Overview

Within contemporary kinship scholarship, it has became necessary to inquire about local rules, practices and the meanings of relationships and the language used about relationships as a starting point for analysis of kinship in different societies. The “family” seems to be a concern right across global and political spectrums. You will find a wealth of information in Sociology/Anthropology 384 about various family systems in international and multicultural contexts. Many of these kinship systems existed in the past and many still exist today; some issues are contemporary and faced by many cultural and political systems. In this course, we examine kinship in a world perspective, and re-examine and re-contextualize studies of the family in other cultures. This course emphasis the diversity of arrangements, rules, and practices that collectively has become kinship problems. The discussion also encompasses feminist dilemmas with the theoretical gender biases and the resultant re-conceptualization of kinship, as well as the political impact of family practices on political ideologies.

Outline

The course consists of the following six units.

Evaluation

To receive credit for SOAN 384 you must achieve a course composite grade of at least “D” (50 percent). The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:

To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.

Course Materials

Textbooks

Breger, Rosemary and Rosanna Hill (eds). 1998.
Cross-cultural Marriage: Identity and Choice. New York: Berg.

Kelman, Suanne. 1999. All in the Family: A Cultural
History of Family Life. Toronto: Penguin Books.

Janice E. Stockard. 2002. Marriage in Culture: Practice
and Meaning Across Diverse Societies. Toronto: Harcourt.

Simpson, Bob. 1998. Changing Families: An Ethnographic Approach to Divorce and Separation. New: Berg.

Other Materials

The course materials include a study guide, a student manual.