S6) After kinship

by Janet Carsten

how does Carsten criticise the classical definition of ‘relation/kinship’?

• blood and genetic descent are culturally charged metaphors and not universal facts

• ignores different local meanings, realities and overall complexity of life

• kinship = something ‘they’ have vs. families = something ‘we’ have → OTHERING, reinforced boundaries between ‘West’ and ‘the Rest’

• highly technical and academic, divorced from the messier realitites of social and political processes & everyday experiences of kinship

• focus on political rather than private dimensions

• fails to capture what makes kinship a vivid, important aspect of lives described

• ignores pressing political concerns of the (postcolonial) world

what’s the significance of the shift from focusing on ‘blood’ to focusing on ‘substance’ and ‘everyday practice’?

= it redefines relatedness as a process built through shared consumption, bodily experiences (like feeding), and domestic life, challenging fixed biological views and revealing kinship as culturally constructed concept, that is fluid, and constantly made and remade through mundane interactions like sharing food from the hearth

what does ‘after kinship’ mean - end or expansion of the concept?

• it in part means both:

  • end of the old, traditional sense of kinship

  • expands the concept, offers more fluidity and moves away from heteronormative views on institutions (marriage, nuclear family)

  • opens up for new concepts like care, adoption, migration, technology,…

social kinship vs biological kinship

social:

• relationships formed through societal norms, social practices, rituals, emotional ties, …

biological:

• connections between individuals established through blood, reproduction, etc.

Le’vi Strauss

• assumption of a universal incest taboo

• alliance theory: focus on marriage alliances, exchange relationships, relation groups

• women as ultimate exchange object (kotz würg)

Schneider’s turning point

• critique on eurocentrism of kinship anthro

• blood does not cause deep and strong emotional ties

Carsten:

• relatedness as dynamic process

• everyday practices of importance in combination with bodily substances (eating together → blood → relation/kinship)

• chosen families is not fictive kinship

newer approaches by Signe Howell(kinning, belonging, care)

• transnationalisation of families and social networks

• kinning: to make (someone) related, e.g. adoption

• belonging: highlights emotional connections with social-legal aspects

• care: highlights emotional and everyday practice care, also in context of institutions