Toward a Family History Without Frontiers

The first part of this essay presents the teaching and research tradition put into practice by the Annales School of history, in France since 1929 and how its academic interdisciplinary spirit adapted over the years, with continuity and changes, keeping its flexibility and original innovative scientific potential, with an historical approach transcending space and time limits. The following part gives examples of topics discussed in the frame of Antoinette Fauve-Chamoux research seminar series hold between 2002 and 2023, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris, School of advanced studies in the social sciences, sessions dedicated to presentations and discussions related to the comparative history of the family and reproduction systems. Among other interests, these included socio-differentiation, poverty, health, care, marriage, family structure and models of transmission, female strategies, labour and resilience facing crisis, keeping a gender approach as a priority. The last part of the article unravels the launching of a new History of the Family research seminar series, at “George Barițiu” Institute of History of the Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca, for building comparative interdis- ciplinary frameworks towards a history of the family without frontiers. It is time to take account of emerging new family models, supported by digital communication, as the development of transnational families or new forms of family formation, in a context of globalisation, currently favouring events of the day and short-term memories. It is argued that whatever new research tools and quantitative sources largely available, it is important to have a secure discussion forum encouraging free debates within academic networks, allowing independent brainstorming without any frontiers of space or time.