Kinship Structure Research Articles

The formal demography of kinship: A matrix formulation

Background: Any individual is surrounded by a network of kin that develops over her lifetime. In a justly famous paper, Goodman, Keyfitz, and Pullum (1974) presented formal calculations of the mean numbers of (female, matrilineal) kin implied by a mortality and fertility schedule. Objective: The aim of this paper is a new theory of kinship demography that provides age distributions as well as expected numbers, permits calculation of properties (e.g., dependency) of kin, is easily computable, and does not require simulation. Methods: The analysis relies on a novel application of the matrix formulation of cohort component population projection to describe the dynamics of a kinship network. The approach arises from the observation that the kin of a focal individual form a population, and can be modelled as one. Results: Kinship dynamics are described by a coupled system of non-autonomous matrix equations. I show how to calculate age distributions, total numbers, prevalence, dependency, and the experience of the death of relatives. As an example, I compare the kinship networks implied by the period vital rates of Japanese women in 1947 and 2014. Over this interval, fertility declined by 70% while life expectancy increased by 60%. The implications of these changes for kinship structure are profound; a lifetime dominated, under 1947 rates, by the experience of the death of kin has changed to one in which the death of kin is a rare event. On the other hand, the burden of dependent aged kin, including those suffering from dementia, is many-fold larger under 2014 rates. Conclusions: This new theory opens to investigation hitherto inaccessible aspects of kinship, with potential applications to many problems in family demography.

Constructing Spiritual Motherhood in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Drawing on an ethnographic study of Roman Catholic sisters in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I show how women in the Global South draw on religious imagery to redefine cultural ideals of womanhood and family responsibility. By taking the religious vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, the Congolese sisters I interviewed seemingly betray local expectations regarding women’s responsibility to reproduce and repair the clan. Although sisters’ vows subject them to social ridicule for violating cultural expectations to bear children and support kin, they devise new strategies to negotiate the connection between womanhood and the maternal role of caregiver and nurturer outside of marriage and fertility. In social ministries that affirm their communal, moral, and spiritual ties to others, the sisters realize these cultural ideals through a “spiritual motherhood” that transforms their traditional heteronormative obligations. Framing their decision to live outside accepted kinship structures in religious terms mutes the radicalness of this lifestyle and provides religious legitimation for what would otherwise be considered a selfish choice for a woman acting independent of family well-being. In this context, I demonstrate how doing religion is inseparable from doing gender as Catholic sisters embody alternative ways of being a woman in post-colonial Congolese society through their religious practices.

FIRST STEPS–DENTITION, KINSHIP, SOCIAL GROUPS, AND STATUS IN THE UPPER BELIZE RIVER VALLEY: SMALL SAMPLE INSIGHTS INTO CLASSIC MAYA SOCIAL ORGANIZATION IN CENTRAL WESTERN BELIZE

AbstractNonmetric (morphological) and metric analyses of dental traits and dentition are an established and effective, but still much underutilized, means of determining biological relationships among the individuals comprising a population over several generations. Combining such dental analyses, a social organizational typology adapted from social psychology, and small sample statistics, this study hazards a trial examination of the evidence for biological affinity within and between three archaeologically perceived social groups represented in the Classic-period Belize Valley community of Buenavista del Cayo. The groups comprise traditional high elite and commoner categories, and a putative middle level of intermediate elites. Findings suggest a dichotomous kinship structure of elites and non-elites, but one within which there had emerged an emically and archaeologically distinct “middle” status group of intermediate elites or subelites that remained affined by blood to the subordinate non-elite commoners and peasantry. The study differs from previous examinations of ancient Maya social organization in employing a truly integrated bioarchaeological approach to the topic rather than what have generally been intrinsically insular archaeological or osteometric approaches.

Partner choice correlates with fine scale kin structuring in the paper wasp Polistes dominula.

