Paper short abstract:

Kinship and gender are inevitably entangled with history and temporality – with legacies and futures. Rather than focusing on the inclusionary work of kinship over time, at this contemporary moment it seems appropriate to examine the work of exclusion that both kinship and gender enable.

Paper long abstract:

Legacies and futures are a particularly apt frame for considering contemporary articulations of kinship and gender. In this presentation, I argue that while the anthropological study of both kinship and gender obviously come with a considerable historical baggage, everyday practices and understandings necessarily also encompass visions of the past and future. The temporality of kinship, which may be grounded in material artefacts and substances (for example, houses, genealogies, photographs, food, bodily substances) provides pathways for its inclusionary and exclusionary work. With a few notable exceptions, the anthropological antecedents have concentrated more on the inclusionary processes of kinship and the exclusions of gender – together with those of race and nationality. At this contemporary juncture in Europe it seems appropriate to consider the entanglements of kinship and gender with history, and to focus on the work of exclusion that both kinship and gender enable.