The kin of the gene: the medicalization of family and kinship in American Society

In the past several decades there has been an explosion of research in genetics and on genetic inheritance. This new genetics is part of contemporary biomedicine and forecasts great advances in alleviating disease and prolonging human life. It also encompasses notions about biological family and kinship relations. I propose that with the advent of the new genetics, family and kinship are being medicalized. I explore the ways in which explanations of the inheritance of genetic disease influence people's understandings of family and kin and both reflect and conflict with broader current sociocultural processes. The discussion includes a brief overview of the anthropological study of kinship, the meaning of family and kinship in contemporary society, the concept of medicalization and its implications for people's lives as seen through narratives and concludes with an analysis the significance of the medicalization of family and kinship in present-day society.     

From Secrets of Life to the Life of Secrets: Tracing Genetic Knowledge as Genealogical Ethics in Biomedical Britain

I argue that the facts of a 'genealogical ethics' are built up over time as local moralities of information disclosure and non-disclosure. In the context of predictive genetic testing technologies, family members must discriminate between genetic information that they think is 'good' to know or make known, and knowledge that they think is 'bad' to tell and share with others. But attempts to deal with the kinship implications of genetic foreknowledge frequently entail unresolved processes of moral decision-making, both within and across the generations. Seen as embodied experiences of moral reckoning, these genealogical knowledge dilemmas also implicate a myriad of interests and divergent claims beyond the life of any one person. This article considers why a specifically anthropological formulation of 'genealogical ethics' challenges the conceptual premiss of individual autonomy underpinning the 'right to know' debates of mainstream Western bioethics.     

Giving Voice to Children's Voices: Practices and Problems, Pitfalls and Potentials

In this article, I explore the lessons that the anthropological debates of the 1980s about writing culture might have for contemporary childhood research within anthropology and the social sciences more generally. I argue that the current rhetoric about "giving voice to children," commonplace both inside and outside the academy, poses a threat to the future of childhood research because it masks a number of important conceptual and epistemological problems. In particular, these relate to questions of representation, issues of authenticity, the diversity of children's experiences, and children's participation in research, all of which need to be addressed by anthropologists in their own research practices with children. Unless anthropologists do so, childhood research risks becoming marginalized once more and will fail to provide an arena within which children are seen as social actors who can provide a unique perspective on the social world about matters that concern them as children.     

Structure and Process in the Interpretation of South American Myth: The Arawak Dog Spirit People

Recent work on oral narrative has emphasized differences in textual and performative approaches, which in turn has tended to widen the distinction between two fundamental categories of anthropological thought: structure and process. This paper argues that, at least for the interpretation of South American myth, an integrated approach is essential. After reviewing the epistemological basis of current problems in myth studies, the paper attempts a structural analysis of myths with the theme of a metamorphic conjugal union between human and nonhuman. Processual considerations are introduced in the form of syncretic myth, and the argument is advanced that there exist syncretic transformations of a structural nature. Identifying these provides the beginnings of a bridge between structure and process, and leads to an examination of the performative context of the subject myth. Other narrative genres, dealing with explicitly ethnic concepts, are implicated in the processual sequence of the telling and interpretation of the tale. The attempted synthesis of structure and process in narrative analysis leads to an engagement with two difficult problems: the relationship between ethnicity and kinship; and the transition from myth to history. [myth, structure, process, ethnicity, kinship]     

Genetic structure and heterozygosity in the kuru region,Eastern Highlands of New Guinea

Genetic structure of 20 of the 37 linguistic groups in the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea including the kuru region is analyzed using information on blood groups and serum protein polymorphisms. The average individual is heterozygous at 28.6% of loci and the average number of alleles per locus is 1.234. Coefficients of kinship for linguistic groups range from 0.005 for the sweet potato cultivating North Fore to 0.075 for the isolated Pawaians whose dietary staple is sago and who depend more on hunting and gathering. As one selects linguistic groups with smaller and smaller population size and increasing isolation, one finds that kinship coefficients rise as much as tenfold, but there is no concomitant loss of heterozygosity or trend toward fixation of alleles. Genetic relationships established by genetic distance trees and by principal components analysis are comparable and are consistent with other anthropological observations.     

