Learning outcomes: Along the lines of the course, we attempt to acquaint students with the most fundamental anthropological theories of kinship, gender and sexuality. We examine anthropological approaches of kinship from the end of the 19th century till today, we analyze gender in various contexts, present the theory of social construction and performance theory, and view critically approaches that perceive our most prevalent social relations –kin, gendered, sexual- as “biological” or “natural”.
More specifically, the course focuses on the importance of kinship studies in anthropology, the relation of kinship with the theories of evolutionism, structural-functionalism and structuralism during the 19th and 20th century, the anthropological interest in women as research subjects and the shift of anthropological interest in gendered subjects and gendered relations, the influence of performative theory and queer theory in the analysis of gender and sexuality, the renewed anthropological turn towards the study of kinship during the end of the 20th-beginning of 21st century and the emergence of “new kinship studies”, -that examine new reproduction technologies, new family and cohabitation forms, the relation of family with sexuality and the formation of same-sex families.
Focusing on ethnographic examples in various cultures the course will analyze kinship, gender and sexuality in specific social and cultural contexts and problematize the terms.
By the end of the course students should be capable to:
• Have an adequate knowledge of the most important theories in the field of the anthropology of kinship and gender
• Understand gender as analytical parameter of culture
• Problematize the “natural” or “biological” character of concepts such as kinship, gender, sexuality
• Analyze ethnographic examples in different cultures and understand new forms of kinship relations as a result of technological changes and social transformations
• Understand and be able to use theoretical contexts and methodological approaches for the analysis of kinship and gendered relations
General Competences:
• Working independently
• Team work
• Working in an international environment
• Production of new research ideas
• Respect for difference and multiculturalism
• Showing social, professional and ethical responsibility and sensitivity to gender issues
• Criticism and self-criticism
• Production of free, creative and inductive thinking
1. Introduction: Kinship and anthropology
2. The initial anthropological interest in kinship. Terms, genealogies and connections
3. Two “grand” theories of kinship”: “Descent theory” and “alliance theory”
4. Critical approaches I: David Schneider and the symbolic approach
5. Critical approaches II: The anthropology of women
6. Gender as analytical category
7. Anthropological approaches of masculinity
8. Anthropological approaches of sexuality
9. Beyond gender
10. Kinship as relatedness
11. New family forms: Kinship as choice
12. Kinship, “nature” and reproduction technologies
13. Beyond kinship
IN GREEK
Αθανασίου, Αθηνά 2006 Φεμινιστική Θεωρία και Πολιτισμική Κριτική. Εκδ. Αλεξάνδρεια: Αθήνα
Butler, Judith. 1990. Gender Trouble. Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge: New York and London [μτφ. στα ελληνικά Αναταραχή φύλου. Ο φεμινισμός και η ανατροπή της ταυτότητας. Αθήνα: Αλεξάνδρεια]
Butler, Judith 1993 Bodies That Matter. On the Discursive Limits of ‘Sex’. Routledge: New York and London [μτφ. στα ελληνικά Σώματα με σημασία. Οριοθετήσεις του ‘Φύλου’ στο Λόγο. Εκδ. Εκκρεμές]
Γιαννακόπουλος, Κώστας. 2006. Σεξουαλικότητα. Θεωρίες και Πολιτικές της Ανθρωπολογίας. Εκδ. Αλεξάνδρεια: Αθήνα
Dumont, Louis. 1996. Εισαγωγή σε Δύο Θεωρίες της Κοινωνικής Ανθρωπολογίας. Eκδ. Καστανιώτης: Αθήνα
Héritier, Françoise 2005 [1994] Οι δύο αδελφές και η μητέρα τους. Ανθρωπολογία της αιμομιξίας. Εκδόσεις του Εικοστού Πρώτου
Καντσά, Βενετία (επιμ.). 2013. Η μητρότητα στο προσκήνιο. Σύγχρονες έρευνες στην ελληνική εθνογραφία. Αθήνα: Αλεξάνδρεια.
