TY - JOUR

T1 - Introduction: The Politics of Family Secrecy

AU - Vallgårda, Karen Asta Arnfred

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Histories of family secrecy are often emotionally, morally, and politically ambivalent. They entail fear, shame, pain, and repression, but they also often involve solicitude, tenderness, and degrees of tolerance. This special issue takes secrecy practices as a lens through which to examine the emotionally charged micropolitics of the family and its intertwinements with macropolitical currents, institutional practices, economic patterns, and wider social norms. The present introduction reflects on the key concepts of secrecy and family. In addition, it places the different contributions of the issue in a wider context by outlining some of the main questions and problems related to the historical study of family secrets in dialog with existing literature on the subject.

AB - Histories of family secrecy are often emotionally, morally, and politically ambivalent. They entail fear, shame, pain, and repression, but they also often involve solicitude, tenderness, and degrees of tolerance. This special issue takes secrecy practices as a lens through which to examine the emotionally charged micropolitics of the family and its intertwinements with macropolitical currents, institutional practices, economic patterns, and wider social norms. The present introduction reflects on the key concepts of secrecy and family. In addition, it places the different contributions of the issue in a wider context by outlining some of the main questions and problems related to the historical study of family secrets in dialog with existing literature on the subject.

U2 - 10.1177/03631990221079752

DO - 10.1177/03631990221079752

M3 - Tidsskriftartikel

VL - 47

SP - 239

EP - 247

JO - Journal of Family History

JF - Journal of Family History

SN - 0363-1990

IS - 3

ER -