Contemporary Perspectives on Family and Kinship (5 credits)

The course consists of reading materials, lectures and a final essay.

Kinship has been a central concept in anthropology from its very onset, one of the few which anthropology managed to make its own. Radical shift in kinship studies came in 1970s and 1980s. The traditional approach has been challenged as too static, too fixed, too algebraic. The analytical feasibility of the very category of kinship has been undermined. The aim of this course is to shed light on these new critical developments. We will look at the demise of kinship studies brought about by the argument on their essentially Western ideas of biological reproduction, and their subsequent revitalization. This would include introduction of the Schneider’s critique and the feminist anthropologists’ works on kinship, gender and power; motherhood and fatherhood; concept of relatedness; studies on new reproductive technologies, genetics and heredity; gay and lesbian kinship; new family forms emerging as a consequence of divorces, separation, domestic and transnational adoptions and migration. We will discuss how recent theoretical and empirical works reformulated kinship, putting stress on process, flexibility negotiation, human agency, local meanings and symbols. How they countered the notions of “naturalness” of marriage, sex, procreation and parenthood; kinship obligations and duty. We will deconstruct the notion of biology and nature and discuss them as culturally-constructed categories. After the course students are expected to identify central trends in the contemporary studies of kinship, and in a critical manner look at the folk assumptions on the family present in a public Euro-American discourse.

Time & place:

The course will be held on Tuesdays (10-12) and Fridays (14-16) on the time period from Sept 17th to Oct 25th. Last two classes (Oct 22nd, Tuesday, and Oct 25th, Friday) will be held exceptionally at 12-14.

22nd October - guest lecture by Uyi Osazee: ‘MIXED PARENTAGE’ CHILDREN’S ACCOUNTS OF FAMILY AND KINSHIP

The priority is given to students of social anthropology, sociology, social psychology and social policy.

This three-part course will present an overview into the Sociology of Tourism, following an outline of John Urry's 'The Tourist Gaze' (supplemented by additional academic literature), providing an introduction into the discipline of social scientific research of travel and tourism activities. The course consists of lectures and reading materials, as well as student participation and essays.

Lecture Programme:
Part 1: The Tourist Gaze & Mass tourism; October 11th, 9 – 16 (12-13 lunch break)

Part 2: The changing economics of the tourist industry & Working under the tourist gaze; October 14th, 9 – 16 (12-13 lunch break)

Part 3: Globalizing the gaze & Tourism, Culture and Social inequality; October 18th, 9 – 16 (12-13 lunch break)

You still can enroll for the course! => send an e-mail to the teaher: Christopher.Brennan@uta.fi

****************************************

Course will be organised in October.

The course exists of different parts:

1. The course starts from explaining supply and demand on a perfect labour market, while continuing by explaining that the perfect labour market does not exist, especially not in the context of European welfare states. The labour market is not a market like any other where the usual laws of supply and demand apply. It is a domain of extensive government intervention. There are different institutions that make the labour market “imperfect”. The theoretical workings of different labour market institutions, as well as their outcomes in terms of efficiency and equity, will be explained. Attention will be paid to a set of specific and important labour market institutions, while ways of measuring and comparing them will be presented. The most important institutions include: a. Wage setting mechanisms b. Unemployment benefits c. Employment protection legislation d. Minimum wage e. Active labour market policies f. Working hours regulation g. Education and training h. Pensions and retirement It will also be shown that there are interactions and complementarities between these institutions that shape labour market outcomes and that one can identify labour market regimes, just like there are welfare state regimes.

2. In the second part of the course, the focus will shift to different threats to economic growth, employment and the welfare state, and the role that labour market policies play in the debates addressing these threats. Ageing populations, globalization, technological change, individualisation, and the current financial and economic crisis all have an impact on how countries organise their labour markets. Moreover, governments have used these threats as arguments for introducing reforms. The course will pay attention to the different ways these threats can impact labour markets and the types of policy responses that have been launched in different countries.

3. Reforming labour market institutions is often slow and complicated. This partly has to do with different groups in society that are well-organised and that have an interest in upholding the status quo. These groups include labour market organisations such as trade unions and employer representatives, but also for example middle-class voters and pensioners’ organisations. When policy-makers initiate reforms, they often have to take into account the interest of such parties, depending of course on how policy processes are organised in a specific country.

