SOSANT2270 – Contemporary Studies in Kinship and Gender
Course content
Gender and kinship are key issues in anthropology and are viewed as equally important; one cannot be properly grasped without paying due attention to the other. Both kinship and gender are about relational practices. This course provides an in-depth exploration of ethnographic approaches to kinship, sexuality, and gender, focusing on how these concepts are practiced and understood across cultural settings.
By examining shifting social norms surrounding gender, sexuality, family, and relatedness, the course reveals how these practices intersect with broader societal forces such as new reproductive technologies, policies, economies, class, and race. The course also examines the experiences of caregiving and the entanglements of human and non-human actors in kinship and gender practices. Questions such as who "cares" for whom, in what ways, and with what effects are increasingly central to anthropological inquiry on kinship relationalities, alongside concerns about the gendering nature of care.
Drawing on course readings and the class conveners’ own research, students will engage with key theoretical debates on core concepts like 'kinship,' 'marriage,' 'gender(s),' 'sexualities,' and 'personhood’ highlighting how these are shaped by varying social contexts. In dialogue with recent developments in feminist, post-colonial, and queer theory, the course aims to equip students with the analytical tools to critically examine and interpret the diverse ways in which kinship, sexuality, and gender are experienced and regulated across diverse social, legal, political and economic frameworks.
Learning outcome
Knowledge
- General understanding of the relevance of kinship and gender theories
- Analytical perspectives on gender and kinship
- Insight into the mutually constitutive role of kinship and gender
- Significance of kinship/gender for grasping contemporary phenomena and processes
- Appreciate the significance of comparative analysis
Skills
- Increased analytical competence and critical reflection
- Ability to read texts with a view to kinship and gender, both empirically and theoretically
- Familiarity with key approaches to gender and kinship studies
- Ability to develop an argument based on academic sources
- Critically examine links between theoretical, analytical and empirical arguments
General competence
- Achieve an independent critical mind
- The ability to expres