Release date: Jan. 25, 2007

History of Marriage is Topic of Feb. 20 Lecture at Emory

Contact: Beth Kurylo, 404-296-2480, ekurylo@emory.edu
Contact: Elaine Justice, 404-727-0643, elaine.justice@emory.edu

What: "Courting Trouble? The World Historic Transformation of Love and Marriage"

Who: Stephanie Coontz, noted author and historian

When: 5:00-7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2007

Where: Room 206, White Hall, 301 Dowman Drive, Emory

Parking: Peavine Parking Deck, 27 Eagle Row, Emory

Admission: Free. Call 404-727-3149 for more information.

Noted author and historian Stephanie Coontz will trace the surprising developments in the history of marriage in a public lecture, "Courting Trouble? The World Historic Transformation of Love and Marriage" at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20. The event is sponsored by Emory University's Center for Myth and Ritual in American Life (MARIAL).

Marriage has changed more in the past 35 years than the previous 3,500 years, according to Coontz. As individuals and as a society, she says, we are still trying to sort out the consequences of these changes and how to cope with them.

For thousands of years, marriage was not about love and mutual respect but about property, power and male dominance. It was only 200 years ago that love began to be central to the definition of marriage, and only 100 years ago that the long march to equality between men and women began, she says. Today, says Coontz, marriage has become fairer and more fulfilling than in the past, but also more optional and fragile.

Coontz teaches history and family studies at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., and is director of research and public education for the Council on Contemporary Families, which she chaired from 2001 to 2004. She is the author of "Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy or How Love Conquered Marriage"; "The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap"; "The Way We Really Are: Coming to Terms with AmericaÕs Changing Families"; and "The Social Origins of Private Life: A History of American Families." She also edited "American Families: A Multicultural Reader." Her work has been translated into French, Spanish, German and Japanese.

The MARIAL Center is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. It is one of five Sloan Centers on Working Families. The Emory center focuses its research on the functions and significance of ritual and myth in middle-class families in which both parents work outside the home.

This event is free and open to the public.

Emory University is one of the nation's leading private research universities and a member of the Association of American Universities. Known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities, Emory is ranked as one of the country's top 20 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

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