anth 1616: family and kinship in africa
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ANTH 1616: Family and Kinship in Africa. Spring 2010, Harvard University. KINSHIP IS A SOCIAL FACT. “ Social facts exist outside of individuals and are not reducible to psychological facts. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
ANTH 1616: Family andKinship in AfricaSpring 2010, Harvard University
KINSHIP IS A SOCIAL FACT.
“Social facts exist outside of individuals and are not reducible to psychological facts.
A great deal of social research is based on the assumption that people are influenced by social
forces that emerge from the interaction of humans but that transcend individuals.”
The Mamas and
the Papas
•Alliance Theory vs. Descent Theory
•Matrilineal and Patrilineal Descent
•The Mother’s Brother (your uncle)
•Age Sets
What makes a family?
Kinship occurs when people give cultural recognition and cultural significance to biological facts of relatedness
LINEAGE: The Search for Continental Kinship
Blood is thicker than water. Even ocean water.
Compared to U.S.
Small Scale
Patriarchal
Very white
Also weird.
Koli vs. Sumo
•Modernity & Tradition
•Modernity vs. Tradition
•Modernity/Tradition Dualism
The Changing African Family
Nuclear Kinship
Anthropological Understandings of the
WorldScheper-Hughes and Lock
The Patrimonial State
BIG MAN POLITICS: AFRICAN UNION 2002
Les Feministas
Mothernity:
“Motherhood is a more powerful metaphor for the commonality of women’s
experiences than sisterhood.”
Kinship Problems in the Anthropology of Africa
Biological antecedents & political entitlementsSocial changes emerging from modernizing
passionsHow religion mucks things upViolence and ruptureGender-Based ViolenceReproductive HealthState Construction and State CorruptionCitizenship, Legal Change, and Human Rights