Subjects: Relationships / Family / Parenting

Explains the four functions of family stories. Students learn how family stories provide moral lessons, help to connect generations, shape personal identity, and socialize new members into the family. Discussion topics also include the universal importance of family stories, the kinds of questions family stories tend to answer, and the genealogical function of family stories. Featured interview: Professor Rives Collins (Northwestern University).

Considers the impact of relational culture, dialectical tensions, and relational currencies (ways of sharing affection). Definitions for and examples of each are provided. A special emphasis is placed on shared meaning and congruence of currencies. Featured interviews: Dr. Charles Wilkinson, Marriage and Family Therapist and Professor Julia Wood (University of North Carolina ).

Focuses on the importance role of rituals in creating, managing, and maintaining relationships. Discussion explores verbal and non-verbal marital communication rituals – particularly the day-to-day, often very intimate ones. Students learn to recognize and define the different ritual functions help create a culture of two. Featured interview: Professor and researcher Carol Bruess (Hamline University).

Focuses on the role of everyday conversation in creating and maintaining a family relationship. The class explores the three faces of talk: informative talk, talk as a means of expression, and talk as a tool for re-establishing contact. Specific focus is given to general talk and its unique meanings. Two specific kinds of talk – debriefing conversations and self-disclosure – are also defined and discussed in detail. Featured interview: Professor Anita Vangelisti (University of Texas – Austin) and Professor Julia Wood (University of North Carolina).

Includes a description of the course’s philosophy and goals, and defines the basic assumptions challenged in this course. Together Dr. Galvin and the students create definitions for the terms “family” and “communication,” and discuss the types of families that will be analyzed in the course. Featured interview: Professor Dr. William Pinsof (Northwestern University), President and CEO of The Family Institute at Northwestern University

Reviews the powerful role of communication patterns in the family. Positive, negative, conscious, and unconscious patterns are discussed. The class also introduces the concept of “adaptability patterns” which provides a basis for understanding the level of emotional bonding and the degree of individual autonomy acceptable in a family. Featured interviews: Professor Douglas Kelley (Arizona State University-West) and Dr. Charles Wilkinson, Marriage and Family Therapist.

Reviews the supporting functions of a family system, including the creation of congruent images and central family themes. Students learn to discern family boundaries (i.e. rigid, flexible, non-existent), and to define meaningful biosocial issues, such as position, person, and gender orientation. The class also explores how the systemic nature of the family applies to family structure. Featured interview: Dr. Charles Wilkinson, Marriage and Family Therapist.

Uses discussion of a hypothetical family in therapy to illustrate the interconnectedness/systemic nature of the family structure. Several key concepts in systems theory are described, including interdependence, patterns of self-regulation, interactive complexity/punctuation, and structural complexity. The class closes with a discussion on the limitations of a systems approach to analyzing family structures.

Explores the basic dynamics of a multi-generational family. Dr. Galvin introduces genograms – a system of symbols that help students create a family tree for the purpose of recording information about family members, analyzing complex family interaction patterns, and looking at the influence of multiple generations on family relationships. Featured interview: Dr. Charles Wilkinson, Marriage and Family Therapist.

Explores communication challenges in multi-generational families from a standpoint of ethnic and cultural influences. Class begins with a definition of “ethnicity” and then looks at various cultural conceptions of family, particularly those of African-American, Hispanic, Native-American and Italian cultures. Discussion examines the role of ethnicity and culture in creating family values, managing conflict and sharing affection. Featured interviews: Professor Rhunette Diggs (University of Louisville) and students enrolled in Northwestern University’s Master of Science in Communication program.