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Anthropological Perspectives on Kinship - YBLS003

Title:	Anthropological Perspectives on Kinship
Guaranteed by:	Programme Liberal Arts and Humanities (24-SHVAJ)
Faculty:	Faculty of Humanities
Actual:	from 2025
Semester:	summer
E-Credits:	4
Examination process:	summer s.:
Hours per week, examination:	summer s.:2/0, MC [HT]
Capacity:	unlimited / unknown (30)
Min. number of students:	5
4EU+:	no
Virtual mobility / capacity:	no
Key competences:
State of the course:	taught
Language:	English
Teaching methods:	full-time
Level:
Old code:	YBAJ245
Note:	course can be enrolled in outside the study plan enabled for web enrollment

Guarantor:	doc. Mgr. Lenka Jakoubková Budilová, Ph.D.
Teacher(s):	doc. Mgr. Lenka Jakoubková Budilová, Ph.D.
Class:	Courses available to incoming students
Pre-requisite :	{Group of prerequisites for LAH and Exchange students - ANTR}
Incompatibility :	YBAJ245

SS schedule Noticeboard

Annotation -

The course will introduce the ways kinship has been conceptualized in social anthropology. Students will learn about anthropological discussions on important concepts like nature and nurture, consanguinity and affinity, or unilineal and cognatic descent. The ways of conceptualizing relatedness in cross-cultural perspective will be discussed, from the Western notion based on the reference to biological reproduction to milk kinship, blood brotherhood, godparenthood, or “chosen kinship”. Variety of possibilities of the forms of marriage and family households will be presented. Students will read important texts on anthropological analyses of kinship terminology, strengths and weaknesses of the genealogical method and the new reproductive technologies.

Last update: Horáčková Karolína, Bc. (23.12.2024)

Course completion requirements

Regular attendance: students are expected to attend classes regularly. Regular attendance will be a part of the final grading (two absences during the term will be tolerated).

Active participation: Students are expected to actively participate in classes, read the assigned texts in advance, and engage in class discussions.

Mini tests: Starting in Week 2, we will have a 10–15-minute mini test at the end of each class (except for the guest lectures), based on the assigned reading for particular weeks and on the ideas from the classes.

Reflexive essay (600 – 1500 words): on the current kinship debates. Essay should be submitted at least one week before the exam. Detailed instructions will be provided at the beginning of the term. – 20 points (20%)

Final exam: The final oral exam (during the exam period) will be based on the discussion of the previously submitted essay.

Evaluation and grading

The final grade for the course is based on 100 points (100%), distributed across the following components:

1. Regular attendance and active participation – 20 points (20%)

2. Mini tests – 30 points (30%). There will be a total of 10 mini tests during the term.

3. Reflexive essay – 20 points (20%)

4. Final oral exam will be based on the discussion of the submitted reflexive essay – 30 points (30%)

Grading scale (points)

100 – 88 (1)

87 – 76 (2)

75 – 64 (3)

63 and less (4)

Use of AI (generative tools)

You may use generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT) to support your personal learning process, especially for brainstorming, testing ideas, clarifying terminology, or searching for relevant academic literature. AI outputs can be incorrect or biased; you are responsible for verifying claims and sources. Overreliance will negatively affect performance in mini tests, discussions, and the oral exam.

Not permitted:

Submitting AI-generated text (or AI-rewritten text) as your own in the reflexive essay.
Using AI to produce summaries/arguments instead of reading the assigned texts.
Using AI during mini tests.
Inventing, fabricating, or citing sources that you have not verified.

Required disclosure (for the essay):

If you used AI in any way beyond spelling/grammar checks (e.g., outlining, idea generation, literature suggestions), include an “AI use note” at the end of your essay (3–6 sentences): what tool you used, for what purpose, what prompts/inputs were used in general terms, and what you accepted/rejected.

Data privacy:
Do not upload sensitive or personal data into public AI tools (e.g., interview transcripts, identifiable information about classmates/participants).

Last update: Jakoubková Budilová Lenka, doc. Mgr., Ph.D. (23.02.2026)

Teaching methods

Course is taught in the form of lectures and discussions of the texts. Students are expected to read the assigned texts and actively participate in discussions in the classes. A part of the course is also an essay and the final oral exam based on the discussion of the essay.

Last update: Jakoubková Budilová Lenka, doc. Mgr., Ph.D. (02.02.2026)

Syllabus

WEEK 1 Kinship in anthropology (February 24, 2026)

WEEK 2 Kinship: consanguine, affine, fictive kinship. Relatedness (March 3, 2026)

WEEK 3 Genealogy, genealogical method, genealogical grid (March 10, 2026)

WEEK 4 Kinship and relationship terms (March 17, 2026)

WEEK 5 Family and household: typologies, developmental cycles March 24, 2026)

WEEK 6 The choice of a marriage partner. Endogamy, exogamy, hypergamy, hypogamy (March 31, 2026)

WEEK 7 Marriage: types of marriage, marriage prestations, postmarital residence (April 7, 2026)

WEEK 8 Kinship and descent. Descent groups. Unilineal descent. Segmentary system. Cognatic kinship (April 14, 2026)

WEEK 9 Lenka Zahrádková: When Lineage Follows Women: Matriliny and Birth among the Khasi of Northeast India (guest lecture) (April 21, 2026)

WEEK 10 Reading week. No class (April 28, 2026)

WEEK 11 Marriage as alliance. Reciprocity and exchange (May 5, 2026)

WEEK 12 Kinship and the concept of personality. Created kinship, chosen kinship. Kinning of foreigners. Kinship with non-human (May 12, 2026)

WEEK 13 Shagufta Hamid Ali: Culturally Constructed Behaviours Regarding Assisted Reproductive Technologies among Muslim Communities (guest lecture) (May 19, 2026)

Last update: Jakoubková Budilová Lenka, doc. Mgr., Ph.D. (23.02.2026)

Learning resources

Barnard, Alan - Good, Anthony (1984). Research Practices in the Study of Kinship. London: Academic Press.
Carsten, Janet, ed. (2000). Cultures of Relatedness. New Approaches to the Study of Kinship. Cambridge University Press.
Holy, Ladislav (1996). Anthropological Perspectives on Kinship. London: Pluto Press.
Stone, Linda, ed. (2001). New Directions in Anthropological Kinship. Rowman & Littlefield Publisher, Inc.

Moodle: https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=16097

Last update: Jakoubková Budilová Lenka, doc. Mgr., Ph.D. (02.02.2026)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

· Critically assess culturally diverse notions of relatedness (e.g., milk kinship, godparenthood, chosen kin) and recognize Western/biological biases in classic kinship approaches.

· Discuss and evaluate contemporary debates in kinship (personhood, kinning, non-human relatedness, assisted reproduction/new reproductive technologies) and formulate a coherent argument.

· Define and correctly use key concepts in anthropological kinship studies (e.g., relatedness, consanguinity/affinity, descent, alliance, household).

· Analyse marriage, household, descent and alliance models (including “rules vs. strategies”) using ethnographic cases discussed in class.

· Apply the genealogical method: elicit kinship data, construct genealogies/genealogical diagrams, and evaluate methodological strengths and limitations of genealogical reasoning.

Last update: Jakoubková Budilová Lenka, doc. Mgr., Ph.D. (02.02.2026)