Course overview
The family has defined itself in a variety of ways over time, from shared households to emotional connections to genetic links. This course explores how the family has been constructed at different historical moments. It looks at the production of genealogies and family trees; forms of inheritance that lie people together over generations; and more recently the use of genetic testing to create links between disparate family members. The course will encourage students to think critically about how to define family, where its boundaries lie, and how those decisions shape our sense of self, identity and nationhood. Students will also explore a range of sources and methods for producing family identities. This course will be of particular interest for those with an interest in family history, or the sociology of family identity. It will prepare them for further study and for critically engaging with their own family history practices.