I

C O NC EPTUALIZING FAMILIES,
PAST AND PRESENT

Edited by

Patrizia Albanese
Editor

Family—we each have a very personal sense of what this means, how it looks and feels, and how its
composition shifts over time. We know that it comes in a wide range of forms and configurations, and involves
many sets of experiences and relationships—good, bad, and everything in between. We also know that how
family life as experienced by some is very different from how it is experienced by others. The first three
chapters of this book present some of the changes in the study of families, while presenting an overview of
historical diversity in family life. Multiple perspectives on understanding families are presented, and the
complexity of family life is stressed. By focusing on the plurality and diversity of family forms, relationships,
and experiences, and through engaging with diverse feminist theoretical frameworks, this book troubles and
disrupts the notion of the monolithic family that, for too long, has been used to preserve and reinforce
conservative and patriarchal policies and practices (for how this is taken up in the ideological use of “the
child,” see Baird, 2008).

To set us on a path towards this disruption, in Chapter 1, Patrizia Albanese discusses the diversity of family
forms existing in Canada today, reviews different definitions of the family, and considers how the changing
definition of this concept has had policy implications for who can access programs and privileges within our
society. Albanese also introduces some of the different theories of family life and discusses the influence that
theoretical assumptions have on the way each of us sees the world. She examines recent changes in family
life in Canada and concludes the chapter by noting that today, as in the past, Canadian families take on a
number of diverse forms. Our changing definition of family simply reflects a reality that change is a normal
part of family life.

In Chapter 2, Cynthia Comacchio reviews the major changes and continuities in the history of Canadian
families over the past few centuries. Challenging nineteenth-century family theorists, she discusses how, in
the past, as is the case today, “the family” as a social construct is an idealization that reinforces hierarchies of
class, race, gender, and age. Her chapter underscores the fact that, despite prevailing ideas about what
properly constitutes “the family” at various points in time, Canadian families are in constant flux. Despite the
fact that the form and experience of actual families have always been diverse, Comacchio makes it clear that
the importance of families to individuals and to society is a constant.

Chapter 3, by Margaret Gibson and Julia Gruson-Wood, examines 2SLGBTQI+ 1 families in Canada. They walk
us through the history behind dominant ideas of family, gender, and sexuality in Canada and consider how
state policy, policing, and medicine have oppressed 2SLGBTQI+ people. They explore how 2SLGBTQI+
communities have fought for changes, and present the strategies of resistance they have developed and used.
Through intersectionality and a queering motherhood lens, Gibson and Gruson-Wood present the wide range
of relationships and families that 2SLGBTQI+ people have across the lifespan and show how ideas of kinship
can be expanded beyond dominant definitions of “family.”

Note
1. You will find that chapters use different acronyms to refer to LGBTQ, LGBTQI+ and 2SLGBTQI+ families. This reflects the changing
nature of our language, and attempts to acknowledge the complexity and diversity of identities and family forms. Chapter 3 specifically
uses the acronym 2SLGBTQI+ to honour and centre Two-Spirit members of the community.