Maori hapuu and their History

Current research by historians and lawyers in Maori land and fisheries claims is broaching issues of Maori kinship calling for renewed social anthropological research. In this essay I review the history of social anthropological research in Maori kinship through 1975, a lapse in this research until the late 1980s, and a recent revival. A central problem of this research has been the conceptualisation of Maori hapuu (‘subtribes’) or cognatic descent groups. A critique of the recent analyses suggests that the early failure of social anthropologists to understand hapuu in historical context continues, although in different theoretical forms. The burgeoning research by historians and lawyers, while lacking fundamental anthropological insights, suggests that hapuu cannot be separated from their specific history.     

Isolation by distance on the Island of Korcula: correlation analysis of distance measures

Within the framework of holistic anthropological investigations of the rural populations on the Island of Korcula, various measures of biological distances between eight villages were estimated (Mahalanobis' D2 for anthropometric, physiological, and dermatoglyphic traits); socio-cultural similarities and distances were determined (kinship coefficient estimated from migrational data and Hemming similarity measure estimated from linguistic data). A matrix of Spearman's rank correlation coefficients among these measures demonstrated a pattern of interdependencies, which we analysed further by principal components analysis. The first component reflects the cumulative effect of different processes acting on the initial gene distribution over a long period of time; the second component represents initial population structure; and the third component reflects recent migration influences.     

Parallel and divergent landscapes: cultural encounters in the ethnographic space of Tuareg medicine

This essay explores the dialogue between the local quest for healing and the anthropological quest for healing knowledge, and local assessments of knowledge-power relationships in these processes. The context is medical discourse among the Tuareg of Niger Republic, West Africa, and my research experiences among these people. I examine local medical specialists and their traditional and changing practice in terms of how they perceive and respond to wider knowledge and power systems that impinge on local health care. Paramount in these systems are central state policies and medical anthropological research on healing, as these intersect in a postcolonial and post-separatist/rebellion setting. The essay analyzes parallels between the exchange of medicine and the exchange of knowledge and reflects upon how anthropological knowledge of African healing systems is constructed in an environment highly charged with power and danger--of political violence and economic crisis. The broader issue addressed here is how to give greater empowerment to local residents' voices in their "indigenous critique" of the medical anthropological project.     

Spatial genetic structure in two congeneric epiphytes with different dispersal strategies analysed by three different methods

Three different approaches were used to assess the kinship structure of two epiphytic bryophytes, Orthotrichum speciosum and O. obtusifolium, that have different dispersal strategies. The two species were sampled in a 200 ha landscape where species occurrence and host trees had been mapped previously. Local environmental conditions at sampled trees were recorded and kinship between individuals was calculated based on amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP)-marker data. We did not detect any association between AFLP-markers and investigated environmental conditions. In both species, significant kinship coefficients were found between individuals up to 300-350 m apart which shows that both species have a restricted dispersal range. The spatial kinship structure was detected with both autocorrelation analysis and generalized additive models (GAMs), but linear regression failed to detect any structure in O. speciosum. Although the dioecious O. obtusifolium is currently the more common species it may, none the less, due to its restricted dispersal range and reproduction mode, become threatened in the future by current silvicultural practices which enhance the distance between host trees and decrease their life span. Finally, GAMs seem most appropriate for analysing spatial genetic structure because the effects of local environmental conditions and spatial structure can be analysed simultaneously, no assumption of a parametric form between kinship coefficient and distance is required, and spatial data resolution is not lost in the arbitrary choice of distance classes characterizing autocorrelation analysis.     

