Forms Of Relatedness Research Articles

Doing-together with words: the sequential unfolding of a moment of meeting in a psychoanalytic therapy session.

Changes in psychoanalytic therapy have been traditionally attributed to self-knowledge (insight) in the client, provided by the therapist's interpretations. In recent years there has been growing realization that such changes can also be the consequence of the development of new forms of relatedness through client-therapist interaction, particularly through special intersubjective moments called moments of meeting. Drawing on the methods and findings of Conversation Analysis about the sequential organization of psychotherapeutic interaction, this single-case study examines the unfolding of a moment of meeting in the final session of a brief psychoanalytic therapy in Peru (in Spanish) with a female client victim of domestic violence. Our analysis shows that the moment of meeting, which resolves a challenge to the intersubjective relationship posed by a now moment, comes about interactionally through a sequentially accomplished shared practice of co-animation. In this sequence the client, who had previously assumed a passive role, exercises her own agency to assume an active role, which the therapist ratifies through his response. In this way, a momentary but significant transformation in the here-and-now relationship between client and therapist occurs. Thus, our analysis contributes to the understanding of how a transformation of relation-the transitory emergence of a new form of relatedness-can take place in and through sequentially organized talk and action in psychotherapy. Our study also sheds light on the role of language in moments of meeting, as the moment of meeting in our segment does not occur in parallel with the exchange of linguistic utterances between client and therapist, but through the exchange of such linguistic utterances and through the sequence of actions carried out by that exchange. In this way, the sequential doing-together with words leads to a moment of meeting, bringing about change, at least momentarily, in the implicit ways-of-being-with-others of the client.

De novo kin: sharing data, shielding persons, and forging relatedness in precision medicine

AbstractComparing, sharing, and shielding children's biological and biographical data in genetic databases and on Facebook are central moves when geneticists and families search for diagnoses for children with rare diseases. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Denmark, we show that the work of linking children carrying the same genetic mutations forges new sibling‐like forms of relatedness between them. With the concept of ‘datasociality’, we add new layers to ‘biosociality’ by capturing the ways in which biological information is increasingly mediated by digital and algorithmic processes in the genomic era. In the process of both sharing data and securing anonymity, unrelated children become related through qualities of otherness.

Battlegrounds of dependence

Interdependence is a fundamental characteristic of human existence. The way in which certain dependencies are acknowledged as opposed to those that are hidden, or the ways in which some are validated while others are denigrated, is central to how social inequalities are reproduced and recreated. In this introduction we explore how particular dependencies are categorized, separated, and made visible or invisible as part of their performative effect. In particular, we explore the distinction between wage labor and kinship as two forms of relatedness that are often separated in terms of the (in)dependence that they are seen to embody. Even though they are practically entangled, their conceptual separation remains important. These conceptual separations are central to how gender difference is imagined and constituted globally.

Remembering deceased kin through assisted conception in India

ABSTRACT In this paper, I examine the idea of fiction in relation to kinship by analyzing the role that memory plays in assisted reproduction in North India. I specifically engage with the desire to seek the intervention of in-vitro fertilization after the loss of a child, mostly sons, through an accident, prematurely. In the process, the paper engages with the kind of narratives that birthing women remember and speak of in seeking the ‘rebirth’ of their dead sons, and what this means for kinship per se. This is especially important in relation to the conflicts and ambivalence that mark intimate relationships; and the ways in which the IVF clinic and clinician seek to reimagine them in facilitating assisted conception. I suggest that the narratives surrounding these rebirths act as effective and powerful messages for normalizing IVF, and also to hide other forms of relatedness that come to mark conflicting, ambivalent and yet, deeply intimate relationships.

