If you were to choose between your family and your friends, who would you choose, and why? When is the family an oppressive structure? When is it a recourse against social and political oppression? What are the links between heterosexuality and capitalism? Is homosexuality inherently subversive? How are the private and the public spheres articulated, and for what purpose?

The focus of the course is the twentieth century and the modern family. In addition to short theoretical texts dealing with the construction of the modern bourgeois family, we will examine a variety of literary texts and visual media that challenge existing models and/or propose alternative ones.

Class Format:

The course is taught in French.