The course will pay attention to how decision-making processes are organised in different countries and what roles various interest organisations can play in these. The course will consist of a series of seminars where lectures will be combined with discussions on the basis of the literature that the students are required to read in preparation. Apart from reading some articles that serve as a theoretical background, the main focus will be placed on critically reading policy-oriented reports and publications. These include recent publications of the OECD (e.g. the Employment Outlook), the European Commission and other international organisations, as well as national governments. In this way, the students can familiarize themselves with current debates and different ways of conducting policy-oriented research.

The schedule of the course (dates, topics):

1.    25.10.2013    Introduction & practicalities. What are labour market policies/institutions? What do they do and why do they matter in the welfare state?
2.    1.11.2013    Wage-setting: the state, employers and unions. Minimum wage
3.   8.11.2013    Job and income protection: employment protection legislation and unemployment benefits
4.   15.11.2013    Smoothening transitions: active labour market policies and training. Transitions from education to the labour market and from the labour market into retirement
5.    22.11.2013    Challenges of post-industrialism. Labour markets during the crisis
6.    29.11.2013    The political economy of labour market reform. Instructions for final assignment, work in small groups
--      6.12.2013    Independence day break
7.    13.12.2013    How to write a policy report?

The course will be structured and scheduled according to seven thematic sessions. In the beginning of the course we will draw an overview of the extent and distribution of the financial crisis and economic depression in the EU countries since 2008. We will focus on outcomes and consequences of the economic recession in terms of employment and social risks. Secondly we will tackle the forms, methods and outcomes of employment protection introduced by individual countries and globally in the European Union. After critical analyses of the actual problems of employment protection, we will review the challenges and alternatives of future development of employment protection.

Contents:
1. lecture: Introduction – Restructuring European work and welfare systems in the context of Recession.
2. lecture: The Concept of Employment Protection (early ideas of employment (labour) protection; dimensions of employment protection; waves of development in industrial countries)
3. lecture: Short history of employment protection in the developed industrial countries (national regulations; ILO regulations, other international regulations, etc.)
4. Lecture: Old and New Risks of (in) Employment and Risks Sharing (old and new risks of employment, role of social policies, perceptions of job insecurity)
5. lecture: Transitional labour markets (national settings, the role of institutions)
6. lecture: Social risks of mobile labour (international mobility of labour, risks related to migration and national variation of social norms)
7. lecture: New issues of labour and safety rules and labour law (Regulative concepts and new social risks in employment)
8. Evaluation

Preegistration in NettiOpsu in 14. - 31.10.2013

The course will be organised as an online course including virtual lectures, materials for reading and discourses organised in the Moodle environment. The course is structured along seven weekly thematic topics.  Each weekly topic consists of a virtual lecture, readings and active participation in the discourse on weekly topics in the Moodle. Every new topic starts on Tuesdays at noon with a virtual lecture of the teacher. Thereafter students have 2 days to read the course material. An evaluation and critical analyses of weekly topic starts on Thursday and continues until next Tuesday. An active participation into the discourse in the Moodle is expected and is one of the criteria of successful completion of the course.

In principle an online learning liberates the student and teacher from time and place giving more space for individual choices. That’s true also in this case but, in order to make the learning and interaction efficient some basic timely boundaries and practices are important. These rules concern teachers and students timetables and responsibilities.

Teacher: Teacher will lecture on Tuesdays, follows and supervises the online discourse regularly and helps students during the course. Teacher will be actively supervising the discussion all the time and we can even open some chat rooms for the discussion

Student: Will follow the course, read all the material offered to be read and takes actively part in the discussion on weekly topics.  Student is expected to take actively part into discussion and contribute to the course with her/his knowledge.

Number of students: 30. Priority is given to degree students in the COSOPO master's porogramme.

Finnish students should make 2 + 3 ETCS (lectures AND online exercises);

Exchange students can make 2 or 5 ETCS (only lectures OR lectures and online exercises) 

Outline of the course:

1) Theoretical and political framework for conseptualizing citizen participation and empirical examples from Finland and Poland. 

