Author(s): SCHULZ JULIANNE

Anthologies, Essays & Journals

Family Politicswill analyse the contradictions and complications that have arisen as family is put at the centre of the political life. The creation of the ideal of the family as a result of political marketing will be juxtaposed with the dynamics of family life. At a time when fewer Australians are living in traditional nuclear families than ever before, the gap between the lived reality and public image of family life is greater than ever.

A major essay by Joanna Mendelssohn will put this debate in the context of the reality of caring for elderly parents and young children at a time when sharp decisions are made about good and bad families. As Mendelssohn cared for her aging mother she learned more about the stresses and complications of her life at a time when options for women were limited. This essay will range across the personal and the political to provide real insight into the reality of what happens when family politics becomes part of large P politics.

Other contributors to this issue include- Tom Morton, Robert Hillman, Creed O'Hanlon, Rosemary Hunter, Annette Trevitt, Anne Coombs, Katherine Wilson, Sandy McCutcheon, Catherine Kevin, Christopher Jay, Georgia Blain, Carmel Bird, Marion Halligan, Rosaleen Love, Peter Meredith, Alison Ravenscroft, Sylvia Lawson, David Whish-Wilson, Jennifer Robertson, Oren Seidler.