| CODE | ANT2020 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | Kinship, Family and Marriage | ||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Anthropological Sciences | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Content: This study-unit will examine some of the basic issues in the study of the family and kinship: incest prohibitions, the developmental cycle of the domestic group marriage as a means to create alliance or as a means to transmit resources rights and social positions to socially recognised descendants, the difference between patrilineal, matrilineal and bilateral systems of descent, the structural implications of close kin marriage especially in the Mediterranean the meaning of marriage payments, kinship and descent in North Africa and the Middle East, the relationship between kinship and social organization, the significance of kinship morality, the significance of spiritual kinship, patterns of divorce in various societies including the Mediterranean, and the evolution of kinship and marriage in Europe, etc. Study-Unit Aims: - To introduce the anthropological study of family and kinship, a fundamental unit for social evolution and reproduction; - To show the variability in family forms and kinship both across time and across cultures; - To show the interconnections between family and kinship on the one hand, with other areas of anthropological focus, viz. politics, religion, and economic systems; - To explore the implications of Assisted Reproductive Technologies and the ways how different societies have responded to them according to their cultural values and disputes. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Have a comprehensive knowledge of different forms of kinship and marriage on a global level; - Understand how new forms of alliance and ‘mutualities of being’ are constantly emerging. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Have a comprehensive knowledge of different forms of kinship and marriage on a global level; - Understand how new forms of alliance and ‘mutualities of being’ are constantly emerging. Reading List: - M. Fortes, Kinship and the Social Order. - M. Sahlins: What Kinship is, and is not. - Spradley, James and David W. McCurdy. 2003 or 2000. Conformity and conflict: readings in cultural anthropology. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. - Fox, Robin. 2001 (1976). Kinship and marriage: an anthropological perspective. Reprint. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Keesing, Roger. 1975. Kin groups and social structure. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers. - Holy, Ladislav. 1996. Anthropological perspectives on kinship. London and Chicago: Pluto Press. - Parkin, Robert. 1997. Kinship: an introduction to basic concepts. Oxford: Blackwell. - Carsten, J. (ed.). 2000. Cultures of relatedness: new approaches to the study of kinship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Stone, L. 2000. Kinship and gender: an introduction. Second edition. Boulder, CO.: Westview. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Paul Sant Cassia |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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