Chapter 12 Additional Resources

Where Do Our Relatives Come From and Why Do They Matter?

Websites

  • Systematic Kinship Terminologies, University of Manitoba
    https://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/tutor/kinterms/termsys.html
    To refer to someone as a “relative” is to acknowledge their station within the kinship system most applicable to your individual culture and/or society. For example, an individual may refer to their father’s brother as their “uncle” or “my father’s brother” depending on how they understand kin relationships and terminology. To this extent, kinship classification systems, terminology, diagrams, and the like can get convoluted very quickly. The University of Manitoba’s Department of Anthropology website does a great job of walking one through the basic kinship systems and providing applicable diagrams and examples of each category.
  • Kinship Editor 1.8, Harvard University
    http://pitf.harvard.edu/project/kinship-editor
    One of the best ways to learn kinship systems is to begin generating your own based on real or fictive families. This can be done using Harvard University’s Kinship Editor.
  • A Kinship Glossary, University of Alabama
    http://anthropology.ua.edu/Faculty/murphy/436/kinship.htm
    The University of Alabama hosts an excellent glossary of kinship terminology that is used within anthropology. In addition, it lists the primary ethnographic sources that utilize various concepts so that students can refer to these primary works.

Videos

Australian Human Rights Commision (1997) “Bringing them home: separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families”. (June 11, 2014 YouTube 32:29)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl82VMuuKI0

Documentary based on the report of the National Inquiry into the separation of Indigenous children from their families and reviews impacts on family structure and development.

Kazimi, Ali. 1998. Some Kind of Arrangement. Montreal: National Film Board of Canada. DVD, 45 min.

This film follows narratives of love, courtship, and marriage among three second-generation Canadians whose families have historically practiced arranged marriage. By exploring what happens when arranged marriage traditions are brought to Canada via immigration, this film functions as a commentary on the changing nature of marriage and family under conditions of globalization.

Singer, André. 1994. “W.H. Rivers: We Are All Relatives.” London: Carlton UK Television, Strangers Abroad Series. DVD, 52 min.

This film explores the pioneering work of anthropologist W.H. Rivers. In the late 1800s, on an expedition to the Torres Strait, Rivers noted that the islanders’ understandings of and classification systems for their relatives did not match the terminologies or understandings used by Europeans at the time. He therefore set out to document their kinship system by interviewing people and collecting genealogies. Ultimately, he became one of the first researchers to highlight the culturally constructed nature of kinship systems.

Wright, David. 2013. “Multiple Husbands.” National Geographic. YouTube video, 4:09. Posted May 2007, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4yjrDSvze0.

This short video introduces viewers to the practice of fraternal polyandry (one woman marrying multiple brothers) in the Himalayas of Tibet. While there exist a variety of reasons for polyandry, inhabitants of this region, where land is scarce, often practice polyandry for economic reasons and for the ability to keep inherited land “in the family.”

Larsson, Milene. 2016. The Land Where Women Rule: Inside China’s Last Matriarchy. Broadly. (YouTube 24:29). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_l9D7tEixc

This documentary explores the matrilineal Mosuo society of southwest China and their tradition of “walking marriage.” The Mosuo ethnic group do not have formal marriage rituals and instead practice “walking marriages,” which are loose and often temporary affiliations between men and women. Women continue to live with their matrilineal kin and do not live with their “husbands.” This unique marriage and residence pattern is slowly changing, however, as a result of globalization.

Books and Articles

Alia, Valerie. 2007. Names and Nunavut: Culture and Identity in the Inuit Homeland. New York: Berghahn Books.

Alia examines Inuit ways of naming, both themselves and the landscape they live in, focusing on how identity and politics closely align with the process of naming. She also explores the effects on the Inuit of the Canadian government program “Project Surname.”

Barth, Fredrik. 1954. “Father’s Brother’s Daughter Marriage in Kurdistan.” Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 10(2): 64–171.

Scholars have suggested that father’s brothers’ daughter marriage is common in the Middle East and seen as associated with Islam. Barth argued that these scholars have failed to consider the actual distribution and frequency of this practice. The implications for this form of marriage have also not been considered with respect to other aspects of society. The author considers the relationship between this marriage pattern and the Kurdish form of segmentary lineage organization.

Ensminger, Jean, and Jack Knight. 1997. “Changing Social Norms: Common Property, Bridewealth, and Clan Exogamy.” Cultural Anthropology 38(1): 1–24.

Ensminger and Knight seek to integrate anthropological observations on changing social norms among the Orma of northeastern Kenya with the growing theoretical literature on the subject. The authors focus on several changes in Orma society related to land ownership, property exchanges at marriage, and clan exogamy. This specific case informs an explicit discussion of the study of social norms, rather than more implicit considerations by most anthropologists.

Gillespie, Susan D. 2000. “Rethinking Ancient Maya Social Organization: Replacing ‘Lineage’ with ‘House.’” American Anthropologist 102(3): 467–485.

