Transcript Janet Dolgin

Janet Dolgin
• Studied several examples of these
ambiguities in contemporary court cases in
the US, having to do with the paternal rights
of parents who were not married, and with
the maternal rights of surrogate mothers.
• In the cases of children being born out of
wedlock, biological maternity automatically
turned a woman into a social mother, but
biological paternity didn’t automatically
make a man the social father.
Surrogacy
• The cases show that when a surrogate
mother impregnated with the sperm of the
husband in the couple decided to keep the
child, then the court decided that biological
maternity wasn’t enough to be a mater.
• Biological facts were called into play by the
court only when they justified the
preservation of traditional families, that is,
nuclear, middle-class, North American twoparent family.
Zumbagua, Ecuador
• According to Mary Weismantel, family
consists of those who eat together.
• Eventually, people will come to share “the
same flesh”, no matter who gave birth to
them.
• Ascribed Statuses: Are social positions that
are assigned at birth, and that are seen as
immutable or unchangeable.
• Achieved Statuses, on the other hand, are
social positions that people attain later in
life, as a result of theirs or someone else’s
effort.
• Bilateral kindred is not a descent group.
Bilateral Descent Group
• An unusual kinship form consisting of a set
of people who claim to be related through
descent from a common ancestor, through
both the mother’s and the father’s side
• A corporate group.
Corporate Group
• A group of people who have something in
common and interact regularly,
AND
• who collectively share: rights to property
or other resource, privileges, and
liabilities.
Patrilineage
• A unilineal descent group in which descent
is traced through father-child links.
Matrilineage
• A unilineal descent group in which descent
is traced through mother-child links.
Lineages
• Whether matrilineal or patrilineal, are
formed by all the members of a descent
group who believe they can trace descent
from known ancestors.
In matrilineal societies
• The most important social relationship is
between brothers and sisters, because it is a
man’s sister’s children who will perpetuate
his lineage.
In patrilineal societies
• The most important relationship is between
father and child.
Bridewealth
• The transfer of symbolically important
goods from the family of the groom to the
family of the bride on the occasion of their
marriage.
• This transfer compensates her lineage for
the loss of her labour capacity and her
ability to have children.
Dowry
• The transfer of family wealth to the child,
usually the woman, at the time of her
marriage.
• This ensures that the woman will enjoy the
same lifestyle she had at home.
Order of Sharing &
Order of Ratification
Order of Sharing
• Operates on the principle that kinship is
constructed through substance sharing, e.g.:
–
–
–
–
DNA
Blood
Food
Semen
Order of Ratification
• Encompasses all the processes that
legitimize relationships through social
convention, e.g.:
– Nuer transfer of bridewealth in the form of
cattle.
– Adoption of children.
– Ties of marriage in North American society.
Kath Weston
• Studied how difficult it is for gay and
lesbian people to come out to their blood
relatives, particularly because they are
constantly afraid that their families will
disown them.
• Bonds symbolized by blood can be
terminated.
Gay and lesbian families
• New kin ties can be created over time as
friends and lovers demonstrate their genuine
commitment to one another by creating
families of choice.
• Gays and lesbians state that family
members are people who are there for you,
people you can count on emotionally and
materially.
• One of the ideologies dominant within gay
and lesbian kinship relations is that
“Whatever endures is real.”
What is a date?