sc2218 lecture 5 (2011)
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SC2218 LectureTRANSCRIPT
SC2218: Anthropology and the SC2218: Anthropology and the Human ConditionHuman Condition
Lecture 5: Families and KinshipLecture 5: Families and Kinship
Eric C. Thompson Eric C. Thompson
Semester 1, 2011/2012Semester 1, 2011/2012
Where Are We Going?Where Are We Going?
• Part 1: What is Anthropology?– Strangers Abroad, Race, Culture
• Part 2: What do Anthropologists Study?– Kinship– Gender– Economy– Community
• Part 3: Current Debates and Trends– Representing Others, The Poetry of
Culture, World Anthropologies
YOU AREHERE
Lecture Outline:Lecture Outline:Kinship and FamilyKinship and Family
• What is Kinship?
• Ju/’hoansi kinship (a study in Cultural Complexity).
• Kinship Exercise
• Changing Patterns of Modern Kinship– Attenuated Kinship in Modern Societies– Technological Innovations and New Horizons of Kinship
What is Kinship?What is Kinship?• Kinship = Social and Cultural Elaborations of
Biological Reproduction
• Marriage = Cultural recognition of a sexual relationship; legitimization of paternity.
• Ordering (arranging) social relationships through cultural interpretations of biological reproduction.
• Kinship is “based on” biology.
• But kinship is not determined by biology.
Kinship as an Organizing Kinship as an Organizing Principle of Society*Principle of Society*
• Kinship is a primary organizing principle in most, if not all, societies.
• In complex agricultural, industrial, and ‘post-industrial’ societies, other institutions displace kinship. Institutions use kinship metaphorically.– States (“State Fatherhood”; Citizenship; Patronage)– Ethnic Groups, Races,Nations (“Fraternal”
Democracy; Imagined Community)– Organized Religion (“Brotherhood” of Monks)
– Corporations (“Salary Man”; “Company Man”)
*Cultural Principles ordering Social Relationships
Complexity of Kinship* Complexity of Kinship* among Dobe Ju/’hoansiamong Dobe Ju/’hoansi
(From Lee, (From Lee, The Dobe Ju/’hoansi)The Dobe Ju/’hoansi)
*Many thanks to Dr. Stephanie Rupp for creation and use of the slides to follow.
!kun!a !kun!atun tun
!kuma !kumatuma tuma
!ko !kwitsintsin
!hai =hai
ba tai
Basic Kin Relations – Dobe Ju/’hoansi
ego
1
2
3
4
5
tsiu
!kun!a !kun!atun tun
!kuma !kumatuma tuma
!ko !kwitsintsin
!hai =hai
ba tai
Reciprocal Relations – Dobe Ju/’hoansi
“old name”grandfather
“small name” grandson
ego
grandmother
granddaughter
!kun!a !kun!atun tun
tsin
!kuma !kumatuma tuma
!ko !kwitsin
!hai =hai
ba taitsu tsu//ga //ga
!kun!a!kun!a tuntun !kun!a !kun!atun tun
ego
Joki
ng
Avo
idan
ceJo
kin
gA
void
ance
Joki
ng
Reciprocal Relations between Alternate Generations
Man’s perspective
Woman’s perspective
Affinal* Relations
****************************************************************************************************
Joking Kin Joking Affines Avoidance Kin Avoidance Affines
=tum
=tum
/otsu
/otsu
/otsu /otsu
*Related by Marriage
Another Layer of Complexity: Name RelationshipsCommon Pattern - Naming Children after
Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles
12345
1234567
When a Man Is Named after His Father’s Brother …
1234567
Joki
ng
Joki
ngA
void
ance
Joki
ngA
void
ance
Avo
idan
ce
Complicated Intersections of Kinship: Can =Toma and Chu/o Marry?
(They must have a ‘joking’ relationship)
=Toma Chu/o
Joki
ng
Joking
Chu/o
=Toma
Avo
idan
ce
Avoidance
Kinship ExerciseKinship Exercise
• Kinship and Marriage in the Kalahari.
• Each of you will be assigned to a family.
• You must talk to other parents and children to find a good match.– Parents talk to parents; children to children.
• After the “visiting period”, return to sit with your “family” and discuss marriage proposals.
