• Posted on: 2 March 2020

After its seminal event in Barcelona, Spain in 2018, the IUSSP Scientific Panel on New and Emerging Family Forms around the Globe conducted its 2nd International Seminar on 20-21 January 2020 at the University of the Philippines Diliman with the U.P. Population Institute (UPPI) hosting. Generous support from the IUSSP and U.P. Office of International Linkages (UP-OIL) as well as individual participant contributions were key to the success of the event.


Despite the ongoing threat of a major eruption from Taal Volcano in Batangas Province, about 90 km south of the venue, the Seminar was able to proceed with 11 presentations and around 37 local and international observers present. While five presentations were cancelled due to the inability of some participants to fly to Manila in relation to Taal, the fact that the majority of registered participants still expressed their willingness to attend led the host organization UPPI in consultation with the IUSSP to press on as scheduled.

Presenters represented four continents of the world- Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. Each of the presentations was immediately followed by an open forum. Members of the faculty of the UPPI and UP Department of Sociology served as moderators of the sessions. While most individual presentations dealt with country or regional data, post-presentation discussions at the end of every day encouraged cross-country and cross-regional comparison and more in-depth analyses.


On 20 January 2020, Day 1 of the Seminar, the program started at 9 a.m. with UPPI Director and IUSSP Panel member, Maria Midea M. Kabamalan giving the welcome remarks. Next was a message by Mercedes B. Concepcion, Philippines National Scientist and Honorary President of the IUSSP followed by IUSSP Panel Chair Brianna Perelli-Harris’s introduction of the event.

Session 1 entitled “Family Change around the World” saw five presentations which focused on changing family dynamics especially in relation to socio-economic determinants. Cohabitation was explored in both European and African contexts, in terms of its relationship with, among others, socio-economic status and spatial context. In Europe as well, researchers zoomed in on the dynamics between relationship quality and childbearing and separation. In a pan-Asian context, Indian and Philippine studies explored ongoing shifts and changes in family forms as newer arrangements have come to the fore, upending more clear-cut, traditional family settings.

At the end of the fifth presentation on Day 1, Albert Esteve led a spirited, 30-minute discussion on changing family patterns with key inputs from the session.

The second day of the Seminar (21 January 2020) saw three sessions with two paper presentations each. Session 1, entitled “Changes in Partnership Formation and Living Together” presented the bounded shifts in decision-making in terms of arranged marriages in India and, in the second paper, the phenomenon of commuter unions in Nigeria in relation to changing gender roles and rising standard of living. Session 2, “Living Alone”, saw a global comparison of the rates of “living alone” by sex and age group and its relationship with human development index. The other presentation discussed expectations of marriage timing and the delay of marriage in the USA in relation to race, gender and socio-economic class. Finally, Session 3 or “Living Alone and Childlessness” looked into the isolation and self-measured loneliness of older people in the Philippines and the differences in decision-making paths for Indians and Canadians in relation to a childless (or childfree) partnership.

Summing up the second day’s presentations was another lively discussion led by Sharon Sassler followed by the closing ceremony.

This Seminar was able to help the participants in rethinking their thoughts about new and emerging family life forms around the world as well as the threats and challenges that further complicate these changes and shifts.

The IUSSP Panel members met after the seminar and chose several papers from this and the first seminar in Barcelona, to be invited to form papers of a book.

Participant feedbacks

The organizers conducted an online poll of participants on Google Sheets to capture their sentiments and opinions regarding the conduct of the seminar. In the survey sheet, topics were divided into “Subject Matter”, “Seminar Content”, “Speakers, and “Seminar Environment”. The respondents were also asked to provide additional comments and suggestions towards the improvement of similar seminars, including their likes or dislikes about the event. The following paragraphs summarize the findings from the poll.

Under “Subject Matter”, 100% of respondents said that it was well-prepared, interesting, and meeting their expectations. Relevance to job or duties, however, was lower at 78.6% reflecting their suggestions in terms of increasing the number of papers on the core topic as well as broadening or diversifying its coverage through the inclusion of researchers and students from other disciplines like anthropology and human ecology, among others.

For “Seminar Content”, which includes achievement of course objectives, appropriateness in terms of particiant levels, and time given for participant interaction, respondents gave 100%. Pacing and seminar length got lower scores at 92.9%. Related is the scoring for “Speakers” where mastery of subject, time given for questions as well as adequacy of responses were all given 100%. This is reflected in the comments where a couple of participants described the event as a success with methodologically-interesting presentations punctuated by good interactions, lively exchanges and fruitful discussions in-between. Speakers and organizers, they added, engaged the plenary and were receptive to everyone who wished to contribute to the discussions and debates.

Lastly, in terms of the “Seminar Environment”, 100% was given for its “non-threatening” aspect and comfort while chairs got a lower score of 85.7%. The latter is supported in some comments where the chairs were said to be not laptop-friendly and unwieldy.

The fact that the seminar was free of charge and that the organizers and hosts were friendly and open mattered as well to the participants. The tour around the Campus and the intimate setting were appreciated as well.




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