Conflict resolution following aggression in gregarious animals: a predictive framework

Knowledge of how animals manage their conflicts is critical for understanding the dynamics of social systems. During the last two decades research on gregarious animals, especially primates, has focused on the mechanisms of conflict management, mainly on friendly postconflict reunions (also called ‘reconciliation’) in which former opponents exchange affiliative behaviour soon after an aggressive conflict. Our aim in this paper is to present a framework in which the costs and benefits of friendly postconflict reunions, both for each individual opponent and for their mutual relationship, are used to predict the patterning of postconflict resolution mechanisms in other gregarious animals. The framework predicts the occurrence of postconflict reunions in species that live in stable social units, have individualized relationships, and experience postconflict hostility, but especially in those in which intragroup aggression disrupts valuable relationships. The critical issue is whether aggressive conflicts occur between cooperative partners and whether the level of aggression is sufficient to jeopardize the benefits associated with such valuable relationships. We conclude by proposing four research priorities to evaluate the role of friendly reunions in negotiating relationships and the way they are themselves influenced by asymmetries in partner value and biological market effects. Copyright 2002 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.     

Recovering Power in Association Mapping Panels with Variable Levels of Linkage Disequilibrium

Association mapping has permitted the discovery of major QTL in many species. It can be applied to existing populations and, as a consequence, it is generally necessary to take into account structure and relatedness among individuals in the statistical model to control false positives. We analytically studied power in association studies by computing noncentrality parameter of the tests and its relationship with parameters characterizing diversity (genetic differentiation between groups and allele frequencies) and kinship between individuals. Investigation of three different maize diversity panels genotyped with the 50k SNPs array highlighted contrasted average power among panels and revealed gaps of power of classical mixed models in regions with high linkage disequilibrium (LD). These gaps could be related to the fact that markers are used for both testing association and estimating relatedness. We thus considered two alternative approaches to estimating the kinship matrix to recover power in regions of high LD. In the first one, we estimated the kinship with all the markers that are not located on the same chromosome than the tested SNP. In the second one, correlation between markers was taken into account to weight the contribution of each marker to the kinship. Simulations revealed that these two approaches were efficient to control false positives and were more powerful than classical models.     

Intergenerational and Genealogical Approaches for the Study of Longevity in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean Population

The mechanisms of longevity have been the subject of investigations for a number of years. Although the role of genetic factors is generally acknowledged, important questions persist regarding the relative impact of environmental exposures, lifestyle characteristics, and genes. The BALSAC population register offers a unique opportunity to study longevity from an intergenerational and genealogical point of view. Individuals from the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean population who died at age 90 or older between 1950 and 1974 were selected from this database (n?=?576), along with a control group of individuals born in the same period who died between 50 and 75 years of age. For these subjects and controls, spouses’ ages at death and parental ages at death and at their birth were investigated using regression analysis. Genealogical reconstructions were carried out for each individual, and various analyses were performed on both groups. Both fathers’ and mothers’ mean ages at death were significantly higher among the longer-lived cases than among controls whereas spouses’ ages at death and parental ages at birth had no effect. Regression analysis confirmed the positive effect of both fathers’ and mothers’ age at death. Mean kinship coefficients for the parents’ generations displayed significant differences, indicating that kinship was higher among subjects than controls (this effect was stronger among the oldest 10% of the subjects). Frequencies and genetic contributions of ancestors were very similar for the two groups, and none of these ancestors appeared more likely to have introduced genetic variants involved in longevity patterns in this French Canadian population.     