Καντσά, Βενετία (επιμ.) 2015. Μεταβαλλόμενες σχέσεις. Συγγένεια και ιατρικώς υποβοηθούμενη αναναπαραγωγή. (in)FERCIT Αθήνα: Αλεξάνδρεια. http://www.in-fercit.gr/en/archives/452
Kuper, Adam. 2006 [α’ έκδοση 1988, β’ έκδοση 2005]. Η επανεπινόηση της πρωτόγονης κοινωνίας. Μεταμορφώσεις ενός μύθου. Εκδ. Αλεξάνδρεια: Αθήνα
Μπακαλάκη, Αλεξάνδρα (επιμ.) 1994 Ανθρωπολογία, Γυναίκες και Φύλο. Κείμενα των S. Ortner, M. Strathern, M. Rosaldo, επιμ. Αλεξάνδρα Μπακαλάκη. Εκδ. Αλεξάνδρεια: Αθήνα
Sahlins, Marshall 1997 [1976] Χρήσεις και καταχρήσεις της βιολογίας. Μια ανθρωπολογική κριτική της κοινωνιοβιολογίας. Εκδ. Αλεξάνδρεια: Αθήνα
Sahlins, Marshall (2014) Τι είναι (και τι δεν είναι) η συγγένεια, Αθήνα, Εκδόσεις του Εικοστού
Strathern, Marilyn. 1992. Reproducing the Future. Anthropology, Kinship and the New Reproductive Technologies. Manchester: Manchester University Press (μτφ. στα ελληνικά Αναπαράγοντας το Μέλλον. Ανθρωπολογία, Συγγένεια και Νέες Τεχνολογίες Αναπαραγωγής εκδ. Ελληνικά Γράμματα)
Τουντασάκη, Ειρήνη 2008 Ανθρωπολογικές θεωρήσεις της συγγένειας κατά τον 20ο αι. Αθήνα: Ελληνικά Γράμματα
Τουντασκάκη, Ειρήνη. 2015. “Το παιδί που μεγαλώνει μέσα σου θα πάρει και από σένα”. Δωρεά ωαρίων, μητρότητα και συγγένεια. Αθήνα: Πατάκης.
Wade, Peter. 2002. Race, Nature and Culture. An Anthropological Approach. London: Pluto Press (μτφ. στα ελληνικά Φυλή, Φύση και Πολιτισμός. Μια ανθρωπολογική προσέγγιση, εκδ. Πολύτροπον)
IN ENGLISH
Bamford, Sandra και James Leach (eds.). 2009. Kinship and Beyond. The Genealogical Model Reconsidered. Νέα Υόρκη και Οξφόρδη: Berghahn
Birenbaum-Carmeli, Daphna και Marcia C. Inhorn (eds.). 2009. Assistg Reproduction, Testing Genes. Global Encounters with Biotechnologies. Νέα Υόρκη και Οξφόρδη: Berghahn
Butler, Judith. 2004. Undoing Gender. Routledge: New York and London.
Caplan, Pat. 1987. The Cultural Construction of Sexuality. Tavistock Publications: London
Carsten, Janet (ed.). 2000. Cultures of Relatedness. New Approaches to the Study of Kinship. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Carsten, Janet. 2003. After Kinship. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
Collier, Jane Fishburne and Sylvia Junko Yanagisako (eds.).1987. Gender and Kinship. Essays Toward a Unifiied Analysis.Stanford University Press: Stanford, California.
Chatjouli, Aglaia, Ivi Daskalaki, Venetia Kantsa. 2015. out of body, out of home. Assisted Reproduction, Gender and Family in Greece Athens, (In)FERCIT produced by Alexandria Publ. http://www.in-fercit.gr/en/archives/458
Edwards, Janet, Sarah Franklin, Eric Hirsch, Frances Price, Marilyn Strathern (eds). 1993 (2nd edition). Technologies of Procreation. Kinship in the Age of Assisted Conception. Routledge: London and New York.
Edwards, Jeanette και Carles Salazar (eds.). 2009. European Kinship in the Age of Biotechnology. Νέα Υόρκη και Οξφόρδη: Berghahn
Edwards, Jeanette και Carles Salazar (eds.). 2009. European Kinship in the Age of Biotechnology. Νέα Υόρκη και Οξφόρδη: Berghahn
Evans-Prichard, E.E. 1951 (επανέκδοση 2002). Kinship and Marriage among the Nuer. Clarendon Press: Oxford.
Fortes, Meyer. The Web of Kinship Among the Tallensi: The second part of an analysis of the social structure of a Trans-Volta Tribe. Oxford University Press: London
Fox, Robin. 1967. Kinship and Marriage. An Anthropological Perspective. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Frankin, Susan & Susan McKinnon (eds.) 2001. Relative Values. Reconfiguring Kinship Studies. Duke University Press: Durham & London.
Ginsberg, Faye and Rayna Rapp (eds.) Conceiving the New World Order. University of California Press: Berkeley
Goodman, Alan H., Deborah Heath, M. Susan Lindee 2003 Genetic Nature/Culture. Anthropology and Science beyond the Two-Culture Divide. University of California Press: Berkeley & Los Angeles, London.
