Both Public and Private: The Social Construction of Family Life

Many of us take for granted the dichotomy between public and private life. The former is frequently understood as abstract, distant, and a key site of power; the latter, as the site of warmth, intimacy, and emotional sustenance. In this seminar, we will critically examine the assumptions underlying such idealized distinctions between public and private domains. Through such revisioning, it is hoped that we will better understand the public and private dimensions of families, their complexity, and historical variability. In particular, our analysis will enable us to critically examine notions that posit nuclear, heterosexual families as necessarily “better” and/or as emblematic of progress. Through a variety of critical readings and familial narratives, we will look at the myriad ways in which personal and social reproduction occur, the relationship between families and shifting social relations, and gender and sexual relations as expressed in these familial forms and be attentive to shifting boundaries between private, family life and public institutions and practices. We will examine how relations of domination and subordination are produced through the institution of the “family” and how resistance is generated to such dominant relations and constructions. The course will conclude with public struggles to the nature and our understanding of families and assess their implications. While the readings in this course will focus specifically on families in the United States, students will have the option in their conference projects to look at families in other cultures and times.