Kinship Theory Research Articles

Parental modifiers, antisense transcripts and loss of imprinting.

The kinship theory of genomic imprinting has explained parent-specific gene expression as the outcome of an evolutionary conflict between the two alleles at a diploid locus of an offspring over how much to demand from parents. Previous models have predicted that maternally derived (madumnal) alleles will be silent at demand-enhancing loci, while paternally derived (padumnal) alleles will be silent at demand-suppressing loci, but these models have not considered the evolution of trans-acting modifiers that are expressed in parents and influence imprinted expression in offspring. We show that such modifiers will sometimes be selected to reactivate the silent padumnal allele at a demand-suppressing locus but will not be selected to reactivate the silent madumnal allele at a demand-enhancing locus. Therefore, imprinting of demand-suppressing loci is predicted to be less evolutionarily stable than imprinting of demand-enhancing loci.

Recognizing, Assessing, and Classifying Others: Cognitive Bases of Evolutionary Kinship Therapy

The practice of psychotherapy revolves around human relationships, especially between client and therapist. At base, psychotherapy is “a species of human interaction that establishes the therapist as a protective figure or secure base in a way that facilitates client growth and change” (Bailey, 1997). This secure interpersonal base enables the client to confront inner conflict, interpersonal conflict/deficiencies, and negative thoughts about the self and others (see Gilbert this volume). Evolutionary kinship therapy views the client-therapist relationship, and client relations with others, through an evolutionary lens that focuses on the role that ancestral human relationships played in shaping current social behavior (Bailey, 2000; Bailey & Wood, 1998). This article outlines psychological kinship theory and then applies the logic of the model to selected aspects of the client-therapist relationship.

Absence of kin discrimination in a ponerine ant

Kinship theory implies that individual social Hymenoptera should be able to identify kin. We tested kin discrimination in the polygynous ponerine ant Gnamptogenys striatula. Mate choice experiments showed that individuals did not pair according to kinship. Experiments on matriline discrimination revealed that workers did not preferentially groom, transport (after nest disturbance) or cannibalize (after starvation) larvae on the basis of kin, when both related and unrelated larvae were present. These results show the absence of kin discrimination for the criteria and experimental conditions used. The lack of kin discrimination during mate choice in G. striatula can be explained by male dispersion and female philopatry, which reduces the likelihood of mating between siblings and of kin-based mate choice reflected in incest avoidance. The lack of matriline discrimination by workers may reflect permanent intracolony mutualism or the high cost of discrimination. Finally, it appears that the absence of kin discrimination in such contexts in G. striatula is not incompatible with kinship theory and may have been secondarily selected during social evolution. Copyright 2002 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Evolution of Dravidian Kinship Systems in Oceania: Linguistic Evidence

In Allen’s world‐historical theory of kinship, humanity began with a tetradic‐Dravidian system based on cross‐cousin marriage and defined by alternate generation, prescriptive, and classificatory equations. In the course of time the dominant trend has been towards the irreversible breakdown of these equations in just this order. Comparative linguistic evidence is obviously crucial for an evaluation of Allen’s theory and for similar grand theories of irreversible change in kinship systems. This article presents some linguistic evidence from Oceania, a part of the world not covered in the recent symposium on transformations of kinship systems (Godelier, Trautmann & Tjon Sie Fat 1998). The Polynesian evidence shows, consistent with Allen’s theory, that leftward movements towards the Dravidian pole are unusual and can be explained as substratum effects. But the broader Oceanic evidence shows, contrary to Allen’s theory, that endogenous developments of Dravidian systems, although they may be improbable, are indeed possible.

