DTS315H1

Marriage and Family across Nations, Diasporas, and Boundaries

How do migration and resettlement affect marriage and family life? This course will explore marital, familial, sexual, and other relational aspects of diaspora and migration, examining how marriage and family become tools for maintaining cultural traditions and gender hierarchies but are also areas of life where negotiation, creativity, and rebellion occur. Transnational in its scope, the course will investigate how marriage and family involve choices but also constraints imposed by communities, cultures, religions, and nation-states. A primary objective of this course will be to interrogate how marriage and family relations consist of choices and constraints that are experienced, celebrated, lamented, and resisted. The class will draw on interdisciplinary approaches and present case studies from a variety of diasporic communities in Canada and other migration contexts.