Let's replace 'kinship' with 'relatedness'
ARTs - assisted reproductive technologies
- a factor in the rebirth of the discussions on kinship in anth
When to reproduce? Why do individuals choose to wait to reproduce?
- meeting the right person
- feeling ready to take on such responsibilities
- low fertility - illnesses, age, conditions
- economic stability
- finding suitable community
- careers given priority
- political and philosophical beliefs: world too grim to raise children, overpopulation..
Fertility
- biological limits: must reach certain age before menstruating or producing viable sperm
- possibility of the child developing Down's syndrome if mother is aged 40+ when pregnant
- oldest father to baby aged 90+
- youngest mother aged 5, in Peru early 1900s
Infertility
- notions of 'blood' and parenthood
- suitability as a marriage partner
- social acceptance
- economic and social costs
- manliness and womanhood
(blame may be put on the woman for the inability to produce child, so husband may father children of other women)
There is always a pregnancy, but how it comes about may differ in method
- birth mother
- gestating surrogate mother
Sperm Donation
- some donors and some recipients prefer anonymity
- tale: a sperm donor had donated plenty of sperm and eventually realised that anonymity of the sperm source may cause a person a feeling of deprivation to their identity
- tale: several women had children by sperm donation and found that their children were related through the sperm (altho, they could not find the sperm source) and created a family by establishing that their children were related as siblings
Ova Donation
- some donors and some recipients prefer anonymity
- lots and lots of tests and regulations
Surrogacy
- Helen Ragone's research: worked in 20+ clinics and found that most were surrogates for moral beliefs, most also already had a stable/intact family and felt that those who did not were deprived
- not anonymous, very involved
- family surrogacy
- gay surrogacy
- surrogate mothers often quickly cut from family picture
Transnational insemination
A whole new list of new terms of address
- dad and papa
- first names
- complete father/mother
The Transnational Flows of Human Capital
- migration for labour
- marriage between persons of different nationalities
- adoption of a child living abroad
- illegal immigration
International labour - slavery
- how did people create identities and connections with kin?
- slaves were considered indispensible, most died on ships; 3 million slaves were exported by and for the English colonies between the years 1666 and 1766
- whole families were picked up so people travelled with relatives (relatives that they may have seen die and tossed overboard) but they would get separated upon arrival when auctioned
- people that worked together banded together as a family
- as they didn't have any possessions, the way a person styled their hair was an identity marker
Tradition of capoeira, Angola
- created to specifically look like a dance: rhythmic and included music
- slave master saw it as a native ritual when in fact it was exercise to help the slaves keep fit and agile
Crossing borders to work
- 'disposable domestics'
- separation
- staying connected
- courtship after marriage on return, since absence makes the heart grow fonder.. (reuniting)
- new ideas to be found when exploring new places
- having to sacrifice being with their children to make enough money for their schooling, clothes, toys etc but it may not be understood by Western ideas of families staying intact or fully appreciated by children left behind
Crossing borders to marry
- societies
- wives clubs
- extended families
- third culture kids: refers to children that have spent a significant period in their childhood, when developing social skills, immersed in culture(s) other than the one that they are used to; the first culture is their home culture, the second is that from their travels and the third is an amalgamation of the two; they tend to prefer the company of other TCKs
Mail order brides
- could develop from a pen pal relationship
- women: different ideas of gender to those of their society, perhaps picked up popular media idea that women should be more empowered than their society allows and so advertise themselves in order to move to a more suitable social environment
- men in a social setting they may not be able to break out of; more likely to not have time for relationships than being social misifts
Transnational adoption
- linked to capitalism in outsourcing? children as a commodity
- there are children who need a caring home and people wanting to give them care
Culture camps
- where children learn about their parents' culture(s) because they don't live in that country
If grandparents care for the children of their children, why might they be stigmatised for having a child of their own in old age?
Madonna adopts and saves one child form poverty when she has influence and the wealth to save many more
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