ipke Wachsmuth (Managing Director, ZiF) and the organizers
14.00 – 14.20
Ursula Müller, Mechtild Oechsle, Introduction: Conference Themes and Aims
Panel I: Cultural Images and Representations of Fatherhood
Chair: Richard Collier, Newcastle
14.20 – 15.40
Walter Erhart, Greifswald/Bielefeld, Family Men and Father Figures 1900 / 2000. Interconnections of Masculinity, Fatherliness and Modern Literature
Sabine Andresen, Bielefeld, Pedagogic Images of the Father. Discourses on Fatherliness and Masculinity at the Beginning of the 20th Century
Discussion audience
15.45 – 16.15 – Coffee Break –
16.20 – 18.00
Lisa Gotto, Weimar, Father Figures in Hollywood Films – the 80ies and 90ies
Irina Novikova, Riga, Representations of Fatherhood – East-European Contradictions
Discussion audience
Panel Comment: Martin Dinges, Stuttgart/Mannheim
Evening lecture
Chair: Irina Novikova, Riga
18.00 – 18.30
Ralph LaRossa, Atlanta, The Modernization of Fatherhood
18.30 – 19.00
Discussion audience
19.30
Dinner at the Restaurant „Glückundseligkeit“ (former Church St. Martini), Artur-Ladebeck-Str. 57;33602 Bielefeld City
Friday, April 20, 2007
Panel II: Fatherhood – Life Courses and Social Practices
Chair: Mechtild Oechsle, Bielefeld
9.00 – 10.40
Hans-Peter Blossfeld, Bamberg, How does the Division of Domestic Labor Change in the Course of Marriage? Results from a Longitudinal Study of the First 14 Years of Marriage in West Germany
Cornelia Helfferich, Freiburg, Fatherhood as a Transformation of Masculinity
Discussion William Marsiglio/Florida, Martin Diewald/Bielefeld, and
audience
10.45 – 11.15 – Coffee Break –
11.20-13.00
Edit Schlaffer, Vienna, Fatherhood seen from Adolescence:
Some Insight from Austria
Jeff Hearn, Helsinki, Men and Children Some Aspects Beyond Current Debates
Panel Comment:
Barbara Hobson, Stockholm
13.00- 14.30 – Lunch Break –
Panel III: Organizations and Fatherhood:
Between Structural Constraints and Fathers’ Agencies
Chair: Norbert Schneider, Mainz
14.30-16.10
Øysten Gullvåg Holter, Oslo, Work Changes Gender? Northern Perspectives
Susan Halford, Southampton, (Re)Organizing Fatherhood? Homeworking, Organizational Discourse and Gendered Domestic practices
Discussion Comments by Sylvia Wilz/Hagen, Jeff Hearn/Helsinki, and audience
16.15 – 16.45 – Coffee Break –
16.50 – 18.30
Barbara Hobson, Stockholm, Men’s Capabilities and Agency to Create a WorkFamilyBalance: The Gap between European Norms and Men’s Practices
Ursula Müller, Bielefeld, Between Flexibility and Reflexivity. Fathers’ practices, gender concepts in parenting, and public discourse
Discussion Comments by Norbert Schneider/Mainz, Richard Collier/Newcastle, and audience
Panel Comment:
Helga Krüger, Bremen
18.30 – 19.15
Evening Event Art Exhibition at the ZiF: Katja Sandler-Wedekind, painter, Family Portraits. Structure of the Father
Introduction by Johannes Roggenhofer, ZiF and Katja Sandler-Wedekind
19.30 – Dinner at ZiF –
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Panel IV : Fatherhood and Gender Concepts
Chair: Øysten Gullvåg Holter, Oslo
9.00 – 10.40
William Marsiglio, Univ. of Florida, Fathering Trajectories Gender, And Physical/Social Place: A Research Agenda
Norbert Schneider, Mainz, Fatherhood in Times of Gender Transformation – European Perspectives
Richard Collier, Newcastle, ‚The Outlaw Fathers Strike Back‘?
Law, Family and the New Politics of Fatherhood
Discussion Comments by Ralph LaRossa/Atlanta, Kirsten Scheiwe/ Hildesheim, Irina Novikova/Riga, Hans-Peter Blossfeld/Bamberg, and audience
10.45 – 11.15 – Coffee Break –
11.15 – 11.45
Discussion Continuation of Panel IV audience
Closing Session
11.45 – 12.00
Wiebke Kolbe, Bielefeld, What Has Come Out of It? Conclusions, Questions, Prospects
12.00 – 12.15
Ursula Müller, Mechtild Oechsle, Next Steps
Thank You and Good-bye
Lunch Buffet
End of Conference
13.00 – 14.00
Meeting Prospective Co-Operation Group Members
Information on the ZiF: www.uni-bielefeld.de/ZIF/
If you are interested to participate, please contact as soon as possible the ZiF conference office: trixi.valentin@uni-bielefeld.de
There is some support with regard to accommodation avalaible until 31st March. After that date, the conference office can only send out hotel lists.
If you want to offer a prepared comment, or to get into exchange on the issues and aims of the conference, please contact ursula.mueller@uni-bielefeld.de or m.oechsle@uni-bielefeld.de. We are looking forward to meeting you in Bielefeld.