Familie und andere Formen des Zusammenwohnens im urbanen Indien mit Nadja-Christina Schneider

In the organizer's words:

Family is a vague collective term for the most diverse forms of togetherness. It stands for origin and belonging, but also for obligation and conflict. As a central building block of social life, the family conveys rules and norms, shapes desires, fears and goals.

At the same time, there is no binding definition of what a family is. In different times and cultures, it can be understood and taken for granted in very different ways.

The interdisciplinary lecture series "Beziehungsweise Familie" is dedicated to the contradictory reality of the nuclear family model that is widespread today, especially in Western industrialized countries, and asks for alternatives from a global perspective.

Renowned academics from various disciplines and subject areas will present current research for discussion that examines the potential of alternative family and kinship concepts in terms of their creative, ethical and innovative aspects.

The lecture series is the prelude to the Humboldt Forum's theme year of the same name, which starts in fall 2025.

Conception of the series: Prof. Dr. Daniel Tyradellis (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), Dr. Alia Rayyan (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), Dr. Laura Goldenbaum (Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss). The lecture series is taking place as part of a cooperation between the institutions of the Humboldt Forum.

Programmatic director of the cross-institutional cluster: Dr. Laura Goldenbaum.

About the lecture by Prof. Dr. Nadja-Christina Schneider (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institute for Asian and African Studies)

Nadja-Christina Schneider's lecture will examine the extent to which housing planning in India has changed in recent decades to take account of new social and demographic developments. Although the trend, especially in larger cities, is clearly moving towards housing forms for smaller family units, multi-generational households continue to exist. A rapidly growing market has also emerged for age-appropriate housing and care facilities. Households and communal living are still closely associated with the "family living model", particularly from a state perspective. Does this in turn offer space for alternative forms of family and kinship alongside heteronormative extended and nuclear families? And conversely, how accepted are individual or communal forms of living that deliberately do not define themselves in terms of family or kinship? The lecture will take a closer look at these questions using selected examples.

Prof. Dr. Nadja-Christina Schneider is a South Asian scholar and teaches as a professor at the Institute for Asian and African Studies at HU Berlin. The results of her research on family, reproduction and housing in India can be found in the two book publications "Reimagining Housing, Rethinking the Role of Architects in India" (Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing, 2024)(open access) and "Family Norms and Images in Transition. Contemporary Negotiations of Reproductive Labor, Love and Relationships in India" (ed. with Fritzi-Marie Titzmann) (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2020).

- Free admission

- Language: German

- Room 3, ground floor

- Part of: Lecture series Beziehungsweise Familie