1 - Family Matters in Diaspora

Summary

What is a family and how is it defined? We tend to conceive of the ‘family’ as a self-explanatory concept, although its meaning is contested and perpetually shifting to reflect changing family structures over time and across different cultures. The focus of this book is on the representation of the diasporic family in contemporary European cinema, rather than on the social reality of this particular type of family. Nevertheless, in order to demarcate the boundaries of the present study, it will be necessary to clarify the conjoined concepts of ‘diaspora’ and the ‘family’, by drawing on disciplines such as sociology and anthropology, as well as on migration and diaspora studies, in order to provide some initial answers to the following key questions: What are the distinctive features of diasporic families and how are they constructed as different in relation to the normative model of the white nuclear family? What socio-historical factors have contributed to the growing prominence of diasporic families in European cinema over the past few decades?

The word ‘family’ is derived from Latin ‘familia’, which is a derivative of ‘famulus’ (servant). Originally, the term did not refer to what we commonly understand by it today but instead ‘denoted all the slaves and servants living under one roof’ (Zonabend 1996: 8), collectively called famuli. Subsequently, its meaning was extended to include ‘the entire household, the master, on the one hand, and the wife, children and servants living under his control’ (8).