Scattered Things: Virtue Ethics and Objectness in Indigenous Amazonia

ABSTRACT This article seeks to extend the enduring focus on the body and bodily substance in Amazonia, which have historically eclipsed other forms of relatedness and ethical practices. Among the Venezuelan Sanema, morality is enacted predominantly through manufactured items rather than solely corporeal expressions of relatedness. While artefacts of all forms are receiving increased recognition in the region, they are often explored within a non-dualist frame that foregrounds inalienability, ownership and subjectification. Yet, the Sanema ethnography reveals that dissolving dualisms in this way suppresses the existence of important categories such as objects. Focusing on how ethical practices are enacted through partible beads and diesel-powered generators, this paper reveals how alienable goods among the Sanema are valued precisely for their ‘objectness’ rather than their personified qualities.

Volumes, caves, bodies, relatedness: The case of Cuban speleology and national defense

Scholarship on voluminous geographies not only takes seriously geopolitics’ three-dimensionality, but also the ways bodies experience the diverse materialities and vulnerabilities of volumetric infrastructures on the one hand, and the earth and its dynamic ecosystems, on the other. Focusing on the relational sociality among bodies—or rather, beings—as they explore and map caves, I emphasize the shared quality of how voluminous—and in particular, subterranean—geographies are created, experienced, and represented. The history of collaboration between Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces and Cuban speleologists dedicated to the exploration, study, and conservation of the country’s thousands of caves, illustrates the geopolitical implications of this focus. Based on interview and ethnographic data, this paper examines the varied perspectives on the relationship between speleology and defense, beginning with an institutional history, and then shifting to the affective relational qualities of speleological practice, which I argue constitute a shared intimate geopolitics. These relational qualities manifest themselves in forms of relatedness among speleologists and places, some of which structure the organizational (including spatial) features of their practices and their resulting knowledge. Viewed through this lens, cave maps assume an intimate quality as well: as substances that bind, as heirlooms, and as tokens of reciprocity. This perspective challenges approaches to caves as disconnected voids empty of life and sociality. Indeed, caves not only amplify the social, they gather. To speak of caves as only geological phenomena is inaccurate and actually limits scholarly appreciation of their geopolitical transformative potential. In the case of Cuba, this paper makes an important contribution by accounting for intimate encounters with the earth and its representations as key players in geopolitics.

“Just Like AIDS”: Latinx Identity, HIV/AIDS, and the Problems and Possibilities of Analogy

In 2009, Residente, the lead singer of a well-known Latinx music group and newly appointed international ambassador for the Latino Commission on AIDS, likened Latinxs in the US to HIV/AIDS. Taking this fertile equivalence as a conceptual point of departure, this article tracks the pitfalls and possibilities of aligning these two positions, touching on the performativity of disgust, the transmission of brown affect, and economies of racialization and deracination via the exchange of viral matter. Building upon the reparative labour of critical mestizaje, which came to the fore of Latinx studies in the 1980s, I reimagine the potentiality of a “viral mestizaje,” a form of relatedness that allows for networks of intimacy, multiplicity, and reproduction that extend beyond heternormative coupling. What is at stake in the positioning of Latinxs as “just like AIDS”? What are the possibilities and problems of analogy?

Mixing and Matching: Sperm Donor Selection for Interracial Lesbian Couples

ABSTRACTThe widespread use of assisted reproductive technologies, coupled with processes of demographic and social change, are contributing to the normalization of new family configurations that extend beyond biological kinship. Non-traditional families, increasingly prevalent due to interracial and same-sex marriages, challenge normative expectations of family resemblance between siblings, parents and children. Interviews with interracial lesbian couples about their selection of a sperm donor reveal that despite the new forms of relatedness that non-traditional families enable, within the use of reproductive technologies, biological framings of race and sibling kinship continue to structure decisions about family formation.