Cooperation among kin is common in animal societies. Kin groups may form by individuals directly discriminating relatives based on kin recognition cues, or form passively through natal philopatry and limited dispersal. We describe the genetic landscape for a primitively eusocial wasp, Polistes dominula, and ask whether individuals choose cooperative partners that are nearby and/or that are genetic relatives. Firstly, we genotyped an entire sub-population of 1361 wasps and found genetic structuring on an extremely fine scale: the probability of finding genetic relatives decreases exponentially within just a few meters of an individual’s nest. At the same time, however, we found a lack of genetic structuring between natural nest aggregations within the population. Secondly, in a separate dataset where ~2000 wasps were genotyped, we show that wasps forced experimentally to make a new nest choice tended to choose new nests near to their original nests, and that these nests tended to contain some full sisters. However, a significant fraction of wasps chose nests that did not contain sisters, despite sisters being present in nearby nests. Although we cannot rule out a role for direct kin recognition or natal nest-mate recognition, our data suggest that kin groups may form via a philopatric rule-of-thumb, whereby wasps simply select groups and nesting sites that are nearby. The result is that most subordinate helpers obtain indirect fitness benefits by breeding cooperatively.

Imagine Home: Making a Place in Binghamton

Since the early 1990s, Iraqi Kurds have been relocating to the greater Binghamton area in New York State. This study focuses on the growing diasporic Kurdish community in and around Binghamton and their quest to imagine the homeland they left behind as a result of social, economic, and political hardships. The production of this diasporic space has emerged as an attempt to reconstruct their culture and collective identity in the absence of physical and territorially specific aspects of their homeland. Kurdish refugee narratives articulate how collective memory gives voice to the shared Kurdish past, how Kurdish refugees appropriated the space according to their traditional example and kinship structure, and how memories and narratives of the past shape the migrants’ identities, kinship, and everyday practices. The production of diasporic space within the imaginations of these refugees is portrayed here to show their attempt to reconstruct Kurdish culture while lacking the physical characteristics of their homeland. Their successfully reinvented images of homeland and reconstructed culture in diaspora are evidence of the resilience and fluidity of Kurdish culture.

KINSHIP, PROPERTY RELATIONS, AND THE SURVIVAL OF DOUBLE MONASTERIES IN THE EASTERN CHURCH

AbstractThe article examines the enduring phenomenon of double monasticism, the type of religious organization whereby a single monastic unit combined a male and a female community that followed the same rule, recognized the authority of the same superior, and functioned within the boundaries of the same monastic compound or in close proximity to each other, but not in shared quarters. After centuries of evolution since late antiquity, double monasteries effectively ceased to exist in the Latin West by the high middle ages, but demonstrated remarkable staying powers in the sphere of historic Byzantine cultural influences, particularly in Orthodox Eastern Europe and Christian Middle East, where this archaic type of monastic institution survived into the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Based on previously unexplored archival material from the Orthodox lands of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and later the Ukrainian Hetmanate, a semi-autonomous state ruled by elective officers who recognized the tsar of Muscovy as their suzerain, the article analyses the place of kinship structures, economic and political factors, legal frameworks, and the role of the imperial state in the evolution and ultimate decline of the double monastery.

Genetic consequences of social dynamics in the Andean condor: the role of sex and age

Social living can be facilitated by cooperative advantages, yet also incurs in important competitive interactions, leading to complex patterns of spatial genetic structure. Vultures provide a valuable example of complex social animals, with potential conflicts between cooperative and competitive behaviors. Yet, little is known about the socio-genetic structure of this guild because of the inherent difficulties of sampling highly mobile species with large geographical ranges. Herein, we genotyped 300 non-invasive samples from Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) with microsatellite markers to investigate the social dynamics in this highly vagile vulture that possess a despotic social system and communal roosting behavior. We explored the role of age and sex in the dispersion and relatedness patterns of the Andean condor across the central region of Argentina. We provided evidence of age-biased dispersal, supporting the idea that immature condors are largely nomadic using temporary roosting sites during exploratory flights. Our results also insinuated that sex-biased dispersal is age-dependent, with male-biased dispersal during the early life stage, suggesting habitat exclusion by adult male despotic competition. Finally, our kinship analysis showed that regional clusters are composed of highly related adults, indicating the retention of intergenerational family members. Collectively, these results demonstrate that kin associations are driven by adult philopatry, and possibly maintained by fitness benefits of social cooperation for this species. An important question in behavioral ecology is how and when does group living affect population structure and space use. We show that adult Andean condors exhibit philopatric behavior, resulting in kin structuring patterns. Family coalitions may facilitate cooperative strategies to locate and secure costly resources, resulting in indirect fitness benefits. However, immature individuals seem to be excluded from adult territories due to despotic competition or because of an innate exploratory behavior, resulting in a scattered distribution pattern. Understanding the genetic consequences of social dynamics not only increase our knowledge of the behavioral ecology of elusive wide-ranging species, but is also essential in wildlife monitoring to design effective genetic sampling.

