Overall objectives:

1 - To identify the main concepts of the family and the problems related to notions of gender and sex;
2 - To analyse the creation myths and the philosophical texts about women and family, noticing the differences and similarities between them;
3 - Being able to distinguish between the notions of oikos, gens, familia and domus;
4 - Knowing the main features of the legal and social configuration of family and marriage;
5 - Being able to interpret the more important ancient medical texts about conception, pregnancy, birth and childhood;
6 - To recognize the fundamental influences of Christianity in the family;
7 - Critically analyse definitions and settings family's;
8 - Understand the main challenges facing the family in the century XXI;
9 - Identify the transformations that the family goes through during its evolutionary process;
10 - Discuss and reflect on current themes of family psychology.

Syllabus:

1 - Introduction to the study of the family in the West;
1.1 - The notion of family;
1.2 - The notion of gender and of sex;
2 - The mythological and philosophical discourses on the creation of women and the family;
3 - Family in ancient societies (from Ancient Greece to the Early modern period):
3.1 - The notions of oikos, gens, familia and domus;
3.2 - The legal and social perspective of marriage and the family (marriage and other forms of union, divorce, the power of the paterfamilias);
3.3 - The female condition in ancient and early modern medical texts (the nature of women, conception, pregnancy, miscarriage, termination of pregnancy, childbirth);
3.4 - Childhood in ancient societies (rituals of acceptance of the newborn, education, exposure and infanticide, the thesis of Philippe Ariès).
3.5 - The influence of Christian doctrine on the configuration of families;
4 - The psychological definition of the concept of family:
4.1 - The family life cycle;
4.2 - Characteristics of the family system;
4.3 - Subsystems: characteristics and functions.
5 - The family today:
5.1 - Statistical and empirical data;
5.2 - "New forms" of family;
5.3 - Families and the new challenges (e.g., parental burnout, information and communication technologies, chronic illness, domestic violence).

Literature/Sources:

Grusec, J. E. , 2011 , Socialization processes in the family: Social and emotional development , Annual Review of Psychology, 62
Bray, J. H., & Stanton, M. (Eds.) , 2009 , The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Family Psychology , Unit ed Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Relvas, A. P., & Major, S. , 2014 , Avaliação familiar. Funcionamento e Intervenção (vol. I e II) , Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra
Alarcão, M. , 2000 , (Des)Equilíbrios familiares: Uma visão sistémica. , Coimbra, Quarteto Editora
Fernandes, O.T., & Maia, C. (Eds.) , 2005 , A família portuguesa no ano séc. XXI , Porto: Parsifal
Flemming, R. , 2000 , Medicine and the making of Roman women: gender, nature, and authority from Celsus to Galen , Oxford University Press.
King, H. , 1998 , Hippocrates' woman: reading the female body in ancient Greece , Routledge.
Neils, J., J. H. Oakley, et al. , 2003 , Coming of age in ancient Greece: images of childhood from the classical past , Yale University Press
Rawson, B. , 2011 , A companion to families in the Greek and Roman worlds , Wiley-Blackwell
Relvas, A. P. , 2006 , O ciclo vital da família , Porto, Edições Afrontamento
Rosa, M. J. , 2012 , O envelhecimento da sociedade portuguesa , Lisboa: FFMS
Silva, M. L. , 2012 , A crise, a família e a crise da família , Lisboa: FFMS
Vieira, C. , 2006 , É menino ou menina? Género e Educação em Contexto Familiar , Coimbra: Almedina.
Cristina Santos Pinheiro, Joaquim Pinheiro, Gabriel F. Silva & Rui Carlos Fonseca , 2022 , Gynaikeia. Colectânea de textos antigos de ginecologia , Edições Húmus

Assesssment methods and criteria:

Classification Type: Quantitativa (0-20)

Evaluation Methodology:
Lectures: oral presentations, occasionally using support material (anthology of texts or ensays) employing mainly the analytical method. - Evaluation methods: Written tests (2, 50% each): as a written test allows assessing the knowledge and comprehension of the syllabus. Aditionally it allows assessing the written expression, and the competencies to describe, summarize and relate different concepts of the syllabus.