1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910136885303321

Titolo

Imagined families in mobile worlds / / guest editors: Keren Körber and Ina Merkel

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Copenhagen : , : Museum Tusculanum Press, University of Copenhagen, , [2012]

©2012

ISBN

87-635-4044-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (107 pages)

Collana

Open Access e-Books

Knowledge Unlatched

Ethnologia Europaea, , 0425-4597 ; ; volume 42:2 (2012)

Disciplina

305.8

Soggetti

Ethnology - Europe

Families - Europe

Cultural anthropology - Europe

Electronic Books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

"Special issue"

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references.

Nota di contenuto

Karen Körber and Ina Merkel: Imagined Families in Mobile Worlds. An Introduction -- Karen Körber: So Far and yet so Near. Present-Day Transnational Families -- Gertrud Hüwelmeier: ?The Daughters Have Grown Up?. Transnational Motherhood, Migration and Gender among Catholic Nuns -- Elisabeth Timm: Grounding the Family. Locality and its Discontents in Popular Genealogy -- Sabine Hess: How Gendered Is the European Migration Regime? A Feminist Analysis of the Anti-Trafficking Apparatus -- Magdalena Radkowska-Walkowicz: Who is Afraid of Frankenstein? Polish Debate on In-Vitro Fertilization,

Sommario/riassunto

Special issue: Though a seemingly stable concept in ethnological work, “family” as a lived reality took and takes on innumerable forms shaped by economic pressures, mobility and attendant social transformations, and biotechnical interventions. The case studies in this special issue focus on the ways in which social actors seek to concretize as well as control what family could or should be. While (bio-)technological innovation proves vital to fulfill traditional imaginaries of a nuclear



family, communication technology is a key to keep transnationally situated families in contact. Still, transnational work opportunities conflict with traditional imaginaries of the wholesome families and impact particularly women seeking to cross both borders and established family norms. Popular genealogy as a hobby and passion uncovers evidence that counters established narratives: instead of long-term sedentary family lineages, evidence of migration muddies the waters. Family metaphor, finally, serves, in one of the case studies, as vocabulary to materialize imaginary kinship ties among nuns. The five case studies are complemented by four commentaries, exploring paths along which these themes can be developed further.