- Instructor
- Sara Friedman
- Location
- STDT 138
- Days and Times
- TR 9:45 AM - 11:00 AM
- Course Description
- How do we define our families and the meaning of family ties? Who do we count as kin? How do our definitions compare with those instituted by governments, medical professionals, or cultural or religious communities? This course asks questions such as these as it examines the diversification of family in our contemporary era. By investigating familial contexts around the world, we will study the different values and principles that shape changes in family formation and roles. We will ask how different configurations of gender, sexual orientation, class, race and ethnicity, religion, and nationality affect how we form families, the significance of family ties, and the varied kinds of work that families do in our world today. We will also discuss how developments in medical science, such as assisted reproductive technologies, have transformed family composition and how we understand who counts as kin. We will use individual case studies to explore how changing values of care, new definitions of relatedness, and the shifting landscape of governmental and legal regulation are transforming family relationships as multifaceted sources of meaning and support in people's lives.
Brave New Families
The College of Arts