Normalizing Troubles, Troubling the Normal: Researching Divorce As a Contribution to Diversity in Future Family Research

In the renewed interest in diverse intimacies and family forms divorce as a topic of research has played a minor role. In my contribution, I argue that reinvigorating research on divorce can further diversity in future family research. I pursue that endeavour by researching divorce in a particular context: Austrian family law stands out in Europe because fault-divorces are still legally valid. These divorces include legal negotiations about the partners’ fault on the disruption of their marriage. Fault is determined through the negotiation of the fulfilment or violation of the marital obligations. Thus, court files of fault-based divorces contain insights into the judicial and social boundaries between ‘normal’ and ‘troubled’ couples. I conducted qualitative case studies of 25 fault-based divorce files from the period between 2003-2019 of different-gender couples, and asked: How do couples problematize their relationship in court files of divorce proceedings? Which practices are negotiated as marital obligation or misconduct? Based on this work, I highlight how research on divorce can contribute to diversity in future family research in two ways: Firstly, I consider divorce not as the end of couple relations but as a part of them. This opens new research perspectives on the norms of being a couple. Since the couple-norm is at the heart of ‘intimate citizenship regimes’ in Europe, deconstructing ‘coupledom’ can be seen as a basis for diversity in family research. Secondly, I examine divorce through analyzing little-tapped data, and developed an innovative methodological approach that opens new perspectives on families.