Anthro 567 GRADUATE SEMINAR
Kinship and Gender in Historical Perspective
This course examines recent approaches to kinship which see it not as a conservative mechanism for integrating social structure, but as a site for examining transformations of social order. We will examine transformations in forms of kinship and family organization from a variety of theoretical perspectives including Marxist, Feminist, Symbolic and Foucauldian, as well as reading some key works by social historians on the 'great transformation' in European family forms. Particular attention will be paid to new approaches which wed concepts of kinship to gender ideologies and practices and that look at current transformations such as the impact of New Reproductive Technologies. As part of the course students will conduct "fieldwork in the archives" on changing family forms in Southern Illinois.
Requirements:
1) 2-3 page reading response each week
2) Mid-Term methodological exercise to be announced
3) Final Research paper based on topic of your choice. First draft must be in by beginning of 14th week!
WEEK 1: Introduction. Why Kinship, Gender & History?
Jean Bestard-Camps "What's in a Relative?: Introduction"
WEEK 2: Origins of Marxist-Evolutionist Approach
Freirich Engels Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.
WEEK 3: State-Formation. A Marxist-Feminist Approach in Practice
Christine Gailey Kinship to Kingship: Gender Hierarchy & State Formation in the Tongan Islands. University of Texas Press.
WEEK 4: Family & Religiou. Another Materialist Approach
Jack Goody The Development of the Family & Marriage in Europe
WEEK 5: The View from Social History
Lawrence Stone The Family, Sex & Marriage in England 1500-1800
WEEK 6: Family & State revisited, A Foucauldian Approach
Jacques Donzelot The Policing of Families Random House.
WEEK 7: Local Perspectives: The Family in Southern Illinois
Jane Adams The Transformation of Rural Life.
WEEK 8: Methodological Issues
WEEK 9: Fieldwork in the Archives
WEEK 10: Changing Social Norms, Local/Transnational Perspectives
Mary Douglas "Is Matriliny Doomed in Africa"
Critique of Anthropology Special Issue on Matriliny Revisited
WEEK 11: Foucauldian Families Revisited
Jane Collier From Duty to Desire
WEEK 12: Sexual Transformations, Another Foucauldian Reading
Ann Stoler Race and the Education of Desire
WEEK 13: Kinship in the Future: New Reproductive Technologies
Sara Franklin Embodied Progress: A Cultural Account of Assisted Conception. Routledge.
WEEK 14: To be Announced
WEEK 15: Project Presentations
