Colloquium focuses on 'Mythology of the American Family'

Stephanie Coontz will be the featured presenter in the Justice and Social Inquiry Colloquium to be held from 3:30-5:15 p.m., Nov. 17, in Discovery Hall 250 on ASU's Tempe campus. The focus of her remarks will be "Mythology of the American Family."

Coontz, who teaches history and family studies at The Evergreen State College, is director of research and public education for the Council on Contemporary Families, which she chaired from 2001-2004. A former Woodrow Wilson Fellow, Professor Coontz has also taught at Kobe University in Japan and the University of Hawaii at Hilo. In 2004, she received the Council on Contemporary Families first-ever "Visionary Leadership" Award, and in 1995 accepted the Dale Richmond Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics for her "outstanding contributions to the field of child development."  

She is the author of "'A Strange Stirring': The Feminine Mystique, the Side-Lined Wives of 'The Greatest Generation,' and the Dawn of the 1960s" (forthcoming 2010); and the award-winning “Marriage, A History: How Love Conquered Marriage (2005). Coontz also wrote: “The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap,” “The Way We Really Are: Coming to Terms with America's Changing Families,” and “The Social Origins of Private Life: A History of American Families.” 

Professor Coontz has testified about her research before the House Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families, and addressed audiences across America, Japan, Australia, and Europe. Her television appearances include  "The Today Show," "Oprah Winfrey," "Crossfire," "20/20," "CNN's Talk Back Live," "CBS This Morning," "Leeza," "The O'Reilly Factor," and she has participated in several prime-time television documentaries, including ones hosted by Walter Cronkite and Barbara Walters. Most recently she appeared on CSPAN as one of the featured authors in the kickoff conference for "The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything." She contributes to The New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, Harpers and other national outlets.

For additional information about Professor Coontz's visit, contact David Altheide, Regents' Professor in Justice and Social Inquiry in the School of Social Transformation, at David.Altheide@Asu.Edu; (480)965-7016.