About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about the concepts of 'family practices' and 'family display', focusing in particular on: (i) the work of David Morgan and the view that families are better understood in terms of practices (i.e. what they do) rather than structure (i.e. what they look like); (ii) the work of Janet Finch and the concept of 'family display'; and (iii) Vicki Harman's work on the kind of 'family display' that takes place in children's lunchboxes (i.e. what they've been given for lunch).

References:
– D. Morgan, Family Connections: An Introduction to Family Studies (1996)
– J. Finch, 'Displaying Families', Sociology 41 (2007), pp. 65-81
– V. Harman and B. Cappellini, 'Unpacking fun food and children's leisure: Mothers' perspectives on preparing lunchboxes', Young Consumers Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers (2014), pp. 312-22

About the lecturer

Dr Vicki Harman is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Surrey. Her research interests include family life, motherhood and gender. She is co-editor of Feeding Children Inside and Outside the Home (2019) and Mothering, Mixed Families and Racialised Boundaries (2015), and author of The Sexual Politics of Ballroom Dancing (2018).