19

Current scientific works on parenthood issues agree in thinking of the family as starting with the child, and not with filiation and alliance (marriage). This idea is already found, at the beginning of the xx th century, in the works of the anthropologist Elsie Clews Parsons. She developed, through her parental contract proposal, a theory of parental responsibility that leaves men and women free (or not) to cooperate within the family, to define the roles by themselves and for themselves, provided that the children are raised according to minimum standards as per norms governed by the State. Her avant-garde papers fell, alas, into oblivion. However, they remain very topical and allow us to reconsider, a century later, not only the advances in, but also the recurrences of contemporary debates about the family. In addition to her ideas on parenthood, this article aims at introducing Elsie Clews Parsons and her role in the history of American anthropology and feminist studies.