Aspects of a formalist theory of kinship

I shall assume the general relevance of genealogy for kinship on the basis of my earlier paper (Lehman, 1993). I shall then proceed, first, to examine some further important formal properties of social structure that genealogy imposes on kinship categories. In particular, I shall argue that these make kinship the unique case of a truly ascribed, rather than achieved social structure. In that connection, I shall also show that the structure of the space of kin categories is therefore especially apt for purely formal analysis. I shall, furthermore, extend my earlier work on the category theoretical relation between the two spaces, demonstrating additional algebraic properties that follow from the way genealogical space provides the ground for the instantiation of kin categories, i.e. defining the notion of (possible) kin category occupancy. This, in turn, will involve specifying in detail the way (populations of) actual or supposed individuals are brought into the picture, and especially the way that conceptual/semantic features, derived from properties of persons, and how expectations about relations between them, are brought into and made part of the meaning of kin categories and their terminology. This is intended to be a further corrective critique of, for example, Schneider’s ‘cultural account’ theory of kinship theory, a critique founded upon the crucial requirement of keeping the notions of relational position and personal occupancy of that position analytically distinct. At the same time I am also concerned to go beyond the question of the relation of genealogical space to kinship category spaces, and to pursue, however briefly, the more general point that kinship (and its associate relational system, marriage) are indeed algebraic spaces. To that extent I feel it important to argue that more encompassing questions about these domains are best addressed through the application of algebraic methods of analysis; that, in fact, the theory of such matters must itself, in the final analysis, be a mathematical object. To that end, though only in my conclusions, I shall present a preliminary demonstration of how such methods go far toward making sense of such larger problems concerning kinship and marriage – in this instance, a hitherto recalcitrant and misconstrued problem in the theory of marriage alliance, that of the systems of patrilateral marriage alliance.

Aquatics, Flyers, Creepers and Terrestrials — students' conceptions of animal classification

There have been several investigations into students' conceptions of animal classification. Previous research has generally failed to study the criteria of classification used by the students. This study shows that students prefer to classify creatures along the criteria of habitat and locomotion (method of movement). They continue using these criteria even after learning the categories of biological taxonomy. The results lead to the assumption of an implicit theory of natural kinship of animals. The educational consequences for biology instruction, especially with regard to biological taxonomy, biodiversity, and evolution, are discussed.

The Kinship Theory of Genomic Imprinting

▪ Abstract The inclusive fitness effect attributable to an allele can be divided into an effect on matrilineal kin when the allele is maternally derived and an effect on patrilineal kin when paternally derived. However, the allele is not subject to selection on its effects on patrilineal kin when maternally derived nor on its effects on matrilineal kin when paternally derived. As a result, natural selection may favor alleles with effects that differ, depending on the allele's parental origin. At autosomal loci, this process is predicted to lead to the silencing of alleles when inherited from one or the other parent. At X-linked loci subject to random X inactivation, the process is predicted to lead to quantitative differences of expression between maternal and paternal alleles but not to complete silencing of one allele. The implications of this theory and some challenges to the theory are reviewed.

A Fish Story: Rethinking Globalization on Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands

Recent discussions of globalization leave the nature of movement and of the moving objects in transnational flows relatively unexamined. Incorporating historical and ethnographic material from the British Virgin Islands, I use the analogy of the critique of the study of kinship, which highlights the assumptions of person and relation built into kinship theory, to shed light on the assumptions of property and the metaphysics of movement built into globalization research, [globalization, property, kinship theory, capitalism, Caribbean]

Cub adoption by polar bears (Ursus maritimus): determining relatedness with microsatellite markers

AbstractSixteen microsatellite markers were used to determine the genetic relatedness between adult female polar bears and their accompanying cubs for three recent occurrences of natural adoption recorded in the Canadian Arctic. The estimation of the degree of relatedness was powerful and provided a high degree of separation between first order relatives and unrelated individuals with the loci used. The analysis showed that the cubs were unrelated to their adoptive mothers and that the mothers were unrelated to one another. Although the circumstances and mechanisms whereby these adoptive events occurred are unknown, the data do not support kinship theory as an explanation for the exchange of cubs. We suggest that these adoptive events probably represent instances of the misidentification of cubs by adult polar bears.

Evolutionary kinship therapy: basic principles and treatment implications.

The idiom of kinship is a powerful one that stretches across many levels of social behaviour (van den Berghe, 1979), and Daly, Salmon & Wilson (1997) recently outlined the basic principles of a comprehensive, evolution-based kinship psychology. Their approach merges traditional kinship theory, Hamilton's inclusive fitness model and the broader realm of evolutionary psychology into an exciting and provocative call to arms. They address biological, psychological (viz. fictive kinship) and kin-like levels of analysis, and they argue for a relationship-specific kinship psychology that deals with the particular demands of being a mother, father, mate, offspring or grandparent. Our particular approach to kinship psychology has focused primarily on the distinction between biological kinship and psychological kinship (Bailey, 1988; Bailey & Wood, 1993; Nava & Bailey, 1991), and more recently on the role of kin-like relations in psychotherapy and other social contexts (Bailey, 1997a; Wood, 1997). The kin-like category is especially noteworthy in modern industrialized countries where acquaintanceships and stranger-to-stranger interactions often predominate over biological and psychological kinships (Ahern & Bailey, 1997).