‘These were made-to-order babies’: Reterritorialised Kinship, Neoliberal Eugenics and Artificial Reproductive Technology in Kishwar Desai’s Origins of Love

This essay examines Kishwar Desai’s Origins of Love (2012) in order to foreground how the novel is complexly reflective of the biomedical technologies strategically deployed by medical practitioners and prospective...

Unraveling ancestry, kinship, and violence in a Late Neolithic mass grave

The third millennium BCE was a period of major cultural and demographic changes in Europe that signaled the beginning of the Bronze Age. People from the Pontic steppe expanded westward, leading to the formation of the Corded Ware complex and transforming the genetic landscape of Europe. At the time, the Globular Amphora culture (3300-2700 BCE) existed over large parts of Central and Eastern Europe, but little is known about their interaction with neighboring Corded Ware groups and steppe societies. Here we present a detailed study of a Late Neolithic mass grave from southern Poland belonging to the Globular Amphora culture and containing the remains of 15 men, women, and children, all killed by blows to the head. We sequenced their genomes to between 1.1- and 3.9-fold coverage and performed kinship analyses that demonstrate that the individuals belonged to a large extended family. The bodies had been carefully laid out according to kin relationships by someone who evidently knew the deceased. From a population genetic viewpoint, the people from Koszyce are clearly distinct from neighboring Corded Ware groups because of their lack of steppe-related ancestry. Although the reason for the massacre is unknown, it is possible that it was connected with the expansion of Corded Ware groups, which may have resulted in competition for resources and violent conflict. Together with the archaeological evidence, these analyses provide an unprecedented level of insight into the kinship structure and social behavior of a Late Neolithic community.

Cross-Cousin Marriages in Kishtwar

Marriage is a social combination or lawful contract between the general population that makes family relationship and its definition fluctuates as indicated by various societies. Marriage and Kinship are the essential unavoidable truths that apply to everyone of any person. The present paper is about the Kinship and Marriage structure among the Hindu people group in the Kishtwar District. The investigation has explicitly investigated the act of cross-cousin relational unions among the network and has endeavoured to investigate the different family relationship ties predominant among them. This paper is an attempt to investigate the family relationship and marriage structure among the Hindu people group in Kishtwar. The paper likewise accomplishes to investigate the different types of cross-cousin marriages among the Hindu people group in Kishtwar.

The Production and Reproduction of Kinship in Charitable Children\u2019s Institutions in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

BackgroundThe negative impact of institutionalization on children’s development and well-being has led to a global recommendation for deinstitutionalization. In countries with weak infrastructure and family support, some children in institutional care have been found to have better outcomes, which may be due in part to the family-like environments created by some Charitable Children’s Institutions (CCIs).ObjectiveThe goal was to examine whether and how alternative kinship structures were reproduced in CCIs.MethodQualitative data from 22 caregivers and 30 orphaned or separated children and adolescents (OSCAs) were collected using participant observation and in-depth interviews, and analysed using a symbolic interactionist theoretical framework.ResultsSocial interaction with caregivers contributed meaning towards the definition of family within some CCIs, particularly those modeled after a village and/or a single family. These CCIs created a family-like care environment, resulting in OSCAs redefining the traditional concept of family based on consanguinity to one composed of non-kin providing care and support. Social interaction through family-related activities produced novel familial identities, and some OSCAs felt they were part of a quasi-family. However, OSCAs lacked autonomy, feared consequences of not following the rules of behaviour, and felt re-traumatized and re-abandoned when they exited the CCIs at age 18.ConclusionSome CCIs created an “alternative” kinship structure in which most children focused on their education, were provided with basic needs, and formed long-term positive relationships. Despite a number of challenges, family-like CCIs may be a supportive last resort for children without kin to care for them.

