Journal of Family History

In the ancient Greek polytheistic religion, Hera was considered the wife of Zeus and she was worshipped as the goddess of marriage. This paper analyses pre-Olympian references to Hera as an unmarried Great Goddess related to nature and fertility, and it explores from a critical perspective the origins and contents of her cult as Hera Teleia, the “perfect wife.” Mythological tales about her fights with Zeus, their conflictive relationship and his continuous love affairs with goddesses and women show us that the divine Greek model for human marriage was far from being a state of marital bliss.

This article discusses the results of ethnographic case studies on female cross-border experiences in the Paraná Tri-Border Area (between Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay) conducted in 2018 and 2019. Reclaiming the life histories of thirty Paraguayan women, we will analyze the tensions that lie between family trajectories, female transgenerational acquisition of cultural and social capitals, rural-urban and transborder mobility, and labor insertion. Our analysis will explore more in-depth the impact that productive and reproductive work overloads have on different generations of women who share family bonds, showing how their care responsibilities are intrinsically related to their agency strategies.

This article examines the emotional dynamics between six siblings of the Merode family in the eighteenth century and the ways in which they used emotional expression as a mechanism to communicate and negotiate existing forms of power within their sibling group. Using the extensive personal correspondence between the siblings, the article explores how the hierarchical nature of their relationship related to expectations of unity, arguing that the siblings had to find a balance between keeping the peace and challenging inequality related to gender, age, and marital status. Sibling emotionality played an important role in negotiating these unequal power dynamics.

This article explores living arrangements and both informal and formal support for the elderly who had no surviving children in the Russian Baltic province of Livland from 1850 to 1905. The article examines with whom the elderly who had no spouse and descendants to rely on lived out their twilight years; whether there were differences between the farmers and farm laborers; the role of poor relief, and whether adoption served well to ensure upkeep in old age.

This article examines cases of child custody which came before the Irish courts from the introduction of the 1937 Constitution to the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964. It examines ten cases of child custody in the courts from 1937 to 1964 and focuses in particular on the influence of religion in the determination of child custody. It incorporates parental rights for unmarried parents and in cases of “mixed marriage.” It critically analyzes the family under the Irish Constitution and highlights significant cases of child custody during the period which led to legislative change.

In the last several years, marriage and family patterns among the Kucong Lahu of Jinping County, Yunnan, have changed significantly due to rapid economic and social changes all over China. Based on ethnographic research in Lu Village, this article explores the current “escape” migration behavior of married Lahu women. They used migration as a strategy to escape patriarchal husbands, families, and local society. This paper describes a paradox between the autonomy of women's individual actions and the inability to escape the system even when on “escapes.” This sort of “escape” strategy cannot ultimately change the gender inequality and social status.