Where the Aunts Are: Family, Feminism, and Kinship in Popular Culture

While the aunt is one of the most iconic and beloved figures in popular culture, the societal role and import of real-life contemporary aunts are difficult to pin down. In some settings, she is the sole supporter, caregiver, or surrogate mother and exceeds her familial function as an aunt. In others, she subtly--or not so subtly--transgresses the assumed narrative of feminine identity. Surveying characters from Aunt Bee and Auntie Em to Bernie Mac’s Aunt Wanda and House of Payne’s Aunt Ella and countless living, breathing aunts across the country, Where the Aunts Are re-visions the ideals of family, femininity, and kinship and, in the process, offers a hopeful and progressive recognition of the multiple possibilities of womanhood in modern culture.

Patricia J. Sotirin is Professor of Communication at Michigan Technological University and co-author of Aunting: The Cultural Practices that Sustain Family and Community Life with Laura L. Ellingson.

Laura L. Ellingson is Professor of Communication and Women’s & Gender Studies at Santa Clara University and co-author of Aunting: The Cultural Practices that Sustain Family and Community Life with Patricia J. Sotirin.