Letters to Kaka: postcard-images of Upendra Baxi

This essay weaves together post-card images of Upendra Baxi’s formative life as a student at Berkeley, California in the 1960s. As a law student in Berkeley from 1964–1966, Upen wrote long letters every other week to his father, Vishnuprasad Venilal Baxi (1905–1990) whom everyone called Kaka. Through these letters we represent fragments of his life as a student, catalogue the courses he read and chronicle his first meeting with the Austrian jurist, Professor Hans Kelsen. The first part of the essay brings together fragments of the letters Upen wrote to his father. The second part of this essay turns to Upen’s use of the form of letters as crafting a specific tactic of speaking against power. We reflect on the link between the biographical and the intellectual. The link between the two parts of this essay—life and law—is liminal. To the many insightful analyses of the Mathura Open Letter and the birth of epistolary jurisdiction, we add a biographical footnote that privileges letter writing as a form of relatedness in critical solidarity. Upen’s literary inheritance, especially of writing letters as a form of forging kinship and relatedness inflects how he writes of law and life.

Families and the Elderly along the Shores of the Mediterranean: Old and New Forms of Relatedness

Le vieillissement de la population impose des défis de plus en plus semblables aux sociétés situées d’un côté et de l’autre de la Méditerranée, car la famille y est encore un acteur majeur de la protection sociale. Les données sociodémographiques et ethnographiques examinées dans cet article montrent que les anciennes manières de se soutenir, comme la pratique de la co-résidence dans les familles élargies, jouent toujours un rôle important. Cependant, on trouve désormais une plus grande diversité des façons de maintenir les liens et l’entraide qui favorise l’« extension » des familles. Se mettent ainsi en place de nouvelles formes de relations entre les différents acteurs : la proximité résidentielle des enfants et des parents fait que les premiers peuvent faire fonction de soignants, tandis que les personnels soignants à domicile peuvent pénétrer la sphère familiale et y obtenir un statut de quasi-parents.

Mitigating the adverse effects of response deadline on recognition memory: Differential effects of semantic memory support on item and associative memory

Abstract Prior research indicates that the effects of response deadline on episodic memory retrieval may be selective. Accordingly, this paper examines whether response deadline causes differential impairments in item and associative memory. Further, it investigates and contrasts the role of two types of semantic memory support– item memory support (in the form of meaningfulness of items, Experiment 1) and associative memory support (in the form of relatedness between items, Experiment 2), in potentially alleviating these episodic memory impairments. Across two experiments, participants studied pairs composed of pictures (presented as brand logo graphics) and words (presented as brand names), and later were tested on the components (item recognition) or the association between the components (associative recognition) under either long or short response deadlines. The results demonstrate the differential effects of response deadline on recognition memory, with larger detriments caused in associative memory versus item memory. Furthermore, while meaningfulness of items attenuates the negative effects of response deadline on item (versus associative) recognition (Experiment 1), relatedness between items alleviates the adverse effects of response deadline on associative (versus item) recognition (Experiment 2), though this was not the case in a boundary condition in which related pairs were used as foils, posing greater demand on recollection processes. The results are interpreted to indicate that the attenuation of the negative effects of response deadline on recognition memory occurs in the type of episodic memory that receives greater semantic memory support.

Research note: social leisure engagement, peer support, and depressive symptomology among emerging adults

This research note applied self-determination theory to the study of social leisure and well-being among collegiate emerging adults. Self-determination theory posits that individuals seek out environments that promote basic psychological needs; among these needs is the need for relatedness. We examined the relationship between social leisure engagement (conceptualised as an environment that promotes connections to others) and emerging adults’ depressive symptomology. More specifically, we hypothesised that this need-supportive environment would be related to higher levels of peer support (a form of relatedness) and would promote better mental health. Participants (N = 270) were between the ages of 18 and 25. Using path models, we found that there was a significant negative relationship between social leisure engagement and depressive symptomology. Furthermore, peer support served as a significant linking mechanism between social leisure and depressive symptomology. Results provide evidence for the application of self-determination theory to the study of social leisure engagement as a need-supportive environment that can facilitate relatedness and better mental health among emerging adults.

