z-logo
Premium
Contesting M arshall S ahlins on Kinship
Author(s) -
Shapiro Warren
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
oceania
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.356
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1834-4461
pISSN - 0029-8077
DOI - 10.1002/ocea.5033
Subject(s) - kinship , performative utterance , warrant , fictive kinship , sociology , genealogy , gender studies , anthropology , history , epistemology , philosophy , financial economics , economics
In a recent two‐part article on the nature of kinship, M arshall S ahlins maintains that performative criteria for kin‐reckoning are at least as salient as procreative ones, and that, at conception, an individual is endowed with a wide circle of kin, including the ancestral dead. For both reasons, he argues, there is no warrant for granting privileged status to what anthropologists have called ‘primary’ kinship. The contentions here are that performative criteria are modeled upon procreative ones; that ties to ancestral figures are seen as antithetical to procreative ties; and that, therefore, all kinship constructs are derived from nuclear family relationships. Evidence in support of these contentions is provided from the M ae E nga, F iji, the T robriands, and A boriginal A ustralia.

This content is not available in your region!

Continue researching here.

Having issues? You can contact us here