Gillespie is one among a number of scholars who find fault with traditional kinship terms and relationships used by generations of anthropologists. Rather, she argues that anthropologists should turn to concepts developed by Claude Lévi-Strauss that emphasize a more flexible type of social group called a “House” that relies on a mix of real and fictive kin ties. Gillespie sees this concept as particularly useful for archaeological studies of past societies, such as the ancient Maya.

Horst, Heather and Daniel Miller. 2005. "From Kinship to Link-up: Cell Phones and Social Networking in Jamaica." Current Anthropology 46(5): 755-778.

Article looks at the different approaches to cell phones and social networking between Trinidad and Jamaica; the former use social media to connect with family while the latter use phone calls to build relationships. While cell phones, as with many technologies, have their own trajectory for use, cultural practices and ways of identifying kin will shape their use.

Howell, Signe. 2003. “Kinning: the Creation of Life Trajectories in Transnational Adoptive Families.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 9(3): 465–484.

The author’s study of transnational adoption has led to the formation of the concept of kinning. Kinning refers to the practice of taking a previously unconnected person and creating a significant and permanent relationship that is expressed using kin terminology. Questions of race and ethnicity are intermixed with the concept of kinning, when these differ between the adoptive parents and the adoptee(s).

Kertzer, David. 1984. “Anthropology and Family History.” Journal of Family History 9(3): 201–216.

Kertzer observes that the growing communication between family historians and cultural anthropologists reflects a broader linking between anthropology and history. The author explores how anthropologists and historians benefit from drawing on each other’s approaches. Major areas of consideration include: need for comparative research; developing analytical tools for kinship studies; contrasting norms and behaviours; and a consideration of the relationship between structure and process.

Laroque, Sylvain, Robert Chodos, Benjamin Waterhouse, and Louisa Blair. 2006. Same Sex Marriage: The Story of a Canadian Social Revolution. Toronto: James Lorimer.

Laroque et al. examine the legal and cultural processes through which Canada came to legalize same-sex marriage. By focusing on the diverse perspectives of both supporters and protesters, the authors maintain that a substantial cultural shift in perspective with regards to notions of what constitutes morally appropriate sexuality led to the legalization of same-sex marriage.

McElroy, Ann. 2008. Nunavut Generations: Change and Continuity in Canadian Inuit Communities. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.

McElroy’s ethnography documents inter-generational changes in Nunavut and explores the link between the development of Nunavut as a new territory of Canada and kinship structures. She examines, for instance, how the development of a new territory led to changes in interpersonal relationships and legal rights and responsibilities for Nunavut families.

Mitchell, Lisa. 2001. Baby’s First Picture: Ultrasound and the Politics of Fetal Subjects. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

This ethnography is based on fieldwork (interviews and participant observation) conducted in the Montreal-area among radiologists, ultrasound technicians, and gynaecological hospital/clinic patients and their families. With an interest in the use of sonograms as a diagnostic imaging tool during pregnancy, Mitchell discusses how ultrasounds represent an important means through which notions of personhood are attributed to embryos and foetuses, and how the visualization of the fetus during ultrasound represents a powerful means of creating a connection between mother and “child.”

Peletz, Michael G. 1995. “Kinship Studies in Late Twentieth-Century Anthropology.” Annual Review of Anthropology 24: 343–372.

Peletz’s article is an excellent discussion that encapsulates the significant changes to kinship studies in late twentieth-century anthropology. He reviews major theoretical developments and the methods used to study and interpret kinship. The author discusses the influence of Marxist, feminist, and historical approaches, as well as other influences such as lesbian/gay kinship. Kinship studies today focus not simply on relatedness, but also on themes of power, representations of gender, contradiction, paradox, and ambivalence.

Sahlins, Marshall. 1972. Stone Age Economics. Chicago, Aldine Publishing Company.

Classic work on the earliest economic systems, where kinship serves as the oldest form of social relation. Outlines the differences between generalized, balanced, and negative reciprocity, along with the relationship between economic production and redistribution. Provides a critical understanding of how economies are a series of relationships and that kinship has underpinned our expectations regarding exchange and fairness.

Stone, Linda S. 2004. “Gay Marriage and Anthropology.” Anthropology News 45(5): 10.

Gay marriage is a topic that continues to dominate political discourse in the United States, even as more and more states legalize the practice. The author argues that, contrary to political perspectives, gay marriage does not represent an attempt to redefine marriage. Rather, anthropologists counter with two arguments. The first is that marriage is difficult to define from a global, cross-cultural perspective. The second is that the idea of marriage is primarily defined as a way to give status rights to children is also not supported from a global, cross-cultural perspective. Stone concludes that marriage among humans is not simply a matter of biology but rather a manifestation of choice that all humans use as their basis for kinship. Gay marriage easily fits into the choice people across the world exercise in many different ways—allowing individuals to construct marriage for themselves.

Back to top