Centre for Parenting Culture Studies Forum

War – a family affair. Anthropological perspectives on family life, parenting and gender in the light of military deployment, introduced by Maj Hedegaard Heiselberg, visiting PhD student with CPCS
Wednesday 1 February,
15.00 Cornwallis North West, Seminar Room 4

The forum focuses on Danish soldiers and their families before, during and after military deployment. Maj seeks to understand the struggles faced by women married to soldiers as they try to balance professional careers and family life during deployment. Based on ethnographic examples, Maj argues that the frustrations experienced by these women are something else and more than a sacrifice of time. The tasks of everyday family life are interwoven with notions of parenthood, gender and identity, and thus these women’s situation becomes an issue not only of gender equality and family life in the Danish military but also a reminder to empirically and analytically acknowledge the everyday.

All are welcome.