课程详述

COURSE SPECIFICATION

以下课程信息可能根据实际授课需要或在课程检讨之后产生变动。如对课程有任何疑问，请

联系授课教师。

The course information as follows may be subject to change, either during the session because of unforeseen

circumstances, or following review of the course at the end of the session. Queries about the course should be directed

to the course instructor.

课程名称 Course Title

人类学专题：亲属关系与家庭 The Anthropology of Kinship and Family

授课院系

Originating Department

社会科学中心 Center for Social Sciences

课程编号

Course Code

SS040

课程学分 Credit Value

课程类别

Course Type

通识选修课程 General Education (GE) Elective Courses

授课学期

Semester

秋季 Fall

授课语言

Teaching Language

英文 English

授课教师、所属学系、联系方

式（如属团队授课，请列明其

他授课教师）

Instructor(s), Affiliation&

Contact

（For team teaching, please list

all instructors）

Erin Thomason, 人文社科荣誉学会 Society of Fellows in Liberal Arts

联系方式 Contact: ethomason@ucla.edu

实验员/助教、所属学系、联系

方式

Tutor/TA(s), Contact

无 NA

10.

选课人数限额(可不填)

Maximum Enrolment

（Optional）

授课方式

Delivery Method

讲授

Lectures

习题/辅导/讨论

Tutorials

实验/实习

Lab/Practical

其它(请具体注明)

Other（Please specify）

总学时

Total

11.

学时数

Credit Hours

12.

先修课程、其它学习要求

Pre-requisites or Other

Academic Requirements

无 NA

13.

后续课程、其它学习规划

Courses for which this course

is a pre-requisite

无 NA

14.

其它要求修读本课程的学系

Cross-listing Dept.

无 NA

教学大纲及教学日历 SYLLABUS

15.

教学目标 Course Objectives

本课程探索关于家庭与亲属关系的跨文化研究方法。除了引入比较分析法，让学生勘查不同的家庭形态与亲属关系，课程

还将涉及到人类学的研究方法与理论，包括生命史、参与性观察、调查、人口统计学等，并集中讲述性别角色、生命历程

和社会变迁。除了理解家庭与亲属关系的相关概念，学生也将习得一些学术技巧，包括简短的英文写作及口语报告，搜索

并引用学术资源等，以利于将来更有效地融入国际学术环境。通过融入课程介绍的历史与国际对比视角，学生会进行一个

以采访家庭成员为基础的研究项目。

This course will explore cross cultural approaches to understanding family and human relatedness. Using a comparative

approach, students will examine a diversity of family forms and kinship connections. The course will cover multiple

methods and theories including life history, participant observation, survey, and demography. There will be special

focuses on gender, life course, and social change. In addition to gaining understanding of family and kinship from a

comparative perspective, students will practice skills necessary for an international academic environment. These

include short oral presentations, written English essay, academic literature search, and using citations. Students will

complete an interview-based research project with a family member and draw on historical and international

comparisons presented in the course.

16.

预达学习成果 Learning Outcomes

本课程预期让学生掌握以下知识和技能：

 用英文做简短报告

 英文小短文写作

 把本科材料与使用结合

 搜索学术资源

 引用学术资源

 进行研究性采访

Upon successful completion, students will be able to:

 Give brief presentations in English

 Compose short essays in English

 Integrate course material with practical application

 Search for academic sources

 Cite sources in an academic essay

 Conduct a research interview

17.

课程内容及教学日历（如授课语言以英文为主，则课程内容介绍可以用英文；如团队教学或模块教学，教学日历须注明

主讲人）

Course Contents (in Parts/Chapters/Sections/Weeks. Please notify name of instructor for course section(s), if

this is a team teaching or module course.)

Lecture 1: What is Family and Kinship? (2 credit hours)

 Course Introduction

 Course Goals and overview of assignments

How do we know what a family is? What is the purpose of family? Is family the same everywhere in the world? In the first

class, I introduce the topic of kinship and give some background about why we should study it. Students will complete an

exercise to understand the idea of kinship as a cultural construction. I will offer a short introduction to the history of

kinship studies in Anthropology.