“Where is Sarah Your Wife?” Cultural Poetics of Gender and Nationhood in the Hebrew Bible

William Robertson Smith wrote in 1885 that the biblical convention whereby aman is said to “go in” to his bride represents a linguistic trace ofonce widespread “beenamarriage,” in which men joined the natal households of the women who took them as husbands. It was an error of literalist reductionism, but one that lent support to an imposing infrastructure of systematic kinship theory and evolutionism that continues to excercise an influenceon some contemporary scholars. Another way of saying this is that Robertson Smith failed to recognize a significant biblical metaphor—that of men enteringwomen's tents—when he saw one. This misapprehension of biblical poetics has had important consequences for the way in which he and his successors have interpreted the Hebrew Bible.

History and Social Structure: A Study of the Sefwi Residential System (Ghana)

The article reviews studies concerning the Akan (Ghana) residential system with particular reference to Fortes's Time and Social Structure. Fortes's work is criticized for its lack of historical perspective, for assuming the structural identity of kin groups, and for ignoring the political and economic importance of the father-child relationship. The author presents a survey of the Sefwi residential system in which domestic units are differentiated according to their historical role. The economic and political importance of the father-child relationship is acknowledged in the transmission of and rights and in the dynamics of household foundation. (Matrilineal kinship, residential system, history, Akan, Ghana) The above title, a paraphrase of Fortes's famous Time and Social Structure: An Ashanti Case Study, was chosen because it expresses the main purposes of this article. The aim is twofold: to review the literature concerning the residential pattern of the Akan, centered on Fortes's (1949) work and assumptions, and to propose a different framework through the introduction of a historical perspective. An analysis of Fortes's kinship studies of the Akan, with particular reference to their residential system, enables one to point out certain theoretical shortfalls common to British anthropology in the 1940s and early 1950s. This is important for several reasons. The accepted theoretical framework in Time and Social Structure is particularly clear and its consequences are symptomatic. Moreover, this article may also be relevant to students of the Akan area since the theoretical assumptions and results of Fortes's work (particularly Time and Social Structure) have often been accepted uncritically in many of the studies which followed. Finally, the principal aim here is to propose a different theoretical framework and offer insights which will shed new light on the residential pattern of the Akan. The first two parts of this essay analyze Fortes's theoretical framework and his publications on the Asante. In the third section, Fortes's theoretical framework is criticized and a different methodological and theoretical procedure is proposed. Finally, the revised approach will be applied to the study of the residential pattern of the Sefwi. FORTES'S ASSUMPTIONS Fortes's theoretical assumptions and methodology have been clearly and repeatedly specified in his work and have been applied in his fieldwork among the Asante. It is therefore essential to examine briefly some of the main features of his kinship theory and methodology to understand his description of the Asante residential system. Fortes's fundamental assumption is that there are a few simple norms on which society is forged. These rules create a structure, a social The rules derive from the one law which gives society its structure: the principle of descent. Rights regulating access to land, the criterion of political citizenship, the system of inheritance, and everyday relations all derive from the descent principle (Fortes 1953, 1958, 1959). The residential pattern is not a direct product of the descent principle. Fortes admits the importance of affinity and time in determining the and of the residential system. [T]ies of kinship, marriage, and affinity regulate the structure of domestic and family groups, which have no permanent existence in time. Each domestic group comes into being, grows and expands, and finally dissolves. But the institutions it embodies, and the mode of organization it exhibits, are essential features of the structure. Domestic organization has two aspects. Its form derives from a paradigm or cultural norm sanctioned by law, religion and moral values. Its structure is governed by internal changes as well as by changing relations, from year to year, with society at large. (Fortes 1949:7, cf. 1950:261, 1953:91) The descent principle also determines the unit of study of the structure: the lineage. …

