ANTH/WMGS 326 Issues in the Anthropology of Kinship
Mar. 5: Parenthood: Are non-traditional parents more traditional?
Required readings: Pelka, Suzanne (2010) “Observing multiple mothering: A case study of childrearing in a U.S. lesbian-led family.” ETHOS, 38(4): 422–440. [note this is in a special theme issue on motherhood]

Lewin, Ellen (2009) “How Gay Fathers Dream the Family.” Anthropology News 50(2):14

Another example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tXgw0E3Vck

What is a “good parent” and how is this culturally informed?

How do Pelka’s non-traditional couples rear their children?
- what is unusual about the Feinman family?
    - how is it organized?
- how do the Feinmans rear their children? Who does what?
    - what are “nontraditional traditionalists”?
- how do they learn to rear their children?
    - how do people you know learn to rear their children?

- by thinking about how the Feinmans rear their children, can we develop ideas about what kinds of structural elements (class, religion, place of origin, etc.) might affect how children are reared?

Lewin: is parenthood associated with full adulthood? Why do people wish to become parents?

Discussion questions:
- is parenthood for GLBTQ people evidence of assimilation to heteronormativity or is it a radical statement?
- how is parenthood shaped by the attitudes of those in the surrounding community?
- to what extent should the community or the state have input into the type of parents a child has?

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Suzuki