Description
Book SynopsisReconnecting State and Kinship seeks to overcome the traditional dichotomy between state and kinship, asking whether concepts associated with one sphere surface in the other, tracking the evolution of these concepts through time and space, and exploring how this binary is reinforced within the social sciences.
Trade Review"Arguing that the anthropology of kinship and political anthropology have become two distinct sub-disciplines, mirroring the assumed dichotomy of traditional versus modern societies, this edited volume sets out to demonstrate the theoretical weakness that arises of such positions. Through excellent chapters by experienced anthropologists, we are shown the fallacy of the separation. Kinship and politics emerge as mutually constitutive enriching our understanding of both." * Signe Howell, University of Oslo *
"An excellent collection that goes quite some way to suturing the divide between studies of kinship and family and ethnographies of the state. Editors Tatjana Thelen and Erdmute Alber have crafted a coherent volume that speaks to larger themes within contemporary political anthropology, assembling a uniformly strong set of contributions that pull together a number of key threads in ways that make this book very useful for scholars working in gender studies, kinship studies, and the anthropology of the state." * Rebecca Bryant, Utrecht University *
"
Reconnecting State and Kinship makes a valuable contribution by arguing for the mutual relevance of the fields of kinship and studies of the state. The book's editors and contributors demonstrate how concepts 'travel' between the realms of kinship and the amalgam of actors that animate the state, and in doing so acquire new meanings." * Alice Wilson, University of Sussex *
