A Family Matter

Set in Bombay in the mid-1990s, Family Matters tells a story of familial love and obligation, of personal and political corruption, of the demands of tradition and the possibilities for compassion. Nariman Vakeel, the patriarch of a small discordant family, is beset by Parkinson’s and haunted by memories of his past. He lives with his two middle-aged stepchildren, Coomy, bitter and domineering, and her brother, Jal, mild-mannered and acquiescent. But the burden of the illness worsens the already strained family relationships. Soon, their sweet-tempered half-sister, Roxana, is forced to assume sole responsibility for her bedridden father. And Roxana’s husband, besieged by financial worries, devises a scheme of deception involving his eccentric employer at a sporting goods store, setting in motion a series of events that leads to the narrative’s moving outcome. Family Matters has all the richness, the gentle humour, and the narrative sweep that have earned Mistry the highest of accolades around the world.

Now in its fourth edition, Family Matters offers an enriched discussion on a variety of substantive issues experienced by diverse Canadian families across the life course. Adopting a feminist sociological approach throughout, this popular textbook explores family dynamics through a critical life course theoretical lens. This over-arching perspective is used to examine how social, economic, and historical processes related to gender roles, age and generational location, ethnicity and race, geographical location, and social change shape contemporary family life. As a leading name in sociology, Barbara Mitchell has thoroughly updated the previous edition to reflect timely current events, recent census data, and cutting-edge research. Providing more detailed and nuanced discussions of many areas including life course and other styles of critical theorizing on families, this new edition examines the history of slavery and Black family life in Canada, Indigenous families, foreign/temporary workers, intersectional and racialized processes influencing families, youth activism, transgender children, technology and social media, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on aging families. Approachable, concise, and filled with discussion questions, activities, and resources for further reading, Family Matters is the perfect resource for students enrolled in introductory or advanced level courses in family sociology and gender studies. FEATURES - Up-to-date material featuring current events, recent research studies and statistics, including census and other national data sets - New and expanded content on a wide range of timely topics, such as Indigenous and racialized family life, transgender children, technology and social media ,and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

This powerful graphic novel confirms Will Eisner as a master of the genre. In this classic graphic novel, Will Eisner’s pen cuts an expansive swath through all aspects of the human condition. A Family Matter starts close to home, following a family as it gathers to observe the ninetieth birthday of its patriarch. While they must decide how best to provide for him, he ends up making a crucial choice of his own.

What is family? Citing national security and societal welfare, the Harper government adopted a strict definition of family to limit access to citizenship for certain immigrants. Megan Gaucher analyzes the government's assessment of sexual-minority refugee claimants' relationship history, common-law and married spousal sponsorship applications, and marriage fraud, concluding that this narrative of citizenship reinforces racialized, gendered, and sexualized assumptions about the "Canadian family." As many Western governments ponder more restrictive immigration policies, A Family Matter offers a timely examination of the Canadian approach and proposes a course for re-evaluating how family is defined and implementing fairer assessments of immigrants and refugees.

Family Matters focuses on research and clinical material which bridges the traditional gap between child and adult mental health. Rather than considering child and adult problems separately, the authors address the often complex interactions between the two, covering such topics as: · The implications of childhood trauma in later life · The impact of parental mental health problems on children · How interactions within a family can affect the mental health of all individuals within the family The authors review existing research and cover their own recent studies and practical experience, and put forward new theoretical models to underpin their recommendations for changes in practice, such as liason initiatives between child and adult services and specialised services to treat adolescents, parenting breakdown and perinatal psychiatric illness. The findings and recommendations in Family Matters have have important implications for the organsiation and funding of mental health and related services, and staff training, and should be read by all those in professions concerned with child and adult mental health, including psychiatrists, family therapists, psychotherapists, nurses, health visitors and social workers, and health service managers.

Explores how recent changes in children's and parents' roles in the family have impacted the education system and offers teachers advice and strategies for dealing with the effects of those changes.

Italian Family Matters examines the debates and political priorities that led to significant changes in the law and its relation to women and the family in postwar Italy. Informed by the feminist debates on these issues, it shows that both the need for and the limits to the demand for equality before the law can be used to show what a different ordering of the relations between the sexes could mean.