Lectures + lecture diary (2 ECTS):

Mon 28.10.2013  

Lecture 1 (10-12): Overview on citizen participation practices and theories (Liisa Häikiö).Place: Linna 5014

Lecture 2 (13-15): EU policies for citizen participation: A framework for national and local practices (Katarzyna Radzik-Maruszak). Place: Linna 4026

Wed 30.10.2013  

Lecture 3 (10-12): Citizen participation in Finland: Civil society and local governance (Liisa Häikiö). Place: Linna 4026

Lecture 4 (13-15) Citizen participation in Poland (Katarzyna Radzik-Maruszak). Place: Linna 4026

Fri 1.11.2013  

Lecture 5 (10-12) Conclusion and discussion (Liisa Häikiö & Katarzyna Radzik-Maruszak). Place: Linna 5014

Online exercises (3 ECTS):

2) Case descriptions about citizen participation. Students will select a citizen participation practice and make a short description of it to online learning site, Moodle. Cases can be based on different data sets: Internet sites, interviews, newspapers, official documents etc. Case descriptions will be done in pairs and reported in English. Max. 5 pages. Papers in the Moodle Mon 25.11.

3) Essay on citizen participation. Students construct a theoretical frame for analysing citizen participation practices. This framework will be used to write a comparative essay about citizen participation practices. For the comparison students will select two to three case descriptions from the Moodle. Case descriptions will be done in pairs and reported in English, or Finnish but all essays should include an abstract in English. Max. 10 pages. Papers in the Moodle Wed 11.12.

4) Students will comment essays at Moodle by Wed 18.12.

ENROLLMENT to the course from Sept 21, 2013 to Oct 21,2013 in NettiOpsu.

The course will be structured and scheduled according to seven thematic sessions. In the beginning of the course we will draw an overview of the extent and distribution of the financial crisis and economic depression in the EU countries since 2008. We will focus on outcomes and consequences of the economic recession in terms of employment and social risks. Secondly we will tackle the forms, methods and outcomes of employment protection introduced by individual countries and globally in the European Union. After critical analyses of the actual problems of employment protection, we will review the challenges and alternatives of future development of employment protection.

Contents:
1. lecture: Introduction – Restructuring European work and welfare systems in the context of Recession.
2. lecture: The Concept of Employment Protection (early ideas of employment (labour) protection; dimensions of employment protection; waves of development in industrial countries)
3. lecture: Short history of employment protection in the developed industrial countries (national regulations; ILO regulations, other international regulations, etc.)
4. Lecture: Old and New Risks of (in) Employment and Risks Sharing (old and new risks of employment, role of social policies, perceptions of job insecurity)
5. lecture: Transitional labour markets (national settings, the role of institutions)
6. lecture: Social risks of mobile labour (international mobility of labour, risks related to migration and national variation of social norms)
7. lecture: New issues of labour and safety rules and labour law (Regulative concepts and new social risks in employment)
8. Evaluation

Preegistration in NettiOpsu in 14. - 31.10.2013

The course will be organised as an online course including virtual lectures, materials for reading and discourses organised in the Moodle environment. The course is structured along seven weekly thematic topics.  Each weekly topic consists of a virtual lecture, readings and active participation in the discourse on weekly topics in the Moodle. Every new topic starts on Tuesdays at noon with a virtual lecture of the teacher. Thereafter students have 2 days to read the course material. An evaluation and critical analyses of weekly topic starts on Thursday and continues until next Tuesday. An active participation into the discourse in the Moodle is expected and is one of the criteria of successful completion of the course.

In principle an online learning liberates the student and teacher from time and place giving more space for individual choices. That’s true also in this case but, in order to make the learning and interaction efficient some basic timely boundaries and practices are important. These rules concern teachers and students timetables and responsibilities.

Teacher: Teacher will lecture on Tuesdays, follows and supervises the online discourse regularly and helps students during the course. Teacher will be actively supervising the discussion all the time and we can even open some chat rooms for the discussion

Student: Will follow the course, read all the material offered to be read and takes actively part in the discussion on weekly topics.  Student is expected to take actively part into discussion and contribute to the course with her/his knowledge.

Number of students: 30. Priority is given to degree students in the COSOPO master's porogramme.

Violence and the Frames for Compassion and Non-Violence: Practices for Preventing and Intervening in Violence and Constructing Compassionate Environments (5 op/ECTS)

Period III and IV : Feb 24 - April 11, 2014

An online course organised by the university network for gender studies

More information on the course will be delivered on January

SOS10.4.3 Domestication of Global Trends 5 ETC

Course description

Notions of social change are often divided into local versus international. But what actually happens at the national level – where policies are ultimately made and implemented – when policy-making is interdependent worldwide? How do policy-makers take into account the prior choices of other countries? More detailed research is needed on the process of interdependent decision-making in the world polity.

