Chaire Francqui

In addition to the inaugural lecture, Prof. Anne Buyse provides four workshops which are detailed below. To register your attendance to these workshops, please complete the following form.

Workshop 2 – March 16, 2022 - 4:15-6:15 pm (SOCR11) 

(UN)TALKING FAMILY:

World-to-person and person-to-world family narratives 

“Talking family” does not appear in a vacuum and is not power-free. This applies both to the world- to-person narratives – the cultural master narratives that “reflect” reality and that families “undergo”, such as the marriage plot, heteronormativity or the dominance of blood ties – and the person-to-world narratives – the mundane, ongoing, scattered narratives that construct families and that families develop. We will discuss 3 power issues: (1) tellability (narratives in interaction, in context), (2) tellorship (cocreated narratives, negotiated by all participants), and (3) social location (gender, race, socio-economic status, …) and intersectionality. And we focus on the implications for research, clinical practice, prevention, training and education.

Link to Workshop 2 on Youtube

Workshop 3 – March 30, 2022 - 4:15-6:15 pm (SOCR40) 

(UN)TALKING FAMILY:

“Contradictions are signs of health. Everything absolute belongs to pathology” (Nietzche)

We will discuss narratives as “reflecting” versus “constructing” reality and the impact these two disparate perspectives have on studying families, clinical practice, prevention, training and education. We will contrast the idea of family members as “reflexive beings” with a desire for unitary coherence with the wealth of ambivalent statements, contradictory attitudes, incompatible values and emotional internal clashes that family stories entail. The first (reflexive and coherent family members) is what we hope for (in questionnaires, experiments, therapy, training, prevention, ...).

The latter (unreflective everydayness) is closer to reality and becomes clear, for example in research aimed at unraveling meaning-making. Since both clearly have their strengths and weaknesses, the question is whether a reconciliation of the two is necessary or desirable.

Link to Workshop 3 on Youtube

Workshop 4 – May 4, 2022 - 4:15-6:15 pm (SOCR40) 

(UN)TALKING FAMILY:

Context and Agency

Following up on the previous classes, we further tap into “Family Discourses” (master narratives) and “family discourses” (everyday forms of talk or small stories). In the first, the person, beliefs, actions, and interactions (the world as we see it), including our sense of who-we-are, is the product of existing Family Discourses. In the latter, family discourses are used (in interaction) to construct a sense of self, of the other, with us, the speakers or narrators as agents who are agentively (and responsibly) involved in this construction process. We will particularly focus on the value and

importance of “small talk”. Not because of the content, but because of the context, its social function. Every speech act is an act, meant not only to communicate something, but to do something: reassure, acknowledge, nurture, enjoin, reject, dominate, encourage, or just fill awkward silence. It is the social function of speech act. Unlike semantic content, social function cannot be understood in isolation. Social function depends entirely on context, on tone and body language, on the interpersonal roles being played, on historical, cultural and environmental cues. It only makes sense in relation to context. We will also and especially pay attention to the way in which context can be both facilitating and limiting in research, clinical practice, education, training and prevention.

Link to Workshop 4 on Youtube

Workshop 5 – May 12, 2022 - 5 pm -6:15 pm (MONT10)

(UN)TALKING DISCOURSE-DEPENDENT FAMILY:

narratives as equipment for family living

In the last class we focus on “untold” or “undertold” family narratives and emphasize the importance of telling them. Not just for those currently being silenced in research, clinical practice, prevention, education or training. But also because the greater the variability, the richer the narratives and the greater the arsenal of “tools for family living” for everyone. Research with families varying in “social

locations” (gender, race, socioeconomic status) reveals narratives that can be “helpful” or “liberating” for many. Just a few examples (many more to be discovered in the workshop):

• In donor family narratives, “family ties” are more often seen as voluntary (as opposed to involuntary in traditional families), which gives many more degrees of freedom in the way meaning is given to relationships.
• Similarly, in reconstituted families, alienation is a (temporary) option in family relationships alongside intimacy, broadening the scope of parent-child relationships.
• Black lesbian women talk about “coming into the life” as an alternative and critique to the coming-out literature, which primarily has focused on white, middle-class lesbian and gay disclosure experiences.
• A narrative of gender equality might be different in the context of women in poverty who are nevertheless able to exercise “power” through household chores.

At the end of Workshop 5, there will be a reception to celebrate the Chaire Francqui award to Prof. Ann Buysse, and to thank her for the five workshops. The reception provides a perfect opportunity to join the celebration, and to informally discuss the workshops with Prof. Ann Buysse and other attendees of the workshops.

Registration here

Link to Workshop 5 on Youtube