This study focused on how African American couples in happy marriages talked about finances in their couple relationships. Qualitative methodology was used for this study, and the data came from transcribed interviews with participants. Thirty-seven couples who identified their marriages as being strong, happy, or highly satisfying, volunteered to be interviewed for this study. All individual participants (74 total) talked about finances in their marriages, and all interviews were used for the purpose of this study. Their descriptions were coded and analyzed to explore the way that they talked about money issues in their marriages. The research questions focused on how couples talked about financial stress and how they talked about financial decisions in their relationships. An unanticipated finding was how they talked about transcending finances in their marriages. The findings can contribute to future research and financial education for African American couples.

This study examines how culture, gender roles, and economics intersect at a contemporary Mexican-American wedding. Prior studies have focused on one factor but did not examine how all three can affect a wedding. The bride in this study tries to negotiate challenges between her Mexican-American culture and her American culture. This research is an example of how culture is en grained in everything and how it plays out through a wedding. This ethnography was done through first hand observations and interviews. The purpose of this study was to examine communication in a contemporary Mexican-American wedding and communication issues found at the intersection of gender, ethnicity, and culture. The research also examined how participants supported or broke traditional gender roles along with consequences.

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Cette thèse espère contribuer à l’histoire socio-culturelle du couple américain durant la période d’après-guerre. En discutant du récit national au travers d’aspects qui sont souvent considérés comme évident – génération, âge, situation géographique, individu et institution ainsi que cultures locales et nationales – ce travail essaie de nuancer ces définitions catégoriques qui en sont venues à représenter les années 1950 et 1960 tout comme l’ubiquité du discours sur la culture nationale. Le mariage, la famille, le genre, la sexualité, faire la cour (dating), les pratiques sexuelles et la culture des jeunes forment le cadre par lequel cette étude essaie d’éclairer la norme incarnée par le couple blanc, hétérosexuel, de classe moyenne. En introduisant deux villes du nord-ouest des Etats-Unis – Boise dans l’Etat d’Idaho et Portland dans l’Etat d’Oregon – dans une réflexion portant sur le récit national, cet essai tente d’élargir l’histoire locale de ces deux villes et de complexifier l’analyse des conventions sociales. L’histoire orale associée à des documents issus des archives d’universités locales et d’annuaires étudiants (yearbooks) ont permis à cette étude d’observer comment l’expérience d’américains « ordinaires » diffère et s’accorde avec le récit national dans des villes qui n’ont reçus que peu d’attention universitaire durant cette période et sur ces thèmes. Les informations des recensements, les documents et les discours politiques de l’époque étayent le modèle répandu d’un couple cent pour cent américain, alors que les films éducatifs, les livres de bonnes manières et les rubriques de chroniqueurs ont permis à ce travail d’explorer le processus au travers duquel cet idéal s’est imposé. Ce modèle connait un âge d’or pendant la « longue décennie » des années 1950. La mémoire collective nous dit qu’il constitue alors le dernier phare de la tradition familiale mais aussi peut-être son point de rupture. Cet essai défend l’idée que cet archétype n’était ni traditionnel ni catalyseur de bouleversements. Le couple blanc et hétérosexuel de classe moyenne était plutôt le point culminant de facteurs politiques, sociaux, économiques et culturels qui ont finalement ébranlés le couple « traditionnel », ce modèle ayant échoué à véritablement incarner les idéaux de la nation qu’il était supposé représenter. A la fin de la « longue décennie » des années 1950 cette norme représentait un statu quo, alors que les jeunes qui devaient perpétuer son héritage avaient consciemment et inconsciemment déjà commencé à saper ses fondations. / This thesis hopes to contribute to the postwar socio-cultural historiography on the American couple. In putting the national narrative into a discussion with some of its oft taken for granted aspects—generation, age, location, the individual and the institution, and local and national cultures—, this work attempts to provide nuance to the categorical definitions that have come to characterize the 1950s and the 1960s as well as the pervasiveness of the national culture’s voice. Marriage, family, gender, sexuality, dating, sexual activity, and youth culture are the framework through which this study has tried to elucidate the standard embodied in the white, middle-class, heterosexual couple. In incorporating two cities in the northwest United States—Boise, Idaho and Portland, Oregon—into a discussion about the national narrative, this dissertation tries to widen their local histories and complexify national convention. Oral histories paired with documents from the local universities’ archives and yearbooks have allowed for this work to look at how “average” Americans’ experiences differed from and coincided with the national narrative in places that have received very little scholarly attention on this time and these themes. Census data, scientific studies, political documents and speeches substantiate the pervasiveness of the “All-American couple,” while educational films, etiquette books, and advice columns have helped this thesis explore the process through which the ideal came into being. This model experienced a heyday during the long 1950s. Dominant memory tells us that either it was the last beacon of familial tradition or the breaking point for change. This dissertation contends that the archetype was neither traditional nor the catalyst for change. Rather the white, heterosexual middle-class couple was a culmination of political, social, economic, and cultural factors that ultimately undermined the “traditional” couple because it failed to truly embody the ideals of the nation it was purported to represent. By the end of the long 1950s, this model had become the status quo, but the young people who were to carry it into the future had consciously and unconsciously began chipping away at its foundations.

This project considers the ways in which Wiccan marriage and American marriage law interact with each other. The thesis examines certain aspects of the history of 20th-century American marriage law, the concurrent development of contemporary marriage ritual in Wicca, developing problems in this area, and possible solutions. In particular, the project focuses on the recognition of religious groups and their officials as they are authorized by state and federal law to perform marriages and how this process has affected Wiccan ritual.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to analyse the conception of marriage in the works of two Indian female authors, namely Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's novels Sister of My Heart and its sequel The Vine of Desire and Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things. The thesis consists of two parts. The objective of the theoretical part is to portray the position of marriage within Indian society and to introduce two female authors and their novels where the theme of Indian marriage plays a significant role. The practical part of the work focuses on a thorough analysis of three chosen female characters. Their roles within the marriage and the influence of marriage on their lives will be further discussed. The result of this part will be an overall comparison of how the chosen authors approach the theme of traditional Indian marriage in their works. . KEY WORDS Indian society, arranged marriage, marriage of one's own will, Indian vs. American marriage, social roles related to marriage, transgressions of marital laws, divorces