Studying stepfamilies, surfacing secrets: A reflection on the private motivations behind efforts to humanize family complexity

Abstract

Feminist family scholars have long called for greater transparency of the partial perspectives embedded within family science. In this paper, I employ feminist reflexive autoethnography to unpack the private motivations that guide my research on family complexity. Using critical storytelling, I trace the personal developments that led to a research program on structurally complex families—families shaped and reshaped by divorce, separations, repartnerships, and remarriages. I explore my commitments to naming the invisible, embracing the messy, and ultimately, humanizing the complicated and meaningful emotions and relationships in families navigating structural changes. I draw upon personal, embodied experiences to theorize about issues and phenomena that have yet to be named in the (step)family scholarship. Finally, I invite others to heed the calls of feminist scholars whose work invites us to consider how private experiences can be leveraged to generate new insights into the complexities of family and social life.