This is a discussion post in APA Format. 150-250 words. Attached Reading and Video transcript. Just a line or two from video is perfect (video citation included), everything else from the attached chapters. Thank you!
Topic Overview
The focus of this module is the family in the 21st Century. Family continuity means cultural continuity but changes also occurs. Changes in culture as a function of technology advances, economics, and politics can profoundly impact the family, and the practices and traditions of family life. Kinship definitions and the roles of family members may change, but family is a remarkably resilient and flexible institution. The requirements and demands of globalizing economies have impacted families significantly, as many families re-define roles and responsibilities to meet the needs of transnational migrations. Anthropologists have also explored how concepts such as relatedness and family as defined through blood and non-blood ties have changed notions and definitions of family, and what constitutes family and relatedness (i.e., through processes such adoptions, including transnational adoptions, the acceptance of same sex unions, and new assisted reproductive technologies). The development of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs), also known as New Reproductive Technologies (NRTs), have clearly had a significant impact on how we think about kinship, family, and relatedness. These new technologies raise a host of moral, legal, and ethical questions about how to define kinship and family, and the rights, duties, and obligations of kin. These issues are presented in both the videos and the Stone chapters.
Readings
Stone, Linda. Kinship and Gender — chapters 8, 9, and 10. Stone, L., & King, D. E. (2018). Kinship and gender: An introduction. Routledge.
Discussions
1: Kinship, Gender and New Family Forms in a Changing World Chapter 8 of Kinship and Gender engages students with the study of newly emerging kinship and family forms, parenting and co-parenting from separate households as a function of divorce and parental separation, women as breadwinners in the US, and alternative forms of families and marriages. In this chapter, Stone also discusses contemporary social issues involving kinship concepts such as honor killings, polygyny, and violence against women.
Chapter 9 delves into new reproductive technologies and the potential impact of these technologies on definitions of kinship and gender roles in different societies. Stone also explores the ethics and moral quandaries of ARTs / NRTs.
Chapter 10 focuses on the forces of globalization and neo-liberalism and how different cultures have responded to the consequent transnational immigration and labor-related migration. Kinship structures, gender roles and family ties clearly are effected by this movement of people across national borders and from rural areas to urban areas. Transnational adoptions of children are also increasing, and these practices are also changing concepts of kinship, relatedness, and family, as well as ideas about what is “in the best interests of the child.”
M4 Discussion
2: Kinship, Gender and New Family Forms in a Changing World Stone provides examples of how kinship and family have responded to the stresses of migration and immigration caused by the forces of globalization and neo-liberalism. While marriage, gender roles, and family formation have been affected, Stone observes that “…the transformation of kinship is taking its own twists and turns in a way that meshes the old and the new” (Stone, p. 282).
Discuss examples of the “twists and turns” that Stone alludes to. Include in your discussion how concepts of “in the best interests of the child” have changed as a function of the codification of policies and regulations governing international adoptions by international conventions on children. How are differing ideologies regarding the “best interests of the child” addressed in law and in practice? How, in international adoptions, do we balance protecting children while at the same time incorporating differing concepts of kinship in different cultures?
For each discussion forum the following are expected:
• Initial posting of 150-250 words
• Refer specifically to the assigned readings and/or video in your posts.