the transatlantic nanny: notes on a comparative semiotics of the family in English-speaking societies

The paper suggests that systems-building efforts in kinship studies have glossed over significant cultural variability in the institution of mother. A cultural analysis of family structure in Victorian England and English-speaking countries of the Western Hemisphere focuses on the career of a promin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American ethnologist 1978-02, Vol.5 (1), p.30-43
Main Author: DRUMMOND, LEE
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
British culture
Children
Creoles
Cultural anthropology
Cultural semiotics
Grandmothers
Kinship
Mothers
Nannies
Victorians
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Summary:The paper suggests that systems-building efforts in kinship studies have glossed over significant cultural variability in the institution of mother. A cultural analysis of family structure in Victorian England and English-speaking countries of the Western Hemisphere focuses on the career of a prominent mother surrogate, the nanny. The diversity of fates experienced by nanny after her transatlantic voyage appears to support the view that the institution of mother is an eminently semiotic phenomenon, enmeshed in a system of meanings that comprises not only the family but also ethnic systems of the Americas.
ISSN:0094-0496
1548-1425
DOI:10.1525/ae.1978.5.1.02a00040