The brood parasite's guide to inclusive fitness theory.

Hamilton's theory of inclusive fitness provides a framework for understanding the evolution of social behaviour between kin, including parental and alloparental care. Brood parasitism is a reproductive tactic in which parasites exploit the care of other individuals of the same species (conspecific parasitism) or different species (interspecific parasitism) to rear their brood. Here, drawing from examples in birds and social insects, we identify two insights into brood parasitism that stem from inclusive fitness theory. First, the kin structure within nests, or between neighbouring nests, can create a niche space favouring the evolution of conspecific parasitism. For example, low average relatedness within social insect nests can increase selection for reproductive cheats. Likewise, high average relatedness between adjacent nests of some birds can increase a female's tolerance of parasitism by her neighbour. Second, intrabrood conflict will be high in parasitized broods, from the perspective of both parasite and host young, relative to unparasitized broods. We also discuss offspring recognition by hosts as an example of discrimination in a kin-selected social behaviour. We conclude that the inclusive fitness framework is instructive for understanding aspects of brood parasite and host evolution. In turn, brood parasites present some unique opportunities to test the predictions of inclusive fitness theory. This article is part of the theme issue 'The coevolutionary biology of brood parasitism: from mechanism to pattern'.

Perceptions of Women’s Roles between Traditionalism and Modernity in Qatar

Women’s participation in public life in the Arabian Peninsula is affected by tradition and limits their opportunities for socio-economic development. This study focuses on the social structures that impose gender inequality. Through in-depth focus group discussions with groups of men and women in different age groups and including both working and non-working individuals, gender roles are examined and the view of the different groups of men and women in Qatar of the roles that women are supposed to play inside and outside the home. Although some changes are occurring due to modernization, including education and other government policies, they are proving relatively minor: obstacles include deep-rooted kinship structure and cultural elements that limit women’s participation in the public sphere.

O Testamento de D. Pedro Martins, bispo de Coimbra, e as suas relaçoes de parentesco com a aristocracia medieval coimbra

The present case study focuses on a 13-th Century Portuguese clergyman, Dom Pedro Martins, who served as bishop of Coimbra from 1297 to 1301. The study addresses such issues as structures of kinship, the means used to enter and prosper in the clergy – and other organizations —, the power stemming from material wealth, the observance of the practices of piety, and Dom Pedro Martins’ cultural sophistication. Based on his testament, an account is offered of his relationship, as well as that of his relatives, with the institutions to which he belonged, his social and family origins, his possessions, his “house” (his vassality) and his culture. In itself, the testament in question is a powerful instrument of representation, at once the embodiment and the reflection of a high level of social distinction.

SISTEM KEKERABATAN MASYARAKAT NELAYAN DI KAMPUNG TALISAYAN KECAMATAN TALISAYAN KABUPATEN BERAU

The purpose of this study were identify the social background of fishermen community, especially the kinship structure, marriage and inheritance patterns, to identify the role of kinship systems in managing fishery resources. This research applied purposive sampling method with the number of respondents were 30 people (composed from 5 nuclear families and 5 extended families of Bugisnese, 5 nuclear families and 5 extended families of Mandarnese, 5 nuclear families and 5 extended families of Beraunese). This research was conducted in June 2018 to February 2019. Data analyzed based on genealogical Analysis and then presented descriptively. The results showed that: Kinship term used by nuclear and extended families on Bugisnese, Mandarnese and Beraunese fishermen to greet the families members in daily activities. Kinship structure of nuclear and extended families of Bugisnese, Mandarnese and Beraunese formed by patrilineal system. Marriage patterns of nuclear and extended families on Bugisnese, Mandarnese and Beraunese fishermen adjust the customs and habits of each ethnic. Family inheritance patterns of nuclear and extended family on Bugisnese, Mandarnese and Beraunese adopted the individual and collective inheritance system where men received boat or fishing gear women received house or land. The role of the kinship systems families on Bugisnese, Mandarnese and Beraunese fishermen was to determine the co-operation mechanism on fishermen community based in Talisayan village on Common Pool Resources (CPR) system.

