In the highland region of Sullk'ata, located in the rural Bolivian Andes, habitual activities such as sharing food, work, and stories create a sense of relatedness among people. Through these day-to-day interactions—as well as more unusual events—individuals negotiate the affective bonds and hierarchies of their relationships. In Performing Kinship, Krista E. Van Vleet reveals the ways in which relatedness is evoked, performed, and recast among the women of Sullk'ata. Portraying relationships of camaraderie and conflict, Van Vleet argues that narrative illuminates power relationships, which structure differences among women as well as between women and men. She also contends that in the Andes gender cannot be understood without attention to kinship. Stories such as that of the young woman who migrates to the city to do domestic work and later returns to the highlands voicing a deep ambivalence about the traditional authority of her in-laws provide enlightening examples of the ways in which storytelling enables residents of Sullk'ata to make sense of events and link themselves to one another in a variety of relationships. A vibrant ethnography, Performing Kinship offers a rare glimpse into an compelling world.
Les mer
A unique analysis of the stories, conversations, gossip, public speeches, and other narratives that shape community and identity among peasant women of the Bolivian highlands.
Acknowledgments A Note on Orthography Chapter 1. Introduction: Relative Intimacies, Storied Lives Chapter 2. Sullk'ata Contexts: Reflections on Identities and Localities Chapter 3. Circulation of Care: A Primer on Sullk'ata Relatedness Chapter 4. Narrating Sorrow, Performing Relatedness: A Story Told in Conversation Chapter 5. Storied Silences: Adolescent Desires, Gendered Agency, and the Practice of Stealing Women Chapter 6. Reframing the Married Couple: Affect and Exchange in Three Parts Chapter 7. "Now My Daughter Is Alone": Violence and the Ambiguities of Affinity Chapter 8. Conclusion: Reflections on the Dialogical Production of Relatedness Appendix A. Chapter 5 Narrative Transcriptions in Quechua and in English Appendix B. Chapter 6 Interview Transcriptions in Quechua Notes Glossary Bibliography Index
Les mer
Performing Kinship makes a valuable contribution to the study of kinship, but its particular strength lies in the way it bridges an anthropology of relatedness and emotions to issues of political economy and globalization; it is also a wonderful ethnography of Andean life in its own right.
Les mer
A unique analysis of the stories, conversations, gossip, public speeches, and other narratives that shape community and identity among peasant women of the Bolivian highlands

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780292717084
Publisert
2008-01-15
Utgiver
Vendor
University of Texas Press
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet

Biographical note

Krista E. Van Vleet is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Bowdoin College. She lives in Bath, Maine.