Special Topic: Parenting and alloparenting around the world: extended family care, fosterage, adoption, surrogacy and gamete donation

This course will focus on the various forms of parenting support from intermittent childcare to changes in primary caregiver. This includes parental helpers of various types: extended family caregivers, foster carers, and adoptive parents. This content will be explored from a culturally comparative framework, both from history and to the present. Diverse geographical and cultural perspectives from regions such as Africa, Asia, the Arctic, North America, the U.K, Aotearoa New Zealand (both Maori and settler worldviews), and Samoa will be included. This exploration will extend to new assistive technologies, such as surrogacy and gamete donation.