Course Listings

2025 Spring > UGRD > WGS > WGS 243L

Rethinking the Family: Cross-Cultural Perspectives

Course #: WGS 243L

Description:
This course analyzes the ways in which culture shapes perceptions of family. It explores narratives about how human family structures evolved, examines the increasing medicalization of reproduction and the body, and takes stock of the ways in which race, class, gender, and sexual orientation affect commonly held and frequently subscribed-to beliefs about what constitutes family. It illustrates the diversity of kinship definitions with ethnographic examples from the Iban of Indonesian Borneo, the Nyakyusa of East Africa, and other societies from the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the pacific Islands. Through an exploration of the pressures to which African American families have been subjected in the United States, it probes the ways in which the legacy of slavery shapes the possibilities and perceptions of contemporary families.

Section Class Number Schedule/Time Instructor Location
01 10444 MW
5:30 - 6:45 pm
Reiches,Meredith Wayden Wheatley W01-0047
Session: Regular
Class Dates: 01/27/2025 - 05/14/2025
Capacity: 10
Enrolled: 0
Status: Open
Credits: 3/3
Class Notes:
Pre Requisites:
Course Attributes: International, Social & Behavioral Sciences