CCA - "The Reconfiguration of kin networks through separation and estrangement" présentation de Pr. Bettina BEER

"The Reconfiguration of kin networks through separation and estrangement"
Présentation de Pr. Bettina BEER

 

Abstract:

Intimate relations, defined by mutual care, trust and love, are fundamental to all human societies and have been widely studied by social anthropologists. These relationships form part of the continuum of social commitment that has gained attention in New Kinship Studies (NKS), focusing on the interactions that create and sustain them, thereby emphasising relatedness through interaction rather than procreative connections. This shift is largely inspired by David Schneider's work, which prioritises the "kinning" of others through interactions that bespeak and demonstrate intimacy. While NKS has focused on the creation and maintenance of intimate relations, our research explores interactions that result in the transformation or termination of such relations, on what we take to be the reasonable assumption that the anthropology of kinship needs to take account of both the procreative relations between people and the sociological trajectories that can sustain or erode intimate relations. We conduct three empirical studies: estrangement between parents and adult children in Switzerland, marriage dissolution in the Philippines, and bureaucratic separation of parents and their children in Russia. Our research addresses foundational issues for NKS, arguing that procreation as well as caregiving efforts and their effects are foundational to understanding estrangement processes, precisely because sociological profiles cannot "end" kin relations and the networks they set up. Our research aims to show what makes it impossible to "undo" kin relations and trace the ripple effects of attempts to do so on the kin networks.

Thus, and to put it plainly, one can, for example, terminate all direct interaction with one's birth-mother, but one cannot, by an act of will, negate the effects of that termination on one's siblings, children and other kin; nor can one negate the effects of the power of the state acting on its own interpretations of motherhood.