Blog Article
Fathers play a vital role in family life, but evidence suggests that new fathers face a range of difficulties adjusting to the challenges of fatherhood. While peer support groups have been shown to help fathers, we know little about how these groups operate or the interactive strategies adopted by participants and facilitators. Drawing on a range of linguistic methodologies, this project collaborates with a parent-centred Community Interest Company to explore the interactive strategies adopted within a fathers’ support group. Through an analysis of conversations in this group, the project investigates how fathers support one another in vulnerable settings, how normative ideologies of masculinity manifest themselves among fathers, and how fathers engage with practices associated with "caring masculinities". Amidst calls for more engaged fatherhood and counter-narratives to outdated paternal norms, this research aims to inform the development of a toolkit to better support fathers as caregivers, partners, and community members.
Project Aims:
1) To collect and analyse a corpus of conversational data from a fatherhood support group.
2) To explore how ideologies of masculinity influence the discursive construction of fatherhood.
3) To identify the linguistic strategies underpinning ‘support’ frames in a fatherhood group.
4) To develop and share good practice across national fatherhood support networks.
5) To develop a research network for stakeholders in public policy, academia, and third-sector organisations.
This British Academy and Leverhulme Small Grants funded project relates to the BCU 2030 Strategy of ‘creating knowledge for good’, particularly aligned against inclusive societies, tackling real world problems, and making a positive impact on people’s lives. The project engages with local fatherhood organisations to enhance care equity and to develop wider local and national benefits for fathers.
Project Team:
Dr Robert Lawon (Lead)
Project Impact:
In addition to the linguistic analyses carried out on the conversational data collected, the project insights will also inform a report on good practice, which will be shared with national fatherhood charities and organisations to help inform policy decisions at a local and national level around healthcare practices, workplace policies, domestic violence reduction efforts, and other initiatives benefiting families and children. These preventative interventions will consequently promote paternal mental wellness and familial involvement, fostering wider public health benefits and caring equality.
This work will be bolstered by the development of a research network involving academics, practitioners, journalists, and policy makers from across linguistics and parenting/fatherhood studies. The aim of this network is to provide a space for network members to connect with one another across disciplinary lines, and to build further research capacity for future collaborative projects and funded bids under the umbrella of language and fatherhood studies.
Contact:
For more information on the project, please contact robert.lawson@bcu.ac.uk