BibTeX
@MISC{Does_2013|,
author = {What Kinship Does},
title = {2013 | HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 3 (2): 245–51 |Book Symposium|},
year = {}
}
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Abstract
One of many family stories that made a vivid impression on me as a child was told by my mother, Ruth, who related how, as a young woman in her mid-twenties, she had once been on a journey, about to catch a train from one European city to another. 1 Standing on the platform, she suddenly had the feeling that something was wrong at home. For no obvious or explicable reason, instead of taking her intended train, she took a different one—travelling in the opposite direction—and went directly home. On arrival, she discovered that her brother, to whom she was extremely close, had just received a diagnosis of leukaemia. He died just a few weeks later and, as the manner in which Ruth told of these events made clear, her life from then on was irrevocably changed. I was reminded of this story when I first read Marshall Sahlins ’ wonderful, scholarly, and humane account of What kinship is—and is not. What is most striking about Sahlins ’ discussion is the evocative way in which he captures something immediately recognizable about kinship. Across cultures, eras, and social