Vocalizations and other behavioral responses of male cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) during experimental separation and reunion trials

In this study we assessed the extent of psychological attachment between male cheetahs living in same sex pairs in zoos by recording the behavior and vocalizations of two male coalitions (siblings and nonsiblings) during four experimental separations and reunions of each coalition. Both coalitions showed higher vocalization rates and walking rates during separations than during reunions, and during separations cheetahs spent less time resting and more time vocalizing, walking, or standing than during baseline observations. Compared to the nonsibling coalition, the sibling coalition showed a significantly higher vocalization rate during separations and more affiliative behavior during reunions. The most common calls emitted during separations were chirps, followed by eeaows and stutters. The chirps showed the highest level of individual distinctiveness. Eeaows comprised a significantly higher percentage of the calls during separations for nonsiblings that for siblings. The only vocalization heard during reunion was the stutter. We hypothesize that chirps emitted during separations communicate desire to reunite, individual identity, and have a structure that facilitates locating the caller. The results of this study suggest that male cheetahs, both sibling and nonsibling, develop strong psychological attachments to each other. The separation of existing coalitions can create stressful conditions for coalition members. We suggest that raising and maintaining coalitions of male cheetahs in coalitions in zoos is a viable husbandry technique. Zoo Biol 17:1–16, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Competition and kin discrimination in colony founding by social Hymenoptera

Summary After mating, queens of social wasp and ant species sometimes band together to start a new colony cooperatively. I assume these queens sequentially encounter potential nest sites that may or may not already contain a queen. Whether to remain at a given site or to leave in hopes of finding a better site is modelled using dynamic programming. The results suggest that discriminating competitive ability is more valuable than discriminating kinship. Wasps, which have a high survival rate in transitions between nest site encounters and in which pleometrosis seems to have a consistently high benefit, are predicted to discriminate both competitive ability and kinship of potential partners. Ants, which have lower survivorship and variable benefits, are predicted to show conditional joining behavior (sometimes based on discriminating competitive ability, but almost never based on discriminating kinship). A survey of the literature supports the model with respect to the predictions on kin discrimination in both groups and on conditional joining behavior in ants. However, whether partners are joined based on perceptions of competitive ability needs more tests.     

A Study of East African Kinship and Marriage Using a Phylogenetically Based Comparative Method

This article has two related aims: to evaluate some of the principal (and often untested) hypotheses for sociocultural variation in family organization among East African societies and to offer insights into both the strengths and weaknesses of the phylogenetic method for comparative anthropological studies at regional levels. We start with the expectation that the relatively fine scale variation in traits observed at the regional level is a result of adaptations to local and institutional features. As such, historical continuities will disappear as descendant populations adapt to their new environments, thereby generating a new level of independence between daughter populations. In presenting both conventional and phylogenetically informed tests of a range of hypotheses for family variation among East African societies, this article provides an empirically based assessment of the validity of this view. [ kinship, marriage, phylogenetic method, comparative method, East Africa ]     

Collaborative Moments. Expanding the Anthropological Field through Cross-Disciplinary Practice

ABSTRACT

This article explores some implications of cross-disciplinarity, as experienced in practice. Anthropologists are used to fuse different styles of reasoning by integrating the points of view and unspoken certainties of their partners in the field into their analysis. Fieldwork can be seen as an experiment in real time, where insights gained intersubjectively gradually shape up as knowledge through analysis. This line of thought is brought to bear on a discussion of collaboration between anthropologists, archaeologists, and biologists in North West Greenland. Through actual experiences from the field, this article shows how knowledge generated on the edge of one’s familiar disciplinary territory may both expand and intensify the anthropological field. Collaborative moments are seen to make new anthropological insights emerge through the co-presence of several analytical perspectives in the field.     

Kinship on the waterfront: logistics labour in a global port

This article examines how kinship forms a contested element of labour under capitalist distribution. The focus of the article is on a thriving Spanish container port where the dockworker collective has been steadily growing since the multinational companies first arrived in the 1970s. In the wake of containerization – a standardized system of freight transport based on the intermodal shipping container – dock work has been revalued and become attractive in an area otherwise characterized by high unemployment rates and below-average salaries. Drawing on ethnographic research, the article analyses how unionized dockworkers are met with stigmatization from the general public and criticized for their intergenerational access to ‘container capital’. The article contributes to current anthropological debates around the role of labour under global capitalism by tracing the links between kinship and labour in the making of a global port.