Prof. Dr. Martina Richter
In contemporary societies, family life is characterised by both continuity and disruption. Enabling sociality or guaranteeing a space for intimacy and protection of human vulnerability requires both stability and change; power relations, the potential for violence, and even the monstrosity of family life only arise from the simultaneity of their existence and their historical transformation. The Covid 19 pandemic was only the most recent historical example of this.
Ideas of privacy arise in interaction with those of publicness. However, while publicness is prominently discussed in educational discourse, especially in view of its potential for democratic theory, privacy largely remains a conceptual and conceptual void. The exception to this are gender theory and feminist discourses, in which the political content and power structure of the private sphere are already highlighted. From this perspective, privacy necessarily proves to be the subject of constant struggle in social relations, and thus always also the subject of struggle to define education and training. This is illustrated by the current proclamation of the private sphere – especially as the family sphere – in the context of right-wing land grabbing.
This reveals nothing less than a (new) politicisation of family and private life – with multiple references to issues of upbringing and education. The lecture focuses on family and private life, assuming continuities and ruptures in contemporary societies, incorporating empirical and theoretical references.
Prof. Dr. Martina Richter
University of Duisburg-Essen