Preliminary Programme

This paper focuses on Greek island populations in 19th and 20th centuries for which we know most due to the extensive availability of demographic sources, anthropological studies and oral histories. For these populations ‘family continuity’ was much less important than family survival and prosperity in the short-term. Moreover, family and household were virtually inseparable terms, in peaceful and prosperous times, though less so in troubled times. Therefore, this paper will focus on women’s agency and its extreme importance among insular Greek populations in all aspects of life: from own reproductive decisions to sending daughters to work as domestic servants, from choosing when a daughter would marry to choosing whom she would marry, and from remarrying to taking decisions to relocate the family. The realm of such female agency will be outlined and discussed as will its demonstration over the woman’s life-course. (Show less)

The status and role of women in Korean families in the pre-modern era have several unique characteristics compared to the various cultures of the time. First of all, Korean women, along with China, kept their father's surnames unchanged even if they were married, and compared to other East Asian countries, women's economic power in their families was relatively strong and private property was recognized through inheritance system. In addition, determining the social status and class of an individual was not the lineage of the paternity but the mother line, that is, the mother's social status was crucial. Despite these backgrounds and characteristics, male was the head of the household in the family, which was also defined in the national legal system.
Nevertheless, there are cases in which women become the dominant figure in the family register, which can be referred to as the Korea's census data in the pre-modern era. A study has been conducted on the relationship between women as the heads of household sand national relief system. However, a more detailed analysis of the long-term implications of the family's strategy of experiencing the female head of household from a demographic and family perspective is needed. In the Chos?n Dynasty, there was a regulation that a widow, or a woman who lost her husband, would take her son as her guardian if she had a grown-up son, even though she was in charge of the housework. However, unlike legislative regulations, the number of female heads of households began to increase in spite of having a son who became a mature adult in the middle of the 18th century. According to the household register record, the ratio and content of the women as the heads of households were recorded differently at certain times, depending on the social class of women.
Based on the results of previous studies, we want to carry out this study on the family succession strategy through the female heads of households in the Korean pre -modern era. The long-term follow-up and linkage of female heads of households recorded in the 17thand 19thcentury census will analyze the role and impact of female heads of households in terms of family continuity. We will also present the existence and the alteration of the women as the heads of households by various regions, time periods, and classes, depending on which social-period background. Such efforts could serve as the basis for a comparative analysis of various historical experiences derived differently from crises that can be seen anywhere, such as war or disaster, in individual cultural, linguistic and political power zones that vary in time and space on the Eurasian continent. (Show less)

The paper will analyze the life path of widows who had married between 1840 and 1860, in São Jorge Island, an important and specific Island of the Azores archipelago, situated in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. As new longitudinal databases and censuses are now available for this Portuguese past population, the authors will present and discuss an original and detailed study on individual life courses, relating marriage and remarriage for women with family income, occupations and with possible non-marital fertility within the families of this island. The research will bring new perspectives concerning historical strategies developed by females for maintaining their families over generations. (Show less)

For the rural community of Chinese-Koreans, 1992 marks the pivotal year of a great decompartimentalization and, at the same time, of a great rupture of societal continuity.
It was in 1992, in fact, that the normalization of diplomatic relations and economic exchanges between China and South-Korea was achieved with the signing of the bilateral agreements between the two countries. If, on the one hand, a large gate has majestically opened up to the vast world through the south-Korean window in particular, on the other hand, the preoccupying question of the continuity of lineages and families arises in an acute way for a collectivity whose fertility rate has managed to fall even lower than the south Korean one. The paper will, in particular, situate the role of women in the long historical continuity of lineages and families of the community of Koreans living in China under study. (Show less)

The paper will analyze the life path of widows who had married between 1840 and 1860, in São Jorge Island, an important and specific Island of the Azores archipelago, situated in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. As new longitudinal databases and censuses are now available for this Portuguese past population, the authors will present and discuss an original and detailed study on individual life courses, relating marriage and remarriage for women with family income, occupations and with possible non-marital fertility within the families of this island. The research will bring new perspectives concerning historical strategies developed by females for maintaining their families over generations. (Show less)

After long-term historical evolution, Chinese and Korean society formed a set of property inheritance custom. Property inheritance involves not only the distribution of property, but also the inheritance of families. As for property inheritance in China and Korea, previous studies have mostly focused on men. But there has been little change in men’s rights to inheritance over the centuries, so male-centric research has painted us a static picture. But if we turn our attention to women, the picture of the dynamics of property rights unfolds in front of eyes.
In addition to being a daughter, in most common situation women have a relationship with property as widows. From the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty?960-1912), with the infiltration of Neo-Confucianism, the property rights of widows have undergone very complicated historical changes. One of the major changes was that in the early Ming Dynasty?1368-1644), the law imposed compulsory heirs of nephews, that is, families without heirs had to adopt an heir from their nephews. Korean intellectuals who accept Neo-Confucianism regard Neo-Confucianism as the ruling idea of Joseon Dynasty?1392-1910, and the property rights of women have changed accordingly. In order to understand the changes of widow’s property rights in a long period of time, we should pay attention to the change of law text and observe the actual practice of law under the Confucian transformation. This paper will investigate the changes of the property rights of widows in China and Korea from the perspective of comparative history through the relevant legal provisions and documents of property inheritance between China and Korea in the 15-18 century; in addition, discuss the family property arrangement strategy of widows in the complicated situation of the absence of male (father, son) in the family and how the strategy influence on family continuity. (Show less)