ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the changing understandings of family in both urban and rural settings, acknowledging regional differences and issues of age group, gender, ethnicity and religion, and develops further to portray the material culture of everyday life. The chapter explores how the notion of family developed into a child-centred, emotional unit that ultimately seeks a private home and analyses the intersections of family with class and gender in a historical context destined to constantly change. Methodologically, the chapter draws on the idea that the materiality and practices of everyday life reveal the importance of emotional ties and the best ways of adapting everyday tasks to meet long-term ideals.
