HYM4230

Happy Families? The Western European Family, Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries (12 points)

(ARTS)

Leader: David Garrioch

Offered:
Not offered in 2003.

Synopsis: The period from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century witnessed the widespread acceptance in Western Europe of a new ideal of the family: as a small, close-knit, child-centred and inward-looking domestic group. 'Happy Families?', focussing on England and France, uses diaries, letters, novels, portraits and memoirs to examine the spread of this new ideal of the family, to assess how far family structures and relationships changed in reality, looking particularly at gender roles and parent-child relationships, and to examine the different methods and conceptual tools historians have used to explain changes in ideas, representations, and realities of past family life.

Assessment: Essay (2000 words): 25% + Research essay (5000 words): 50% + Take-home examination (2 hours): 25%

Contact Hours: 2 hour seminar per week