Distancing itself from approaches that conceive narrowly of policy transfer as a ‘one-way street’ from powerful nations to weaker ones, this course argues instead for an understanding of national decision-making processes that emphasize cross-national comparisons and domestic field battles around the introduction of worldwide models.

The case studies presented and discussed in this course show how national policies appear to be synchronized globally yet are developed with distinctly ‘national’ flavors. Presenting new theoretical ideas and empirical cases, this course is aimed at scholars of political science, international relations, comparative public policy and sociology.

Time & space:Tue 14.1-25.2.2014 at 14-16 Room: Pinni B 3032.

The accomplishment of the course requires the following:

• active involvement in each session
• a short introduction prepared  in twos based on the selected course material
• acquaintance with the course material
• an essay based on the course material or other relevant reading

Essay return 11.3.2014.

Coordinators: Marjaana Rautalin marjaana.rautalin@uta.fi and Jukka Syväterä jukka.syvatera@uta.fi

Other teachers: Ali Qadir ali.qadir@uta.fi

Reception hours of the teachers: Tuesday at 10-11 starting on 14.1.2014; Marjaana in Pinni B 3024 and Jukka in Pinni B 3002.

Teachers: Högback and Nordling

Period III and IV: 3.2-16.3.2014

An online course organised by the university network (HILMA) for gender studies.

More information and ENROLMENT for the course in the following web page:
http://www.hilmaverkosto.fi/opetus/grassroots-and-activism-webcourse

Deadline for enrolment is January 22nd (22.1.2014)!

________________________________ 

Course introduction:

The course is based on a comparative study between Finland and France, within EU context. The study compares essentially young women's situation, but also reflects upon youth transition to adulthood in general. The course introduces students to research conducted in advanced societies on youth transition to adulthood and the supposed prolongation of youth. In the different lectures, the actual patterns and markers of transition to the stage of adulthood are examined, based on up-to-date studies. The lectures analyse the current phenomenon of youth extension and changes within the stage of transition itself. The course enlarges towards contemporary socio-economic restructuring and highlights the influence it bears upon young people's routes of integration within the wider social sphere.

The teaching occurs via lectures and seminars. The lectures provide theoretical knowledge on particular themes related to youth transition to adulthood. In the seminars, the themes are explored deeper during group discussions based on questions and/or reading material, and students will give presentations on a small project (and project results) they are required to carry out.

Course assessment: The final grade is based on the scale 1-5, on the following requirements:

- Attendance and participation: Lectures attendance 1 op; Seminars attendance: 1 op; active participation in the discussions: 1 op.

- Project: 1 op.

- Project diary: 1 op.

Project: Students in groups of 2 or 3 are required to carry out a small project based on issues related to the course – the course convenor will provide topics, or students can choose their own. Students are expected to investigate a particular question (linked to the lecture themes) and answer to it concretely, for instance by putting in practice some research methods (eg. interviewing, visual/photographic methods, questionnaires, comparing some statistics or an issues related to youth between one’s home country and Finland, etc…). Each group of students will then give a presentation (max. 30 min long) about their project and show their results to the class.

Project diary: Students are required to write a diary on the development of their small project. They must explain why they chose a particular topic, which methods (and why) they used to enquire the question, the results they obtained, how the whole process did develop, and what they learnt. The diary should also be connected to the reading material (provided by the course convenor or own literature sources) so as to provide a richer analysis.

Length: 5-7 pages long.

Teaching - time & place

Lectures are taught on Mondays at 14-16 in PINNI A, ls. 2089

Seminars are taught on Fridays at 12-14 in LINNA  K107 - except the last seminar: takes place on Thursday 17.4., Time: 12-14, Place: Linna 6031.

Transnational Anthropology -course:

Identities and Family Lives Students are familiarized with the multiple ways in which social anthropology conceptualizes social and cultural processes that transgress (and reach beyond) the boundaries of nation states. The student understands in both empirical and theoretical terms that the diverse social and cultural processes transform various social fields and generate forms of mobility. These facts have multiple bearings on family, home, household, subjectivities and self-understandings.

The course aims to deepen the students’ analytic and critical focus on transnational phenomena and to increase his/her ability formulate relevant research questions.

Lectures on Tuesdays 12-15, place: Linna 6019

Enrolment in OPSU 26.2.2014  – 9.3.2014 !