| SES # | TOPICS | KEY DATES |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to the study of family, gender and sexuality | |
| Part I: Family And Gender As Social-Economic Institutions | ||
| 2 | Gender acquisition: Learning (and unlearning) the "facts of life" | |
| 3 | Arranged marriage, ascribed status, inheritance and gendered divisions of labor in pastoral and agrarian societies | |
| 4 | Gender, agency, and virtue | Reader response due |
| 5 | Chosen marriage, achieved status, and gendered divisions of labor in wage labor societies | |
| 6 |
Social reproduction: Reproducing formal and informal class relations Guest: Brandyn McKinley, Pre-Doctoral Fellow at MIT, Anthropology program | |
| 7 | The racial and gendered economy of social reproduction | |
| 8 | Family, class and social mobility in the U.S. (1) | Argumentative essay 1 due |
| 9 | Family, class and social mobility in the U.S. (2) | |
| 10 |
Immigration, dislocation and legal limbo ScreeningWhich Way Home. Directed by Rebecca Cammisa. Color, 90 min. 2009. | |
| 11 | Consumption and social citizenship | Reader response due |
| 12 | Rethinking the meaning(s) of love | |
| 13 |
Searching for a happily ever after? ScreeningIn The Name of Love. Directed by Shannon O'Rourke. Color, 46 min. 2003. | |
| Part II: Sex, Sexuality, Reproduction And Kinship | ||
| 14 | Marriage and heteronormativity | |
| 15 |
The history and role of birth control Screening
| Reader response due |
| 16 | Is "the family" a cultural universal? | |
| 17 |
De-essentializing motherhood Guest: Emily Xi Lin, Post-Doctoral Fellow at MIT, History program | |
| 18 | Not all happily ever after: Anger, violence & harm | Argumentative essay 2 due |
| 19 | Making families, making citizens | |
| 20 | The problem of childlessness, the problem of 'familylessness' | Argumentative essay 3 proposal due (1 paragraph theses statement + bibliography) |
| 21 |
Infertility, secrecy and silence Guest: Burcu Mutlu, MIT Doctoral Program in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society (HASTS). ScreeningSperm Donor X: A Different Conception. Directed by Deirdre Fishel. Color, 56 min. 2011. | |
| 22 | The labor of reproduction: Surrogacy | |
| 23 | Reproductive rights, redux | |
| 24 | Where to go next: "Having it all," or reframing the question? | |
| 25 | Student presentations | |
| 26 | Student presentations (cont.) | Argumentative essay 3 due |