Unthinkable Categories and the Fundamental Laws of Kinship

In L'Exercice de la parenté, Héritier develops a general theory of kinship systems based on two “fundamental laws.” These laws depend for their proof on a sociological explanation of two logically possible but empirically unrealized terminologies in the classifications of Lowie and Murdock. Following Greenberg's cognitive‐linguistic theory of kinship classification, I interpret these unrealized terminologies in the first instance as special cases of a universal tendency to avoid disjunctive categories. In developing this interpretation I introduce an evolutionary perspective that has been absent from most discussions of kinship theory fora long time. The structural models for this analysis are, as always, graph theoretic, [kinship theory, cognition, linguistics, graph theory]

The Lineage-Village Complex in Southeastern China: A Long Footnote in the Anthropology of Kinship [and Comments and Reply

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Lineage-Village Complex in Southeastern China: A Long Footnote in the Anthropology of Kinship [and Comments and Reply]Allen Chun, John Clammer, Patricia Ebrey, David Faure, Stephan Feuchtwang, Ying-Kuei Huang, P. Steven Sangren, and Mayfair YangAllen Chun Search for more articles by this author , John Clammer Search for more articles by this author , Patricia Ebrey Search for more articles by this author , David Faure Search for more articles by this author , Stephan Feuchtwang Search for more articles by this author , Ying-Kuei Huang Search for more articles by this author , P. Steven Sangren Search for more articles by this author , and Mayfair Yang Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Current Anthropology Volume 37, Number 3Jun., 1996 Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/204504 Views: 24Total views on this site Citations: 34Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1996 The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological ResearchPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Dong Zhang, Yongjiao Yang Internal migrants' charitable giving to hometowns in China: The effect of community embeddedness, Population, Space and Place 28, no.22 (Jun 2021).https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2491Irons Edward 본부와 방면 - 대순진리회 종교조직의 특성 -, The Journal of Daesoon Academy of Sciences 35 (Aug 2020): 427–476.https://doi.org/10.25050/jdaos.2020.35.0.427Xudong Zhao Li Village, (Apr 2019): 17–51.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-53834-0_2P. Steven Sangren , ( 2017): 167.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50493-3_6Stephanie Po-yin Chung FROM ANCESTRAL TONG TO JOINT-STOCK COMPANY: THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE YIP KWONG TAI TONG IN SOUTH CHINA, 1830s–1960s, International Journal of Asian Studies 12, no.11 (Jan 2015): 79–105.https://doi.org/10.1017/S1479591414000229Anne-Christine Trémon La figure du fondateur comme incarnation du public, Civilisations , no.6363 (Sep 2014): 123–142.https://doi.org/10.4000/civilisations.3710Siu-Keung Cheung The changing life-world of a Chinese village: Land, economic practice, and community change, China Information 25, no.22 (Jul 2011): 185–205.https://doi.org/10.1177/0920203X11406481 Introduction, (Jan 2010): 1–21.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822393160-001 To Be Emplaced, (Jan 2010): 31–58.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822393160-003 Stepping Out, (Jan 2010): 59–106.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822393160-004 Snakeheads and Paper Trails, (Jan 2010): 107–139.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822393160-006 Bad Subjects, (Jan 2010): 141–164.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822393160-007 For Use in Heaven or Hell, (Jan 2010): 171–216.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822393160-009 Partings and Returns, (Jan 2010): 217–256.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822393160-010 Conclusion, (Jan 2010): 257–267.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822393160-011 Notes, (Jan 2010): 269–294.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822393160-012 Bibliography, (Jan 2010): 295–319.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822393160-013Mei Zhan Introduction, (Oct 2009): 1–27.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822392132-001Mei Zhan Get on Track with the World, (Oct 2009): 31–61.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822392132-002Mei Zhan Hands, Hearts, and Dreams, (Oct 2009): 63–88.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822392132-003Mei Zhan Does It Take a Miracle?, (Oct 2009): 91–117.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822392132-004Mei Zhan Translating Knowledges, (Oct 2009): 119–142.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822392132-005Mei Zhan Engendering Families and Knowledges, Sideways, (Oct 2009): 145–173.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822392132-006Mei Zhan Discrepant Distances, (Oct 2009): 175–193.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822392132-007Mei Zhan Epilogue, (Oct 2009): 195–201.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822392132-008Mei Zhan Notes, (Oct 2009): 203–215.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822392132-009Mei Zhan References, (Oct 2009): 217–228.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822392132-010Elisabeth Lund Engebretsen Intimate practices, conjugal ideals: Affective ties and relationship strategies among Lala (Lesbian) women in contemporary Beijing, Sexuality Research and Social Policy 6, no.33 (Sep 2009): 3–14.https://doi.org/10.1525/srsp.2009.6.3.3Siu-Keung Cheung “This Is My Mother’s Land!”: An Indigenous Woman Speaks Out, (Jan 2009): 165–186.https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230622418_9James L. Watson Presidential Address: Virtual Kinship, Real Estat, and Diaspora Formation—The Man Lineage Revisited, The Journal of Asian Studies 63, no.44 (Mar 2007): 893–910.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021911804002359Jon B. Hageman THE LINEAGE MODEL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA IN LATE CLASSIC NORTHWESTERN BELIZE, Ancient Mesoamerica 15, no.11 (Jan 2004): 63–74.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0956536104151043 Xin Liu Urban Anthropology and the `Urban Question' in China, Critique of Anthropology 22, no.22 (Jul 2016): 109–132.https://doi.org/10.1177/03075X02022002848Selina Ching Chan Selling the Ancestors’ Land, Modern China 27, no.22 (Aug 2016): 262–284.https://doi.org/10.1177/009770040102700204 Practicing Kinship in Rural North China, (Jan 2001): 224–245.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822383222-009

