Preliminary Programme

In early modern Sweden a man and his (deceased) wife´s sister were sentenced to death by beheading if it was established that they had engaged in sexual intercourse. The relationship was defined as incestuous, and neither the man nor the woman could expect to be pardoned unless there were substantial mitigating circumstances. During this period, kinship by blood (consanguinity) and kinship by marriage (affinity) were treated equally according to Swedish law.
Sexual relations between close family members have been regulated in some way in most societies we know of, but the forms and the consequences of the regulations have changed dramatically, both between different cultures as well as within one culture, over time. These great variations of prohibitions indicate that the regulations, at least to some extent, are social constructions. As such, the official legislation concerning incest, and the practical handling of different incest cases, are clearly influenced by cultural values in a society.
Although it is obvious that religion greatly influenced notions of incest during this period, there were undoubtedly other parallel values and notions that affected the assessment of different incest cases, which I will highlight in this presentation. (Show less)

The presentation analyzes the information potential of Soviet art cinema to study the history of the peasant family in Russia in the 1920–80s and its evolution in the context of a demographic transition. In 1920–1991, 6,426 feature films were shot in the USSR. According to the authors, there were 482 (7.5%) of them on the rural theme. For the analysis were selected those films that tell about rural life, modern for their authors. Th?t makes it possible to trace how the ways of presenting the peasant family in the 1920s, 30s, in the post-war and subsequent periods changed. The nature of the reflection of this phenomenon depended on the degree of ideological pressure, in the context of which the peasant family was viewed as a relic of the past that does not have a social perspective. If in the Stalin era, under tight control of power, Soviet cinema acted as the creator and translator of the Soviet myth; in the 1960–80s, in the wake of a “thaw”, cinema increasingly turned to society problems, including those related to the peasant family
Cinema is a source of information of a special type, a characteristic feature of which is the reflection of reality through a system of images. On the one hand, film documents reflect ideal models and ideas about a “happy family”, and on the other, films tell about the main problems of family life, which include female emancipation (1930s), female loneliness, the impact of rural migration and urbanization for the destruction of the traditional peasant family and its modernization (1950–1970s), lonely old age (1960–1980s).
The demographic development of the Soviet peasant family in the 20th century took place under the cumulative influence of several basic factors: first, the objective patterns of the demographic transition, which form the basic trend of family evolution towards a democratic nuclear model; secondly, the forced industrialization and urbanization of Soviet society; thirdly, several demographic disasters that have undermined the demographic potential of rural areas and laid a long-term trend of gender imbalance. All these processes were imaginatively embodied in art cinema, allowing them to be interpreted in the anthropological dimension.
Of interest is the myth-making function of cinema, through which collective ideas about the past, present and future of the peasant family are formed. The basic mythology created by the cinema of the 1920–40s is the “backwardness” of the traditional peasant family and its doom. In the 1960s, it was replaced by another myth, idealizing the peasant family as the custodian of the traditions and spiritual values of the people. The hope of the revival of the patriarchal family was reflected in the parable on “the return of the prodigal son”, which became the manifesto of the late-Soviet village cinema. (Show less)

In my paper I will present how different life experiences and the meaning of family and identity have been negotiated and reflected on in interviews in different contexts and past narratives. How have the Estonian families been understood and mediated through collections, and in life stories? The main question is how the first generation Estonians in Sweden articulate the conflict between inclusion in the majority society – being ”Swedish” but still keep an Estonian identity within their family and relationships. The collection used in my research is preserved written documents and interviews from the collection “Life destinies”, (interviews with Estonians in Sweden) conducted in 1980ies by ethnologists working at the Swedish Nordic Museum.

The study is based on an investigation consisting of project descriptions, collecting processes and interview material such as questionnaires, reports and transcribed narratives. By studying the construction of what has been considered national such as work, family, home and cooking in relation to “Swedishness” and inclusion or exclusion, I hope to provide means of social practices and how national notions was formulated in language and agency.

