UCLA Sloan Center on Everyday Lives of Families Working Paper No. 35 2005
Abstract
Drawing from video-ethnographic data, this working paper uses a discourse analytic approach to examine naturally occurring interactions among families headed by gay co-fathers, including their children and extended kin (both biological and chosen) to understand how ordinary family- and child-centered tasks and activities are negotiated among family members. Such tasks and activities are conceptualized as “kin work” that family members undertake as part of their everyday routines. Analysis of language use in such interactions reveals the reciprocal and obligatory nature of relationships among family members.