Making kin: kinship theory and Zumbagua adoptions

The biological definition of family at the root of functionalist kinship theory has been rightly criticized by contemporary feminist and symbolic anthropologists, but in retreating into an antinatural position such critiques simply recapitulate the limitations of an opposition between nature and culture in which the former is prior and essential, the latter secondary and historical. From the perspective of Zumbagua, where people become parents by feeding and caring for children over extended periods of time, both schools of thought are not only inadequate to explain fully the material bases of local practice but are representative of a specific Western‐bourgeois ideology that indigenous people actively oppose.

Nourishing kinship theory: a commentary on Weismantel's “making kin”

nourishing kinship theory: a commentary on Weismantel's “making kin”

Acquiring a Naive Theory of Kinship through Inference

The present study focused on how children acquire a naive theory of kinship. Young children appear to have theoretical beliefs about the biological meaning of kinship relations. It was argued here that these beliefs reflect inductive inferences from simple facts about prenatal growth (e.g, where babies grow). An informal model of the inferences linking facts to theory was proposed and tested. In Experiment 1, 4-7-year-olds who knew the basic facts of prenatal growth were most likely to also express the naive theory of kinship. Virtually none of the children who expressed the theory were unaware of the basic facts. In Experiment 2, teaching the facts to a sample of preschoolers led to some increase in their acceptance of the kinship theory. Overall, the results implicate a type of theory building that involves inferences from preexisting knowledge rather than structural change, use of analogy, or acquisition of new knowledge.

Reclaiming English Kinship: Portuguese Refractions of British Kinship Theory.

Reclaiming English Kinship: Portuguese Refractions of British Kinship Theory.

Chicana/o Family Structure and Gender Personality: Chodorow, Familism, and Psychoanalytic Sociology Revisited

Les AA. discutent du modele theorique de sociologie psychoanalytique realise par Nancy Chodorow, concernant le role de la mere dans le developpement et la reproduction de l'identite sexuelle. Elles testent en effet ce modele sur une population particuliere, les chicano aux Etats-Unis. Notamment comment la structure de la communaute familiale joue sur le developpement de la personnalite sexuelle et ethnique des chicanos et chicanas.

Reclaiming English kinship: Portuguese refractions of British kinship theory

Part 1 How British social anthropologists learned to look to kinship: reading British social anthropology the genealogical method in the British and French traditions. Part 2 The language of genealogy - a bottomless pit of analysis? Part 3 Transposing British kinship theory to 1980's Portugal: reading lists and teaching programmes between English and Portugese understandings. Part 4 Switching perspectives: exploring Portugese kinship Portugese constructs - from nomes to conversas. Part 5 Disclosing English kinship.