Difference between revisions of "426--Week 2 Questions/Comments--Tuesday"
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I found it interesting that the authors compared families of the 17th and 18th centuries of different demographics but also felt it was too generalized. So much of the chapters were dedicated to the Puritan families, that the rest of the colonists and Native Americans got lost within the book. Generalizations aside, what commonalities are the authors using to describe and compare families of slaves, Native Americans, and white colonists of the North and South colonies of the 17th and 18th centuries? Do these descriptions and themes of households hold up for a family of 2009?-Joyce | I found it interesting that the authors compared families of the 17th and 18th centuries of different demographics but also felt it was too generalized. So much of the chapters were dedicated to the Puritan families, that the rest of the colonists and Native Americans got lost within the book. Generalizations aside, what commonalities are the authors using to describe and compare families of slaves, Native Americans, and white colonists of the North and South colonies of the 17th and 18th centuries? Do these descriptions and themes of households hold up for a family of 2009?-Joyce | ||
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| + | I think that a central theme running through the two chapters of Domestic Revolutions is the adaptability of the family. Mintz and Kellogg bring up a number of factors that influenced changing trends in the family (availability of land, immunity to disease, economic prosperity, religious background, occupation, population density, environment, etc.). Some of them were man-made or artificial (like the Puritans delaying inheritance in order to maintain a high degree of control over their children) and some of them occurred naturally (like the second generation of African slaves being more fertile due to a higher level of immunity to disease). Either way, the family seems to adapt to these factors to a surprisingly degree. -- Rebecca | ||
