The first comprehensive attempt to explore the issues raised by genetic counselling across cultures. It will be of interest to health professionals and to students and lecturers in the social, behavioural and political sciences and in genetics, medicine and nursing. The meaning and relevance of kinship and ethnicity in the context of genetic disease, cultural issues that have arisen in practice, including the influence of the lay public's beliefs about inheritance and the wider social and political context of genetics and genetic disease are all explored in depth.
Individual essays address issues raised by the science, politics, and history of race, evolution, and identity; genetically modified organisms and genetic diseases; gene work and ethics; and the boundary between humans and animals. The result is an entree to the complicated nexus of questions prompted by the power and importance of genetics and genetic thinking, and the dynamic connections linking culture, biology, nature, and technoscience. The volume offers critical perspectives on science and culture, with contributions that span disciplinary divisions and arguments grounded in both biological perspectives and cultural analysis.
Race, ethnicity and nation are all intimately linked to family and kinship, yet these links deserve closer attention than they usually get in social science, above all when family and kinship are changing rapidly in the context of genomic and biotechnological revolutions. Drawing on data from assisted reproduction, transnational adoption, mixed race families, Basque identity politics and post-Soviet nation-building, this volume provides new and challenging ways to understand race, ethnicity and nation.
These 12 chapters discuss the constitution of kinship among different communities in South Asia and addressing the relationship between ideology and practice, cultural models, and individual strategies. Chapters center around three topics: community and person, gender and change, and shared knowledge and practice. The volume as a whole contributes to the on-going debate on models of well-being within kinship studies. Contributors include anthropologists from Europe, Asia, and the United States. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR
The Arthur M. Sackler Colloquia of the National Academy of Sciences address scientific topics of broad and current interest, cutting across the boundaries of traditional disciplines. Each year, four or five such colloquia are scheduled, typically two days in length and international in scope. Colloquia are organized by a member of the Academy, often with the assistance of an organizing committee, and feature presentations by leading scientists in the field and discussions with a hundred or more researchers with an interest in the topic. Colloquia presentations are recorded and posted on the National Academy of Sciences Sackler colloquia website and published on CD-ROM. These Colloquia are made possible by a generous gift from Mrs. Jill Sackler, in memory of her husband, Arthur M. Sackler.
Interest in the study of kinship, a key area of anthropological enquiry, has recently reemerged. Dubbed 'the new kinship', this interest was stimulated by the 'new genetics' and revived interest in kinship and family patterns. This volume investigates the impact of biotechnology on contemporary understandings of kinship, of family and 'belonging' in a variety of European settings and reveals similarities and differences in how kinship is conceived. What constitutes kinship for different publics? How significant are biogenetic links? What does family resemblance tell us? Why is genetically modified food an issue? Are 'genes' and 'blood' interchangeable? It has been argued that the recent prominence of genetic science and genetic technologies has resulted in a 'geneticization' of social life; the ethnographic examples presented here do show shifts occurring in notions of 'nature' and of what is 'natural'. But, they also illustrate the complexity of contemporary kinship thinking in Europe and the continued interconnectedness of biological and sociological understandings of relatedness and the relationship between nature and nurture.
Resolving a decades long divide between what are often held to be incommensurate paradigms, Social Bonding and Nurture Kinship unites cultural and biological approaches to social life and kinship. The synthesis is non-reductive, respecting the core tenets of both paradigms, and also incorporates psychological attachment theory into the account. Praised by adherents of both perspectives, the work provides a thorough survey of the theoretical debates and empirical findings across a wide array of disciplines, providing students of social behaviour and kinship with a rich and comprehensive resource. This work is a powerful example of how social and physical sciences can unite on equal terms, without the danger of one being subsumed by the other. Both approaches emerge stronger as a result. Scholarly Reviews * A landmark in the field of evolutionary biology, which places genetic determinism in the correct perspective. - Folia Primatologica Journal * I will be strongly recommending this book to all of my advanced undergraduates, masters and PhD students, as well as to my colleagues. Not only does it help to resolve debates that have run for many years, but it is also an outstanding example of what can be achieved by immersing oneself in literature from different fields, while retaining an intellectual openness and exercising incisive analysis... a shining example of what can be achieved when excellent scholars engage fully across disciplinary boundaries. - Acta Ethologica Journal * Maximilian Holland gets to the heart of the matter... If he had been in the debate in the 1980s then a lot of subsequent confusion could have been avoided. - Robin Fox, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, Rutgers. NAS Member * Max Holland has demonstrated extraordinarily thorough scholarship in his exhaustive review of the often contentious discussions of kinship. He has produced a balanced synthesis melding the two approaches exemplified in the biological and sociocultural behavioral positions... This should be the definitive word on the subject. - Irwin Bernstein, Distinguished Research Professor of Primatology, Georgia * A brilliant discussion of the relationship between kinship and social bonding as understood in evolutionary biology and in sociocultural anthropology. - Kirk Endicott, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, Dartmouth * His synthesis is lucid and effective... Holland has produced a significant work of scholarship that will be of interest to a wide swath of the anthropological community." - Critique of Anthropology Journal * A tremendously useful resource for students of kinship in anthropology, psychology and biology who are interested in looking beyond the confines of their own discipline... highly relevant for anyone interested in this exciting field. - Social Anthropology Journal * Max Holland has provided a wide-ranging and deeply-probing analysis of the influence of genetic relatedness and social context on human kinship. He argues that while genetic relatedness may play a role in the evolution of social behavior, it does not determine the forms of such behavior. His discussion is exemplary for its thoroughness, and should inspire more nuanced ventures in applying Darwinian approaches to sociocultural anthropology. - Philip Kitcher, John Dewey Professor of Philosophy, Colombia. Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences * Unlike many commentators who have tackled kinship in the context of biology, Holland takes culture seriously and deals fairly with Schneider''s arguments... This book helps to untangle a long-standing disciplinary muddle. - Richard Feinberg, Professor of Anthropology, Kent State
Juxtaposing contributions from geneticists and anthropologists, this volume provides a contemporary overview of cousin marriage and what is happening at the interface of public policy, the management of genetic risk and changing cultural practices in the Middle East and in multi-ethnic Europe. It offers a cross-cultural exploration of practices of cousin marriage in the light of new genetic understanding of consanguineous marriage and its possible health risks. Overall, the volume presents a reflective, interdisciplinary analysis of the social and ethical issues raised by both the discourse of risk in cousin marriage, as well as existing and potential interventions to promote “healthy consanguinity” via new genetic technologies.
Early Human Kinship brings together original studies from leading figures in the biological sciences, social anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics to provide a major breakthrough in the debate over human evolution and the nature of society. A major new collaboration between specialists across the range of the human sciences including evolutionary biology and psychology; social/cultural anthropology; archaeology and linguistics Provides a ground-breaking set of original studies offering a new perspective on early human history Debates fundamental questions about early human society: Was there a connection between the beginnings of language and the beginnings of organized 'kinship and marriage'? How far did evolutionary selection favor gender and generation as principles for regulating social relations? Sponsored by the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland in conjunction with the British Academy
