KATHRYN ANDERSON JOHN McCLENDON FAIRHAVEN COLLEGE, WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY WINTER 1985 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES: THE AMERICAN FAMILY Texts John Demos, A Little Commonwealth Mary Ryan, Cradle of the Middle Class Herbert Guttman, The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom: 1790- 1925 Akemi Rikumura, Through Harsh Winters Maxine Hong Kingston Woman Warrior Lillian Rubin, Worlds of Pain: Life in the Working Class Family Rationale The historical perspectives class has a number of purposes, all of which overlap. One is to understand the meaning of the words "history" and "historical." Another is to determine whether historical knowledge and understanding are important to us, and why or why not. How does the past influence the present? How does the present influence our understanding of the past? What is meant by "a sense of the past"? How does one experience past events? To what extent do social institutions such as the family change or remain the same over centuries? Does human nature change? What are the types of historical knowledge, evidence, methods that help us answer these questions? Course Outline M January 9 Introductions. Discussion of history F January 11 Wilson Library - tour of historical reference works. M January 14 Discuss Hareven article on family (handout). Begin discussing Demos. W January 16 Continue discussing Demos. F January 18 Colonial meal (see assignments) M January 21 *Paper #1 due. Discuss ancestor/identity assignment, 1720. W January 23 Discuss Ryan. F January 25 Groups meet. Historical Perspectives: The American Family M January 28 Continue discussing Ryan. W January 30 *Paper #2 due. Discuss ancestor/identity assignment, 1800. F February 1 Groups meet. M February 4 First interim group reports. W February 6 Finish discussing Ryan. F February 8 Groups meet. M February 11 *Paper #3 due. Discuss ancestor/identity assignment, 1870. Begin discussing Guttman. W February 13 Discuss Guttman. F February 15 Summary of Black Family with Rob Urlacher. M February 18 Holiday - no class. W February 20 *Paper #4 due. Discuss ancestor/identity assignment, 1935. F February 22 Groups meet. M February 25 Second interim group reports. W February 27 Discuss Rikumura and Kingston. F March 1 Groups meet. M March 4 *Paper #5 due. Individual reports on present identities. W March 6 Discuss Rubin. F March 8 Group Reports. M March 11 Group Reports. W March 13 Group Reports. F March 15 Evaluations due. Class Evaluation. Assignments Group Assignment: The class will be divided into groups which will meet regularly to focus in depth on a particular aspect of the family chosen from the list below. Assigned texts can serve as resources but each topic will require additional research. You will have two opportunities to report on the group's progress (10 minutes each). A final half- hour presentation should be accompanied by an outline of major findings, insights, and questions, and a short bibliography of most useful sources. The group should also hand in a brief statement of who did what and a description of the group's process. Colonial Meal Assignment: Following our trip to the library, in which we will examine standard reference materials for studying the family, use these sources to find some detail of a colonial meal (recipe, custom, apparel, utensil, seating arrangement, etc.) to contribute to class discussion. Keep track of the reference sources which led you to the information. Using whatever means of historical imagination or analysis that suits you, how might you interpret the significance of this detail? What questions would you ask? What else might be asked? One page should be sufficient to describe the detail, give your interpretation and analysis, and cite your sources. Ancestor/Identity Assignment: In this class we want not only to explore the nature of history and the history of the family but to do both with the consciousness that experience differs depending on one's race, sex, and class. Since our Class is not representative of the population, you will be assigned an identity and expected to participate in discussions to some extent, at least, from that perspective. Your major writing assignment will be a cumulative history of your assigned family. Five short papers will focus on the following dates: #1 1720 #2 1800 #3 1870 #4 1935 #5 now In paper #5 you are a 20 year old person living somewhere in the U.S.A. You have a particular ethnic/racial identity, a gender, and an assigned family income. Papers 1-4 will trace the ancestors of the person in paper no. 5 Where are you living? With whom? What is your socio-economic class? What is your occupation? How large is your family? What are your relationships to your family? What are your expectations of your family? How does your family help or hinder your personal goals? How do you spend your spare time? What do you believe? How does your life compare to that of your ancestors? What are your expectations of the future? In paper #5, the present-time paper, include the same information as above, but add a paragraph which would be the introductory paragraph to a paper on the history of this family. State a clear thesis in this paragraph and indicate central issues and themes. For each paper, include a short bibliography listing sources used. 1. Religion What is the importance of religion? How are religious patterns changing? Which religious group dominates business and government? What does religion mean to the family? How does it affect individual experience and choices? How does religious change respond to the needs of the time? 2. Economic Changes What is the division of labor within the family and how has it changed? What is the economic function of marriage? Who inherits what and when and how? What is the relationship between the family and economic change? 3. Arts and Leisure How do space and landscape affect family life? Who has what kind of spare time? How do people spend it? What arts do they enjoy and participate in? What do people do to enrich their daily lives and activities with beauty and pleasure? Historical Perspectives: The American Family 4. Education Who is educated to what level? Row do educational expectations change over time? Who is responsible for teaching? for financing education? What role does the family play in educating the next generation? S. Social and geographic mobility, marriage, fertility, household structure What groups are moving up? down? How do families affect individual opportunities for mobility? How does one select a spouse? What is the consequence of remaining single? What are marriage rates and ages of first marriage? How do they change? How have fertility rates changed? With what effect? Changes in size and membership of households? Attitudes toward sex and illegitimacy? 6. Relationships within and among families What kinds of changes have taken place in relationships among family members: husbands and wives; parents and children; siblings; other kin? What is the family's relationship to the community? How has it changed? What are interfamilial relationships (men with men, women with women, children with children, etc.) and how do they affect the family? How have notions of privacy and domesticity changed? 7. Family and State What social functions did/does the family provide? How has this changed? How does/did the state affect the family? What are all the points at which the state and family interact? How has this interaction changed with time? 8. Parenthood and Childhood What were/are responsibilities and obligations, hopes and fears, duties of parents to children and vice versa? How has childhood changed in terms of expectations and responsibilities? Have life- cycle stages changed? How? Why?