Lecture 2: Methods in the study of kinship and family (2 credit hours)

 Methods

 Analysis

This class will cover the methods used by social scientists to study kinship including kinship diagrams, demographic

studies, interviews, and participant observation. Students will learn the benefits and drawbacks of methodological

approaches and complete a series of mini-exercises to develop familiarity with each method.

Finally, I will give a short introduction to the final project to introduce interviewing methods.

Lecture 3: Kinship in a comparative perspective (2 credit hours)

 Variations in Kinship

 Impact on Social Structure

How does kinship vary across different societies in the world? An overview of different kinship systems will be presented

with examples of each type. We will cover broad categories of kinship classifications and discuss the interactions of

social structure, kinship patterns, and personhood.

Lecture 4: Theories of Relatedness (2 credit hours)

 Biological Approaches

 Theories of Belonging

How do we know we are related to someone? Is kinship a “mutuality of being”? We will discuss the major theories of

relatedness, including affinity, affection, intimacy and biology. This topic continues the discussion from the previous week

because we will tie in the diversity of family forms to ways of being in a family.

Lecture 5: Family Economics (2 credit hours)

 Becker’s Theory of Family Economics

 Folbre’s Theory of Care

One of the most controversial topics in family studies is in economics. How do we account for the divisions of labor within

the family? Is a family system economically maximized for every member in the family? Two major approaches to family

economics will be covered (Becker and Folbre) and students will complete a mini-debate to demonstrate their

understanding of these approaches. (ESSAY ONE DUE)

Lecture 6: Gender and Family (2 credit hours)

 Gendered Identity

 Feminist Studies of the Family

How does family influence and shape gender roles? To begin, we will review the main categories of kinship and discuss

the implications of gendered identity on family roles. I then introduce feminist and queer studies of the family to

complicate traditional approaches.

Lecture 7: Family in the Life Course (2 credit hours)

 Intergenerational Relationships

 Life Course and Human Development

Families include multiple generations and each generation plays a different role. We will discuss the ways that family

roles change throughout the life course. We will learn some psychological theories about life course and human

development. In the second half of class we will discuss the ways in which social change has impacted our

understanding and experiences of age.

Lecture 8: Family formation (Part I) (2 credit hours)

 Dating as Ritual

 Marriage as Ritual

Marriage and the establishment of spousal relationships are some of the most important rituals in society. Yet forming a

marriage is often set by unspoken cultural rules including the importance of intergenerational input, family background,

and gendered roles. Additionally, marriages contain many different cultural and religious symbols. During this class we

will discuss marriage rituals and use cultural analysis to analyze a wedding.

Lecture 9: Family formation (Part II) (2 credit hours)

 Offspring

 Intimacy

Fertility decisions are often complicated negotiations between family members. In this class we will discuss a number of

legislative, technological, and cultural innovations that have led to changes in fertility culture(s) around the world. In the

second half of the class, we will expand the notion of intimacy past sexuality and investigate how ideas of emotional

intimacy are impacting ideal notions of family togetherness.

Lecture 10: Learning and Socialization (2 credit hours)

 Learning in the Family

 Language Socialization

Many anthropologist argue that socialization of the next generation is one of the primary functions of family. In this class,

we will cover some introductory theories about human learning and look at the socialization of language in three different

settings. ESSAY TWO DUE

Film: “Bathing babies in three different cultures” Bateson and Mead, 1951

Lecture 11: Siblings (2 credit hours)

 Relationships

 Roles

Siblings are a fundamental part of family composition and functioning. Often siblings support each other financially and

emotionally. In many societies with large families, sibling caretaking is an important part of the family functioning. We will

examine different historical and cultural constructions of siblings and focus on the role of siblings in kinship systems,

changing demographics, and development in the family.

Lecture 12: Social Change and Kinship (2 credit hours)

 Nuclearization

 Demography

How has family composition changed through time? We will look at prevailing theories of family nuclearization and

modernization and puzzle through demographic and social transitions happening in China and the United States.

Students are encouraged to study census reports and World Bank demographic data prior to class.

Lecture 13: Kinship in a globalized era (2 credit hours)

 Migration

 Global Care Chains

Movement and migration has radically changed the composition and day to day operating of the family. We will look at

different contexts where migration and movement has impacted the family including Latin America, Africa and Asia. We

will explore the concept of “global care chains” and discuss how migration has changed the traditional gender and age-

based roles in the family.

