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
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 entitlements
Social changes emerging from modernizing passions
How religion mucks things up
Violence and rupture
Gender-Based Violence
Reproductive Health
State Construction and State Corruption
Citizenship, Legal Change, and Human Rights