Simondon: investigating the pre-organizational

ABSTRACTGilbert Simondon (1924–1989) was a radical process thinker; forms of relatedness and not objects were his focus. This is all the more remarkable as he was not a vitalist prioritizing Gaia or autopoesis. He based his thought on analyses of technology/technics and communication/cybernetics, and in both cases rejected the perspective of the machine or message as in itself objectifiable. Life objects, machines and societies, according to Simondon, individuate; that is, they are self-evolving, self-generating and self-differentiating in what he calls processes of ‘transduction’. Simondon, in fact, is more a thinker of transindividuation than of individuation. His is a theory of how the pre-individual leads to the transindividual, without the individual ever really playing much of a role. The motor of change and activity is ‘transduction’ – or a force of form-taking that operates on the pre-individual level. Transduction is, thus, the life-force of Simondon’s becoming. It is the energy that propels action, change, event and occurrence. No one in particular is the subject of transduction; transduction is the pre-individual manifestation of an all-encompassing process of genesis. Simondon attends to the genesis of the person, society, information, collective, technology, organization, whatever. We will see that his descriptions of becoming are powerful and theoretically important, but that his ontology (or philosophy) needs to be debated. Transduction is very problematic; how or whether it is knowable (epistemology) remains unclear; and transduction would seem to escape the individual and/or collective will – becoming an all-important life-force outside political or ethical control. Sub-processes of transduction, such as in the development of machines or even social technologies, have been rigorously documented and examined. Simondon studies genesis or how things come to be as they are. Currently, there is renewed interest in his thought, we think because he challenges unreflective functionalism – things are not just as they are: they evolve and become, oppose and break down, signify and deny, reveal and hide. Simondon provides a window on a world of complexification and change; he is a thinker of instability and dynamics; a thinker who matches our contemporary circumstances. This introduction will discuss possible contributions of Simondon to organizational studies, where his process perspective challenges many usual approaches. The emphasis on the pre-individual triggers reflection of what could be called the ‘pre-organizational’ and poses a whole series of theoretical and practical questions.

Related variety and economic development: a literature review

ABSTRACTSince the introduction of the related variety concept in 2007, a number of studies have been undertaken to analyse its effect on economic development. Our review of 21 studies makes clear that most studies find support for the initial hypothesis that related variety supports employment growth, though some studies suggest that the growth effects of related variety may be specific to knowledge-intensive sectors only. From the review, we list a number of further research questions regarding methodology, the role of unrelated variety, different forms of relatedness and the effect of related variety on knowledge production and entrepreneurship.

Using learning environments to create meaningful work for co-op students

ABSTRACTFor students in cooperative education (co-op) programs, meaningful work is a critical aspect of participation and a key component of program success. However, studies have not explored how meaningful work can be created for co-op students. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between co-op students’ perceptions of a learning environment, perceived relatedness of the work experience (to their potential careers and to their academic studies), and self-reported meaningfulness of work. Data were collected from undergraduate co-op students in a Canadian university immediately following a co-op work term. Results from testing a parallel mediation model showed that both forms of relatedness partially mediated the influence of learning environments on self-reported meaningfulness. These findings offer insight into the ways in which work terms can be designed to enhance co-op students’ work experiences.

(Dis)Connections and Silence: Experiences of Family and Part-time Work in Japan

ABSTRACTDoing work that is characterized by instability and low incomes, Japanese male part-time workers often remain in the natal home well into adulthood even in cases where there is considerable discord and where familial bonds are strained or complicated. Through detailed case studies this article examines how, for some male part-time workers, a desire to disconnect from familial kin in the search for individual autonomy leads to the creation of alternative forms of relatedness. Meanwhile, for others, pressure to work in particular ways combined with the negotiations of complex family relationships – especially with (male) heads of households – contributes to alienation from family and society. Although work status is not the only cause of family strain, gendered work expectations and labour pressures considerably contribute to discord and can lead to significant experiences of social exclusion and disconnection from the family and wider society.