Lecture 14: Technology and kinship (2 credit hours)

 Communication

 Reproduction

If I send my grandmother a text, does it still count as filial? In this class we will puzzle through the diverse ways that

technology changes our experiences and understandings of family including emotional connectivity.

In the second part of the class, we will discuss how technology is also changing our notions of relatedness and

personhood by discussing surrogacy, IVF, and embryonic screening.

Lecture 15: The risks of relationship (2 credit hours)

 Status of Family Violence

 Prevention

We visit the “shadow side” of kinship, covering domestic violence, child and elder abuse. Demographic statistics will be

explored as well as possible interventions to prevent family violence.

Lecture 16. Student Presentations (2 credit hours)

Students should prepare a 5 minute presentation of their research projects. A final discussion ties together the topics we

covered in the course.

18.

教材及其它参考资料 Textbook and Supplementary Readings

Books

Sahlins, Marshall. What Kinship Is-And Is Not. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2013.

Stone, Linda. Kinship and Gender: An Introduction. Avalon Publishing, 2013.

Selected Chapters and articles

Drotbohm, Heike “Shifting Care among Families, Social Networks, and State Institutions in Times of Crisis: A

Transnational Cape Verdean Perspective” In Alber, Erdmute, and Heike Drotbohm. Eds) Anthropological

Perspectives on Care: Work, Kinship, and the Life-Course. Springer, 2015.p 93-116

Ochs, Elinor, and Bambi Schieffelin. “Language Acquisition and Socialization: Three Developmental Stories and

Their Implications.” In Linguistic Anthropology: A Reader, 2001:263–301. Oxford, England: Blackwell, 2001.

Briggs, Jean L. “Mazes of Meaning: How a Child and a Culture Create Each Other.” New Directions for Child and

Adolescent Development 1992, no. 58 (1992): 25–49. https://doi.org/10.1002/cd.23219925804.

Folbre, Nancy. “Measuring Care: Gender, Empowerment, and the Care Economy.” Journal of Human Development 7,

no. 2 (July 1, 2006): 183–99. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649880600768512.

Becker, Gary S. “A Theory of Marriage: Part I.” The Journal of Political Economy, 1973, 813–846.

Santos, Gonçalo D. “On ‘Same-Year Siblings’ in Rural South China.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 14,

no. 3 (September 1, 2008): 535–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9655.2008.00516.x.

Alber, E., C. Coe, and T. Thelen. The Anthropology of Sibling Relations: Shared Parentage, Experience, and

Exchange. Springer, 2013. (CHAPTER 1)

Reports and Survey Data:

World Health Organization. “The Global Status Report on Violence Prevention, 2014”

http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/status_report/2014/en/

Pew Research Center. “The Return of the Multi-Generational Family Household.” Pew Research Center’s Social &

Demographic Trends Project, March 18, 2010. http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-

content/uploads/sites/3/2010/10/752-multi-generational-families.pdf.

China Family Panel Survey: http://www.isss.pku.edu.cn/cfps/

Film:

Bateson, Gregory and Margaret Mead. “Bathing babies in three different cultures.”1951.

课程评估 ASSESSMENT

19.

评估形式

Type of

Assessment

评估时间

Time

占考试总成绩百分比

% of final

score

违纪处罚

Penalty

备注

Notes

出勤 Attendance

More than (2) absences will affect

grade

课堂表现

Class

Performance

15%

Participation in discussion and in-

class exercises

小测验

Quiz

课程项目 Projects

15%

One five-minute in-class presentation

平时作业

Assignments

30%

One five-minute in-class presentation

期中考试

Mid-Term Test

期末考试

Final Exam

期末报告

Final

Presentation

40%

500- word research report and five-

minute in-class presentation

其它（可根据需要

改写以上评估方

式）

Others (The

above may be

modified as

necessary)

20.

记分方式 GRADING SYSTEM

 A. 十三级等级制 Letter Grading

 B. 二级记分制（通过/不通过） Pass/Fail Grading

课程审批 REVIEW AND APPROVAL

21.

本课程设置已经过以下责任人/委员会审议通过

This Course has been approved by the following person or committee of authority

教材及参考资料中所列的英文书籍、文章、报告及电影，均为家庭研究内容，无敏感信息。

同意该课程设置。

周永明

2018.7.10