APY 512LEC - Kinship and Social Structure

In the words of the anthropologist Robert McKinley, “Kinship itself is a moral philosophy. It answers the question of how it is possible for one human being to be morally bound to another. The strength of a kinship system is based on its ability to draw people into this framework of mutual trust.” Kinship contributes to the integration of social relations, face-to-face and sight unseen, in deep time and in the present. Yet kin relations may also be fraught with violence, ranging from sacrifice to murder; some would argue that kinship and racism are simply different dimensions of the same phenomenon. We will focus on the social processes of kinship, gender and sexuality through which people define, create, extend, limit, sever or transform their relatedness with others within and over generations in a range of political-economic contexts. We will explore: - how people conceptualize who is, or is not, their own “kin” or “kind” and why; - the moral imagination involved in working through the contradictory loyalties characterizing even the most intimate relations; - where, how, and why people draw the lines between themselves and other forms of organic life; - how generative, degenerative, and deadly relations are expressed in forms ranging from substances like blood, milk, semen or sap to new reproductive technologies and genetic genealogies; - and the significance of places - houses, land, cityscapes - in creating, shaping, containing, and transforming relationships over time.

Credits: 3