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77371-01 - Seminar: Families in Global Perspective: How Kinship and Migration Are Shaped by Transnational Senegalese Families (3 CP)
| Semester | fall semester 2025 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Nicolas Mabillard (nicolas.mabillard@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | First, this seminar will give a socio-anthropological overview of how kinship shapes family life (marriage, relationship between siblings, intergenerational relationships dynamics, affective and care networks, etc.) and show how socio-cultural, economic and religious factors affect its place in society. Second, the seminar will focus on how Wolof kinship structures have been defined, how they have changed over the 20th and 21th century, and the kind of relationships they usually induce between family members. From there, it will examine the ways in which family bonds are constructed, enacted and reproduced among Senegalese transnational families living in Senegal, European countries and the United States of America. The intersection of kinship structures, social media usage, negotiated and shared moralities, multiple socialization processes, and intergenerational relationships will serve as reference points for the sociological study and conceptualization of transnational family life from a Senegalese perspective. |
| Learning objectives | Students will either acquire – or develop their existing – knowledge of sociological theories about the various ways of making and conceptualizing family in Senegal. They will learn, contextualize and discuss the current sociological approaches to transnational families and assess their usefulness in studying Senegalese familial networks. They will develop their writing, analytical and group work skills by summarizing, contextualizing and discussing texts selected from a curated reference list – articles and book chapters – on sociological approaches to transnational families. At the end of the semester, the students will have jointly established a list of article or book chapter summaries on which to draw upon in their academic work. |
| Bibliography | Godelier, M. & Scott, N. 2011. The Metamorphoses of Kinship. London: Verso Books. Widmer, E. & Jallinoja, R. 2011: Families and kinship in contemporary Europe: rules and practices of relatedness. Palgrave Macmillan. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
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No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul: Theory and General Anthropology (Master's degree subject: Anthropology) Module: Fields: Governance and Politics (Master's degree program: African Studies) Module: Fields: Public Health and Social Life (Master's degree program: African Studies) Module: Migration, Mobility and Transnationalism (Master's degree program: Changing Societies: Migration – Conflicts – Resources) Specialization Module Global Europe: Environment and Sustainability (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | The assessment is based on thirteen individual 1 - 1.5 pages article or book chapter summary and critique written assignments (one for each session), three individual discussion leading assignments (three for the semester) and active in-class participation. The number of discussion leading assignments is subject to change in accordance with the number of students enrolled. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Abteilung African Studies |