Socio-cultural Dimensions of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia: An Ethnographic Study from Chennai, South India.

Aim:This study aims to provide a medical anthropological perspective on how congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is perceived and constructed by parents and doctors in India. It aims to put forth the complexities that are associated with CAH and the various experiences that parents and doctors share as a result, while also exploring the influences that culture and medicine have on each other.Methods:An ethnographic approach was taken to understand CAH in this study, in which families and doctors of children with CAH were interviewed. Fieldwork was done for 2 months in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.Results:A major finding of this study was the faith that parents had on biomedicine in general and doctors in particular. While parents continued to follow the instructions provided by the doctors, they also exercised their agency by questioning the decisions taken by the doctors. The research also revealed that there is constant worry and fear in parents about the future of their children due to the stigma attached to CAH.Conclusion:A constant discourse between medicine and culture can be noticed while analyzing the complexities associated with CAH. The study tries to show that medical decisions that doctors take in matters concerning CAH are culturally driven. Surgical corrections done in order to categorize the child into one of the two sexes is an example for the same. Similarly, various structures of family, marriage, and kinship have been medicalized owing to the strong influence medicine and culture have on each other.

Posthuman Blackness and the Black Female Imagination by Kristen Lillvis

Reviewed by: Posthuman Blackness and the Black Female Imagination by Kristen Lillvis James Arnett POSTHUMAN BLACKNESS AND THE BLACK FEMALE IMAGINATION, by Kristen Lillvis. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2017. 144 pp. $44.95 cloth. Kristen Lillvis's Posthuman Blackness and the Black Female Imagination demonstrates how emergent theories of posthumanism and black humanism provide generous new angles through which to look at contemporary African American literature. In this critical work, Lillvis elaborates a genealogy of black women's literature and culture that takes us from canonical neo-slave narratives of the 1980s, such as Toni Morrison's Beloved (1987) and Sherley Ann Williams' Dessa Rose (1986), through the funhouse mirrors of Janelle Monáe and Erykah Badu, to the works of Gayl Jones, Octavia Butler, and Julie Dash. Ambitiously covering literary, musical, and visual narratives, this text productively periodizes contemporary black women's writing and demonstrates continuities between past-facing and future-oriented narratives. Lillvis's text is a welcome addition to the creative, critical, and theoretical work surrounding the current moment in black literatures, which we might characterize as Afrofuturist—while acknowledging important critiques of the term—and which urgently calls for an evaluation of literature, culture, and politics of the present as it looks towards an increasingly uncertain future. Lillvis explains in the introductions to the book and to each chapter how contemporary eruptions and flashpoints of racial tension call for a reconsideration of some texts whose scholarly criticism and apparatus has unfairly burdened them, limiting an appreciation of their contemporary applicability and vitality. Indeed, Lillvis's work consistently engages with the weight of literary critical discourse on each of these texts, doing due diligence to situate each within the field of scholarly secondary texts. In the first two chapters in particular, Lillvis strives to bridge the gap between black humanisms and posthumanisms to demonstrate how these artists are "transforming the past into a present source of power for black women authors and characters" (p. 6). In her reading of Morrison's Beloved and her more recent A Mercy (2008) in chapter one, Lillvis endeavors to explain the "posthuman liminality" of Beloved and Sethe and how both characters experience "liminal temporalities" in the continuities of past, present, and future in their fraught mother-daughter relationship (pp. 11, 13). In chapter two, Lillvis focuses on the possibility of black-white solidarities in spite of historical and ideological contingencies and violences in Williams. In chapter three, she turns to the fierce theme of reproductive justice and self-narration in Jones's Corregidora (1975) and, in chapter four, the horizon of multiple gendered temporalities and racialized consciousnesses in Butler's Kindred (1979). Chapter five explores the communicative transversality of black womens' relationships in the short fiction of Sheree Renee Thomas [End Page 246] and Dash's Daughters of the Dust (1991). This final reading points out how, for instance, multiply constituted and temporally and subjectively liminal consciousness is "developing through connections to others—particularly mothers—across space and time" (p. 116). Lillvis's stated project—to draw together black humanism and post-humanism into a hybridized and generative "posthuman blackness"—is ambitious; she wants to describe the "boundary crossings that exist within posthuman cultures [that] enable black subjects to make connections to diasporic history in the present and also imagine the future as a site of power" (p. 8). There is great difficulty in preserving the ambivalence between a poststructuralist, posthumanist rejection of binaristic thinking in favor of multiplicities and Lillvis's focus on primarily biological, feminine gendered kinship structures. She acknowledges that there are inherently some difficulties in her project: "locating power within the bonds that exist between mothers and children in diasporic cultures can be a dangerous project" (p. 116). Nevertheless, Lillvis capably situates a Deleuzean posthumanist multiplicity as an evolution of DuBoisian double consciousness and Fanonian triple consciousness (chapter four) and then goes further, implicating Glissant's notion of transversality (chapter five). Perhaps the shortcoming of the work is not in what it fails to do but in what it fails to name itself doing, if that is not too fine a point to make. The productive labor of mothering is the central focus of nearly all...

