"MARDIV consisted of five work packages, each with its own focus and results. In total, the project has resulted in 12 planned publications, 1 conference, 2 public events, an international research network, plans for a follow-on funded project, and a seminar series, alongside regular dissemination activities.
The first work package was a review of secondary literature. It resulted in several outputs including, amongst others, the book proposal for Civilising Marriage: Family, Nation and State in the German Empire (under consideration by CUP); an article draft on marriage and pluralism in the German Empire; the first of four op-ed articles from the project; the start of a seminar series on 'New Directions in Historical Sociology' at the University of Göttingen.
The second work package developed the theoretical framework and knowledge exchange with external partners. Key results included, amongst others, a public panel discussion with external stakeholders on 'Cultural Diversity and the Family in Modern Germany: Refugees, Migration and the Family in Question, Past and Present' at Göttingen (16 May 2017) and an article draft on the harmonization of family law.
The third work package focused on imperial and diaspora primary research at various archives and libraries throughout Germany, and its key result was the finding that standardizing family law within the multiethnic German Empire proved particularly difficult in its various overseas colonial settings, especially in contrast to efforts within the metropole. This result was manifested in various project publications and dissemination activities from this period and beyond, such as the paper given at the ENIUGH Conference in Budapest (Sept. 2017).
The fourth work package focused on running an international conference and identifying the limitations and generalizability of the project framework. Key results included, amongst others, the conference held at the Max Planck Institute for Ethnic and Religious Diversity at Göttingen (Nov. 2018); the related edited book Human Rights and the Family: Historical Perspectives (under consideration by Palgrave Macmillan); and, the article 'From Faith to Face? ""Mixed Marriage"" and the Politics of Difference in Imperial Germany', The History of the Family, 24/3, summer 2019: 466-93, which forms part of a special issue co-edited by the PI on ‘Romantic Relationships across Boundaries: Global and Comparative Perspectives’ for The History of the Family (238pp).
The final work package concentrated on dissemination and knowledge exchange. Key results included, amongst others, a public panel discussion with external stakeholders on 'Cultural Diversity and the Family in Germany: Marriage, Family Forms and the Law' (June 2019) at the MPI for Comparative and International Law in Hamburg and the formulation of a research proposal draft for a major grant to follow on from MARDIV."