Concept of Wi – Relative Age
Lee to !Xam: “When two people are working out what kin term to employ, how do they decide whose choice is to prevail?
!Xam to Lee: “… it is always the older person who wis the younger person. Since I am older than you, I decide what we should call each other.”
(Lee 2003: 72)
Marriage – New Horizons of KinshipBased on Name Relationships
All women namedN=isa could call him“husband”
All husbands of women named N=isa could call him“brother” or “co-husband”. All fathers of women
named N=isa could callhim “son-in-law”.
All siblings of womennamed N=isa could callhim “brother-in-law”.
ego N=isa
Dobe Camp Composition:Social Organization and Rights to Waterholes
Based on Kinship
core siblings
spouses of core siblings
siblings of spouses of core siblings
spouses of siblings of spouses of core siblings
Patterns of MarriagePatterns of Marriage• Monogamy: One spouse at a time.
– Strict Monogamy: One and only one spouse over a lifetime (“until death do we part”)
– Serial Monogamy: Culturally acceptable to have more than one spouse over a life time (but only one at a time; divorce and remarriage)
• Polygamy: More than one spouse at a time.– Polygyny: Multiple wives allowed.*– Polyandry: Multiple husbands allowed.
*Polygyny is the most common cultural pattern. But usually only a few men, not all, have multiple wives.
““Fictive Kinship”Fictive Kinship”
• In many (most?) societies, the role of kinship is so important, people do not know how to relate to one another unless they first establish their kin-relationship.
• People who do not have a place in the kinship system are incorporated into it through “fictive kinship” (e.g. Richard Lee).
• Does Singapore have “fictive” kinship?
Loss of Complexity inLoss of Complexity inIndustrial SocietiesIndustrial Societies
• In industrial societies, kinship becomes less important than foraging or agrarian societies.
• Complexity of kinship is lost as its organizational importance is displaced by other cultural principles and social institutions.
• “Anglo-American” kinship in the 19th century (Gillis)
• Contemporary China under the one-child policy.
1980
2000
2020
China’s kinship structure – “One Child Policy”
“Uncle”“Aunt”“Cousin” Will All Structurally Cease to Exist (At least in theory)
New Horizons of KinshipNew Horizons of Kinship• What are the implications of new reproductive
technology?• What are the implications of completely
decoupling sex and reproduction?– Highly effective birth control; abortion– Sperm donation– Surrogate Motherhood– Commodification
• Men pay for sex
• Women pay for sperm
48QAH
• Donor #48-QAH (“Quite a Hunk”)
• 150-200 Donations @ $50 each.
• Paid $10,000 to father up to 200 children. (Surrogate mothers get more to give birth to just one child.)
• Implications?
• Relationship with Donor; Siblings?
• Paternal Responsibilities?
• “Surrogate Fathers”?
• Accidental Incest?
• Industry Regulation?
Meet the Donor 66 FamilyMeet the Donor 66 Family• The Donor Sibling Registry: Creating
“Donor Families” (Started by Wendy and Ryan Kramer)
• Donor 66 Family: Ryan, his 10 to 25 siblings, their mothers.
• 30,000 children every year in the United States.
• Up to 1 Million children so far.
• The DSR has identified up to 20 Siblings from 1 Donor.
• Cases of over one hundred offspring from single donors
Front Row: Women who share a DonorBack Row: Siblings and half-siblings
6 Brothers & Sisters of 5 Mothers & Donor 66
Kinship & Cultivation of the HeartKinship & Cultivation of the Heart• Kinship, like all cultural systems, is a
conceptual structure that people are born into, live through, and which remains after the death of any individual.
• Kinship (and other cultural systems) are perpetuated through the struggles, triumphs, creativity and cultivation of the people who live them . . . Think of…– The experimentation with family
and kinship in America and Europe during the early 19th century (Gillis)
– The struggle of Dadi to simultaneously hold her family together and to see her children thrive (“Dadi’s Family”).
Two TUN with their TUMA
BA and !HAI
Summing Up…Summing Up…• Kinship is a cultural elaboration on
biological relatedness. It is a cultural and creative way of producing (new) forms of relatedness; not just a reflection of biology.
• Throughout human histories, most societies have been organized primarily through kinship.
• In modern societies, other institutions have become important in organizing society.