Ulichnye Familii among Doukhobors of the Caucasus and Canada

Ulichnye Familii among Doukhobors of the Caucasus and Canada A longstanding folk tradition among rural Russian peasants, ulichnye familii (‘street surnames’) were used by Doukhobors colloquially ‘on the street’ of a village to distinguish among families sharing the same official surname. Similar to Quebecois dit names and Scottish sept names, ulichnye familii arose because of the low surname stock within Doukhobor society. Passed down to succeeding generations and transferred between settlements, these names became a recognized form of address among Doukhobors, helping structure kinship networks and organize social interactions among villagers. When a large contingent of Doukhobors emigrated from the Caucasus to the Canadian prairies in 1899, they continued this naming practice in their settlements well into the early 20th century. A ubiquitous part of their culture for generations, today ulichnye familii have all but disappeared among Doukhobors, as a result of their assimilation, dispersal and modernization. This article offers an analysis of the Doukhobor anthroponymic custom of ulichnye familii: the social factors leading to their adoption; the etymological processes through which these names were formed; the manner in which they were used and transmitted; and the elements contributing to their eventual decline and disuse. It also includes an inventory of extant ulichnye familii among the Doukhobors of the Caucasus and Canada, obtained through extensive field interviews and archival research.

Awkward Entanglements: Kinship, Morality and Survival in Cape Town’s Prison–township Circuit

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we explore how townships and prison are linked in South Africa among criminalised populations. While the two are often described – also by residents – as belonging to radically different moral worlds, the article shows how they are entangled in often awkward and difficult, yet necessary ways. We show this by paying acute attention to kinship structures and how kin are disavowed, allowed and sometimes denied as residents find their way to prison and out again. The empirical basis of the article is long-term fieldwork in and engagement with Cape Town’s townships and their residents, many of who have experiences with prison as (former) inmates, as family to inmates, or through constant circulation of prison stories.

Mitos Sawerigading (Epos Lagaligo): Suatu Analisis Struktural dan Penafsiran

This article aims to analyze the myth of Sawerigading. The analysis approach is Structural Leivist analysis used to reveal the Structure in the myth of Sawerigading as a socio-cultural transformation and kinship structure to gain an understanding about the position of Sawerigading in the lagaligos epoch. The results show that the structure of Bugis-Makassar culture is always based on a divided binary opposition structure in three vertical parts, namely, upper structure, middle structure, and bottom. this structure originating from the cosmogini division transformed unconsciously and automatically into natural objects, house shape, and social stratification. Then, the existence of Sawerigading as a central character in the middle world is the result of the transformation of a limited exchange structure to the upper and the underworld kinship group through a marriage described as the foundation of the culture of Buginese and Makassarese people on earth. Liminal position on the myth of Sawerigading is a firm position to explain the reality of culture of the Buginese-Makassarese people. That is why the Buginese-Makassarese people have a strong and firm character.