The drama of de-orphaning: Botswana’s old orphans and the rewriting of kinship relations

Botswana has the world’s highest rate of orphans, primarily as a result of HIV and AIDS. National response policies include a range of material resources given to relatives caring for parentless children. The insertion of financial incentive into kinship obligations has transformed younger orphans into valuable assets, leading some relatives (at least allegedly) to compete for the “right” to house them, and causing moral ambivalence among the public. Yet as orphans reach legal adulthood, the cessation of social services and poor opportunities for wage labour alter relations with relatives in unexpected ways. In this article, I explore how the ranks of meaningful kin appear to both swell and shrink around youth ageing out of their “orphan” status. Based on four years of ethnographic fieldwork in Botswana between 2003 and 2013, these case studies expose significant labour expended among families in policing categories of personhood like greedy relatives, needy orphans, and economically stagnant youth. I show how kinship relations become affectively populated through moral discourses – and how these discourses in turn provide pathways for new forms of claims-making, even for the supplanting of “verifiable” kin by less “traditionally” legitimate forms of relatedness – ultimately reshaping the very practice of kinship in rural Botswana.

MEDITATIVE PSYCHOANALYSIS.

Psychoanalysis and meditation not only compensate for the other's blind spots, but also, when practiced together, can provide a richer experience than either discipline pursued alone. After considering the way meditation cultivates heightened attentiveness, refines sensory clarity, lessens self-criticism, and increases affect tolerance, thereby deepening psychoanalytic listening, I'll examine how psychoanalytic perspectives on unconscious communication and meaning illuminate and transform the nearsightedness of meditation, aiding therapists and clients in understanding troubling thoughts, feelings, and behavior. This helps therapists deepen their capacity to help those people with whom they work. The paper also attempts to illuminate how the therapeutic relationship, conceived of in a freer and more empathic way--as the vehicle for both validating a person's experience and providing opportunities for new forms of relatedness and self-transformation--provides a crucible in which old and dysfunctional ways of caring for oneself and relating to other people emerge and new patterns of self-care and intimacy can be established. In the concluding section, I will delineate meditative psychoanalysis, my own integration of meditation and psychoanalysis. Clinical material will illustrate my theoretical reflections.

The Ordinary Envy of Aguabuena People: Revisiting Universalistic Ideas from Local Entanglements

SummaryEnvy encompasses various forms of relatedness among Aguabuena people, a small potter community of rural Andean Colombia. Drawing from ethnographic material, this article explores how envy is reciprocated in three concrete scenarios (kinship, legal sues, and hydraulics), arguing for an understanding centered in envy's ordinariness and daily practices as an analytical context from where to revisit more universalistic ideas.

Secrecy and insurgency: socialities and knowledge practices in Guatemala

Book synopsis: Secrecy and Insurgency deals with the experiences of guerrilla combatants of the Fuerzas Armadas Rebeldes (Rebel Armed Forces) in the aftermath of the peace accords signed in December 1996 between the Guatemalan government and guerrilla insurgents. Drawing on a broad field of contemporary theory, Silvia Posocco’s Secrecy and Insurgency presents a vivid ethnographic account of secrecy as both sociality and a set of knowledge practices. Informed by multi-sited anthropological fieldwork among displaced communities with experiences of militancy in the guerrilla organization Fuerzas Armadas Rebeldes, the book traces the contours of dispersed and intermittent guerrilla social relations, unraveling the gendered dimensions of guerrilla socialities and subjectivities in a local context marked by violence and rapid social change. The chapters chart shifting regimes of governance in the northern departmento of Peten; the inception of violence and insurgency; guerrilla practices of naming and secret relations; moral orders based on sameness and sharing; and forms of relatedness, embodiment, and subjectivity among the combatants. The volume develops new critical idioms for grappling with partiality, perspective, and incompleteness in ethnography and contributes to new thinking on the anthropology of Guatemala. Secrecy and Insurgency will be of interest to social and cultural anthropologists, human geographers, and those interested in Latin American studies, human rights, women’s studies, and gender studies.