{"id":3586,"date":"2025-12-18T14:09:38","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T22:09:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/?p=3586"},"modified":"2025-12-19T14:49:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T22:49:36","slug":"the-medieval-roots-of-family-values","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/the-medieval-roots-of-family-values\/","title":{"rendered":"The Medieval Roots of \u2018Family Values\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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The Medieval Roots of \u2018Family Values\u2019<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n December 18, 2025<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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When American politicians speak of \u201cfamily values,\u201d the phrase is often intended to convey a narrow, traditional ideal \u2014 one long tied to Judeo-Christian notions of family as fixed and eternal.
\nBut Maya Maskarinec, associate professor of history and classics, reminds us that the family model familiar to many \u2014 nuclear, biological and largely self-contained \u2014 is itself a modern invention.
\n\u201cIn the Middle Ages,\u201d she explains, \u201cfamily wasn\u2019t a tidy bloodline. It was about networks \u2014 who you lived near, who you worshipped with, who you claimed as a relative.\u201d The familiar image of the patriarchal family tree, with lineage branching neatly through fathers and sons, developed later, alongside rigid systems of inheritance and control of property.<\/p>\n

Maskarinec\u2019s research explores how powerful families in medieval Rome used saints to elevate their own status. \u201cThey claimed descent from holy figures who had lived centuries earlier,\u201d she says. \u201cThese connections weren\u2019t biological \u2014 they were symbolic, even geographical. If a saint\u2019s shrine stood in their neighborhood, they might infer that he was their ancestor.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a world where geography became genealogy, sanctity and prestige reinforced one another. \u201cIt was a way of rewriting history,\u201d Maskarinec notes. \u201cBy attaching themselves to saints, families made their power seem ancient and divinely sanctioned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her work reveals how \u201cfamily\u201d has always been a flexible construct, not just a private bond but a potent tool for constructing identity and authority. \u201cEven spiritual communities were imagined as families,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a reminder that belonging has always been something we build \u2014 not something we simply inherit.\u201d \u2014S.B.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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\n The Rhetoric of Kinship\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n
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\n USC Dornsife Magazine\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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Fall 2025 \/ Winter 2026<\/h2>\n

The Family Issue<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":970,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Medieval Roots of \u2018Family Values\u2019<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/the-medieval-roots-of-family-values\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Medieval Roots of \u2018Family Values\u2019 - USC Dornsife Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/the-medieval-roots-of-family-values\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"USC Dornsife Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-18T22:09:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-19T22:49:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Letty Avila\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/the-medieval-roots-of-family-values\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/the-medieval-roots-of-family-values\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Letty Avila\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/9c5ea0e5498f3ce1654b108c21ac22bb\"},\"headline\":\"The Medieval Roots of \u2018Family Values\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-18T22:09:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-19T22:49:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/the-medieval-roots-of-family-values\/\"},\"wordCount\":6,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Article\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/the-medieval-roots-of-family-values\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/the-medieval-roots-of-family-values\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/the-medieval-roots-of-family-values\/\",\"name\":\"The Medieval Roots of \u2018Family Values\u2019 - 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