Kinship

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My Personal Kinship Chart

What does Kinship mean? Is this the same meaning across cultures, or does the meaning or symbolism of kinship change through time?

Over Thanksgiving break 2017, I will report my viewpoint on the American Thanksgiving and how kinship ties in. I will be doing this by practicing Field work through an ethnographic framework. i will use my own experiences, participant observation, and Participant interviews.

I am most interested in tracking the meaning and connotations of the “idea” of Thanksgiving and its significance through time (since the 1st Thanksgiving celebration in 1621). I will ask my family and friends, “what does kinship mean to you? What are the social and cultural norms of thanksgiving? and how these aspects and meanings have changed over time?”

Kinship is defined as:

  • A cultural system that defines familial relationships and obligations. (Lecture 9, Dr.Lara)
  • The system of meaning and power that cultures create to determine who is related to whom and to define their mutual expectations, rights, and responsibilities. (Guest, pg.236)

Kinship Groups Represented Thanksgiving 2017:

  1. Nuclear Family: (Shaleen, Ron, Austin & Daphnie Gearhart)
  2. Single-Parent Family: (Shaleen & Rebecca)  & (Ron & Mary)
  3. Affinial Relationships: (Shaleen & Mary), ( Ron & Rebecca, Yvonne) & (Rebecca, Yvonne & Mary)
  4. Companion-ate Marriage as well as Monogamous and Exogomous Marriage: (Shaleen & Ron)
  5. Descent Group/Traced through Blood: 3 Generations (Yvonne, Rebecca, Shaleen, Francis, Austin & Daphnie)
  6. Socially Constructed Kinship Group: All previous Decent Groups + Affinial relationships + Family Friend Hollie acquired through Yvonne’s life.)

How Has Kinship evolved over time?

Kinship has changed throughout time in my opinion due to technology, economy, religion, globalization, and sexual orientation. Instead of the traditional kinship charts only consisting of decent groups traceable through blood, or marriage within a kinship group, we have evolved to incorporate family, friends and affinial relationships. One no longer needs to be geologically related to be kin.