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

• generalisation of kinship as closed ‘mechanisms’

• only biologically defined though biology is also heavily constructed by society

• 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

• ignored 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’?

• relatedness is not a natural instict → chosen family

• shifts focus to the emotional qualities kinship relations have

• everyday practices include emotional dynamics and are culturally specific

• helps to understand that ideas abt bodies and gender structure social relations

• include and combine biological and social processes of kinship

• ‘‘substance’ shows varied/fluid aspects of kinship

• we get a more accurate picture of societies and their structures away from the forced coherence that was imposed on societies before

= 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, 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, ritualsm emotional ties, …

biological:

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

filiation and descendance

• blood relation as core element of cohesion in stateless societies

• focus on descendance rules

• 8 primary relations:

  • f - father, m- mother, s - son, d - daughter, b - brother, z - sister, h - husband, w - wife

general terms of lineage

• forms of descent:

  • unilinear (patri- or matrilinear)

  • bilateral ( both lineges)

• forms of residence:

  • uxoriolocal: (with relatives of wife)

  • virilocal (w relatives of husband)

  • matrilocal (w mother of one spouse)

  • patrilocal

  • ambilocal or bilocal (w family of one spouse)

  • neolocal (new residence)

• endogamy (marriage within the own social group) vs. exogamy (marriage outside own social group)

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 (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