Different agents both consciously and unconsciously produce and reproduce discourses when positioning themselves on particular fields and in societal contexts through their rhetorical statements. (Metzger, 2005 p. 47). In the project “Life destinies” the positioning was expressed already in the project description and purpose. The researchers wanted to “distinguish different patterns and life styles through interviews; show how people contributed to the interpretation of contemporary history through their experiences, events and different values”. The aim was to study the growth or development in relationship between Estonians in Sweden and the Swedish society during 40 years from 1944 to 1984.

As a part of the prevailing discourse on Baltic diaspora as a well-integrated group in the Swedish society the project pointed on “changes and attitudes of Estonian minority culture (counter-culture) to today's integration into Swedish society”. Special focus was put on “the Estonian educational community – the high ideals of education for three generations and its importance to Estonians adaptation and success as an individual and ethnic group”. This framework of pre-understanding of the Baltic diaspora reinforces the discourse about them as one of the most integrated immigrant groups in Sweden, especially within the context of the 1970ies social migrants to Sweden from different parts of Africa. It also includes a Swedish self-image of inclusiveness and Swedish welfare of high standard, where it is easy for well-educated people to fit in and be included in society. To conclude – the researchers within the project contributed to the reproduction – unconsciously, or not – of a discourse of integration and welfare in Sweden for the Estonian refugees before interviewing them. (Show less)

The aim of this paper is to analyse the phenomenon of “spiritual kinship” in the Bohemian countryside as a system of social ties which were established and/or strengthened by godparenthood and confirmation sponsorship.
The research will be based on Catholic parish register of births and confirmation evidence from several markets towns and villages located in the south Bohemia. It will be focused especially on the 19th century as the period of general modernization of the country side.
The paper works on two main theoretical assumptions: The attitude of inhabitants to the church ceremonies reflects their mentality, and the institution of ritual kinship has a great research potential for reconstruction of social ties in the rural environment.
The attention will be paid to the system of choice of godparents and sponsors among the members of rural society by the parents of new-borns in the case of baptism or by young people themselves in the case of confirmation.
An important factor which the paper will focus on is the participation of family members in baptismal and confirmation ceremonies. The rituals were often connected with repetition and therewith also with a constant strengthening of relations among the families, godparents and confirmation sponsors. From the growing familiarization of godparenthood and sponsorship, we can infer how the family has changed in the course of time and how it became closed towards the others. The supplicants of confirmation could use of the opportunity to make a new spiritual relative or they might ask their godparents or other kin as their confirmation sponsors.
Equal participation of godfathers and godmothers in baptisms and their influence on the future life of baptized children refer to a distinct gender aspect of godparenthood. The same can be said about confirmation. The proportion of matrilineal relatives among godparents and sponsors testifies value of matrilineal kinship, which is sometimes historically underestimated. From the representation of female godparents and sponsors, we can also infer a distinct feminisation of vernacular religion.
It is vital to follow all abovementioned topics in connection with diverse social background and time-conditioned trends changing during the period of the analysis.

Referencies:
Markéta SKOREPOVÁ, Le parrainage en Bohême dans le milieu rural, du XVIe au XIXe siècle, Histoire, Économie & Société 37, 2018, Vol. 4, pp. 106-119.
Markéta SKOREPOVÁ, Orphaned children in Bohemian rural society in the first half of the nineteenth century: care, co-residence and inheritance practices, in: Nicoleta Roman (ed.), Orphans and abandoned children in European history. Sixteenth to twentieth centuries, London-New York 2018, pp. 219-250.
Markéta SKOREPOVÁ, Krty a kmotrovství ve farnosti Nový Rychnov v 19. století / Baptism and Godparenthood in Nový Rychnov Parish in the 19th Century, Historická demografie 42, 2018, pp. 43-63.
Markéta SKOREPOVÁ, Kmotrovství jako badatelský problém. K sociálním dejinám raného novoveku a 19. století / Godparenthood Relationships as a Research Topic. On the Social History Both of the Early Modern Age and the 19th Century, ?eský ?asopis historický 114, 2016, pp. 58–82. (Show less)