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Making Marriage Visible:
Wedding Anniversaries as the Public Component of Private Relationships
Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz
Professor of Communication
University of Wisconsin-Parkside
Kenosha, WI 53141-2000
wendy.## email not listed ##
ABSTRACT
Personal narratives have most often been studied as they occur in conversations.
Here narratives told at a family ritual, specifically a wedding anniversary, are the focus
of attention. The main argument is that it is through the telling of narratives of personal
experience that a private relationship, such as a marriage, is made visible. This research
also contributes to our understanding of retellings (stories already known to the
participants). Specific attention is paid to how anticipatory laughter functions in retelling
narratives, and the way in which it marks group membership, for only members know to
laugh before the joke is told. Finally, this research contributes to our understanding of
how children can be socialized into the family, and to family values, through the telling
of narratives at a ritual.
KEYWORDS: wedding anniversary, social constructionism, laughter, narratives,
retellings, family socialization
Paper presented at the International Communication Association, May 26-30, 2005,
New York.