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What is the \u201ctraditional American family?\u201d Popular images from the colonial and pioneer past suggest an isolated and self-sufficient nuclear family as the center of American identity and the source of American strength. But the idea of early American self-sufficiency is a myth. Caro Pirri tells the story of the precarious Jamestown settlement and how its residents depended on each other and on Indigenous Americans for survival. Early American history can help us imagine new kinds of interdependent and multi-generational family structures as an antidote to the modern crisis of loneliness and alienation.\xa0\n\nResearcher, writer, and episode producer: Caro Pirri, Assistant Professor of English, University of Pittsburgh\n\nFeatured Scholars:\xa0\nJean Feerick, Professor of English, John Carroll University\nSteven Mentz, Professor of English, St. John\u2019s University\n\nSpecial thanks: Molly Warsh\n\nFor transcript, teaching aids, and other resources, click here.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices