Suchergebnisse

Throughout the 1970s there was a dearth of Iberian contributions to the expanding body of knowledge regarding European family history, but this is no longer the case. Studies carried out in the 1980s, as well as scholarship incorporated in the anthropological/ethnographic tradition and in the juristic tradition, provide contemporary as well as historical baselines against which the student of family history can compare and evaluate information gleaned from the analysis of population. The greater availability of primary sources in southern Europe portends the future proliferation of Iberian family history studies.

The growing interchange between family historians and sociocultural anthropologists is part of a broader movement linking anthropology and history, which is discussed in this article. Two traditions in anthropology—one symbolic and the other social organizational—have contributed in different ways to this in terdisciplinary development. The reasons for paying greater anthropological at tention to historical materials are discussed, as are the benefits to family historians of making more use of anthropology. Among the topics of mutual in terest considered are (a) the need for comparative research; (b) developing analytical tools for kinship study; (c) the relationship between norms and behavior; and (d) the relationship between structure and process.

Critical family history challenges historians to ask about their ancestors. Who else (what other groups) was around, what were the power relationships among groups, how were these relationships maintained or challenged over time, and what does all this have to do with our lives now? These are different questions from the questions most family historians ask. This introductory essay elaborates on what critical family history is and where the concept came from, then provides a brief overview of the articles included in this Special Issue.