Goody, Jack (ed.) 1973. The Character of Kinship. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
Goody, Jack (ed.). 1971. Kinship. Penguin Books Ltd: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England.
Holy, Ladislav. 1996. Anthropological Perspectives on Kinship. Pluto Press: London.
Inhorn, Marcia C. et al. (eds.). 2009. Reconceiving the Second Sex. Men, Masculinity and Reproduction. Νέα Υόρκη και Οξφόρδη: Berghahn
Kantsa, Venetia, Lina Papadopoulou, Giulia Zanini (eds) 2015 (In)Fertile Citizens. Anthropological and Legal Challenges of Assisted Reproduction Technologies Athens, (In)FERCIT produced by Alexandria Publ. http://www.in-fercit.gr/en/archives/447
Konrad, Monica 2005 Nameless Relations. Anonymity, Melanesia and Reproductive Gift Exchange between British Ova Donors and Recipients. Berghahn Books: New York and Oxford..
Mac Cornack, C and Marilyn Strathern(eds.) 1980. Nature, Culture and Gender. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
Malinowski, Bronislav. 1927 (επανέκδοση 2001). Sex and Repression in Savage Society. Routledge: London and New York. Ή ελληνική μετάφραση: Malinowski, Bronislav. 1927 (μτφ. 1976). Σεξουαλικότητα και Καταπίεση στην Πρωτόγονη Κοινωνία. Εκδ. Καστανιώτης: Αθήνα
Martin, Emily. 1987. The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction. Beacon Press
Moore, Henrietta L., 1994. A Passion for Difference. Essays in Anthropology and Gender. Polity Press: London
Moore, Henrietta L., 2007 The Subject of Anthropology. Gender, Symbolism and Psychoanalysis Polity Press: London
Ortner, Sherry and Hariett Whitehead (eds.) 1981. Sexual Meanings: The Cultural Construction of Gender and Sexuality. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
Parkin, Roger and Linda Stone. 2004. Kinship and Family. An Anthropological Reader. Blackwell Publishing
Radcliffe-Brown A.R., Forde C. D. (eds.) 1950. African Systems of Kinship and Marriage. Oxford University Press.
Radcliffe-Brown, A.R..1952. Structure and Function in Primitive Society. The Free Press: New York and London
Reiter, Rayna. 1975. Towards an Anthropology of Women. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Rosaldo,Michelle Zimbalist and Louise Lamphere (eds.). 1974. Women, Culture and Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Stone, Linda. 1997. Kinship and Gender. An Introduction. Westview Press: Colorado and Oxford.
Stone, Linda. 2000. New Directions in Anthropological Kinship. Rowman & Littlefield.
Strathern, Marilyn 2005 Kinship, Law and the Unexpected: Relatives are Always a Surprise. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Τουντασάκη, Ειρήνη 2008 Ανθρωπολογικές θεωρήσεις της συγγένειας κατά τον 20ο αι. Αθήνα: Ελληνικά Γράμματα
Τουντασκάκη, Ειρήνη. 2015. “Το παιδί που μεγαλώνει μέσα σου θα πάρει και από σένα”. Δωρεά ωαρίων, μητρότητα και συγγένεια. Αθήνα: Πατάκης.
Wade, Peter. 2002. Race, Nature and Culture. An Anthropological Approach. London: Pluto Press (μτφ. στα ελληνικά Φυλή, Φύση και Πολιτισμός. Μια ανθρωπολογική προσέγγιση, εκδ. Πολύτροπον)
Weston, Kath. 1998. longslowburn. Sexuality and Social Science. . Routledge: New York and London.
Weston, Kath. 2002. Gender in Real Time: Power and Transience in a Visual Age . Routledge: New York and London.
Related academic journals:
AAmerican Anthropologist
http://www.americananthropologist.org/
American Ethnologist
http://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1548-1425/
Annual Review of Anthropology
http://www.annualreviews.org/journal/anthro
Anthropological Quaterly
http://aq.gwu.edu/
Anthropology Today
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-8322
Cultural Anthropology
https://culanth.org/
Current Anthropology
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/ca/current
Ethnology
https://www.jstor.org/journal/ethnology
GLQ
http://glq.dukejournals.org/
HAU
https://www.haujournal.org/
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
https://www.therai.org.uk/publications/journal-of-the-royal-anthropological-institute
Medical Anthropology Quarterly
http://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1548-1387/
SIGNS
http://signsjournal.org/
Social Analysis
http://journals.berghahnbooks.com/social-analysis/
