Course description
Many speak of the “crisis” or “death” of the family and consider various “anti-family” mores as undermining the family institution. However, recent scholarly literature indicates that the family continues to be a primary symbol of unconditional social and moral values. This course will focus on recent theoretical developments in studies of family life within the context of social change, urbanization and globalization. It will thus introduce and analyze some of the key themes, preoccupations and debates that have preoccupied the studies of family life within the context of globalization and cities for the last two decades. The tone of the course will be analytical and will critically scrutinize contemporary conceptions of the family, domesticity, intimacy, intergenerational relations, coupledom and parenthood in different cultural and urban contexts.
This is an interdisciplinary course that touches on the fields of sociology, gender studies and cultural studies and media to introduce students to the study of lived experiences of families in different urban contexts and settings. Specific topics will include (among others): gendered identities and gendered mobility patterns in urban spaces, family and migration, housing and domestic gendered relations, queer neighborhoods, suburban families, family leisure and consumption in the city as well as the impact of regeneration and gentrification on families. We will place these topics within their cultural, and theoretical contexts, and students will have the opportunity to engage in active discussions during class. Course materials will include online texts, films, television series and magazines.

Evaluation method
Attendance and Class Participation 10%
Paper 90%

Bibliography
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DEN BESTEN, O., (2010), Local belonging and ‘geographies of emotions’: Immigrant children’s experience of their neighborhoods in Paris and Berlin. Childhood, 17(2), 181-195.‏
DEVAULT, MARJORIE L., (2000), ‘Producing Family Time: Practices of Leisure Activity Beyond the Home’. Qualitative Sociology 23 (4): 485–503.
EHRKAMP, P., (2005), Placing identities: Transnational practices and local attachments of Turkish immigrants in Germany. Journal of Ethnic and Migration studies, 31(2), 345-364.
FORTUIJN, J. D., & OSTENDORF, W., (2004), Gender and urban poverty: Single mothers in Amsterdam. GeoJournal, 61(3), 239-246.
QUADLIN, NATASHA, AND LONG DOAN, (2018), Sex-typed chores and the city: Gender, urbanicity, and housework. Gender & Society 32, (6 ), 789-813.
KARSTEN, L., KAMPHUIS, A., & REMEIJNSE, C., (2015), ‘Time-out’ with the family: the shaping of family leisure in the new urban consumption spaces of cafes, bars and restaurants, Leisure Studies, 34(2), 166-181.‏
LEWIS, C., (2017), Turning houses into homes: Living through urban regeneration in East Manchester, Environment and Planning A, 49(6), 1324-1340.‏
LILIUS, J., (2016), Domesticfication of urban space? Mothering and fathering while on family leave in the inner city of Helsinki, Gender, Place & Culture, 23(12), 1763-1773.
MANZO, L. K., DRUTA, O., & RONALD, R., (2019), Supported home ownership and adult independence in Milan: The gilded cage of family housing gifts and transfers, Sociology, 53(3), 519-537.
SIMPSON, P., (2012), Perils, precariousness and pleasures: Middle-aged gay men negotiating urban ‘heterospaces’. Sociological Research Online, 17(3), 124-133.‏
VARLEY, A., & BLASCO, M., (2003), Older women's living arrangements and family relationships in urban Mexico, Women's Studies International Forum (26) 6, 525-539.