|
Fictive kinship is a term used by anthropologists and ethnographers to describe forms of kinship or social ties that are based on neither consanguinal (blood ties) nor affinal ("by marriage") ties, in contrast to ''true kinship'' ties. To the extent that consanguinal and affinal kinship ties might be considered ''real'' or ''true'' kinship, the term ''fictive kinship'' has in the past been used to refer to those kinship ties that are ''fictive'', in the sense of ''not-real''. Invoking the concept as a cross-culturally valid anthropological category therefore rests on the presumption that the inverse category of "(true) kinship" built around consanguinity and affinity is similarly cross-culturally valid. Use of the term was common until the mid-to-late twentieth century, when anthropology effectively deconstructed and revised many of the concepts and categories around the study of kinship and social ties. In particular, anthropologists established that a consanguinity basis for kinship ties is not universal across cultures, and that—on the contrary—it may be a culturally specific symbol of kinship only in particular cultures (see the articles on kinship and David M. Schneider for more information on the history of kinship studies). Stemming from anthropology's early connections to legal studies, the term ''fictive kinship'' may also be used in a legal sense, and this use continues in societies where these categories and definitions regarding kinship and social ties have legal currency; e.g. in matters of inheritance. As part of the deconstruction of kinship mentioned above, anthropologists now recognize that—cross-culturally—the kinds of social ties and relationships formerly treated under the category of "kinship" are very often not necessarily predicated on blood ties or marriage ties, and may rather be based on shared residence, shared economic ties, nurture kinship, or familiarity via other forms of interaction. == Examples == Types of relations often described by anthropologists as ''fictive kinship'' include compadrazgo relations, foster care, common membership in a unilineal descent group, and legal adoption. A noted Gurung tradition is the institution of "Rodi", where teenagers form fictive kinship bonds and become Rodi members to socialize, perform communal tasks, and find marriage partners. In Western culture, a person may refer to close friends of one's parents as "aunt" or "uncle" (and their children as "cousin"), or may refer to close friends as "brother" or "sister", although this is just a mere courtesy treatment and does not represent an actual valuation as such. In particular, college fraternities and sororities in some North American cultures usually use "brother" and "sister" to refer to members of the organization. Monastic, Masonic, and Lodge organisations also use the term "Brother" for members. "Nursing Sister" is used to denote a rank of nurse, and the term "Sisterhood" may be used for feminists. Fictive kinship was discussed by Jenny White in her work on female migrant workers in Istanbul.〔White, ''Money Makes Us Relatives''.〕 In her work, she draws on ideas of production and the women she works with being drawn together through "webs of indebtedness" through which the women refer to each other as kin. These relationships are, however, less frequent than kin relationships, and serve purposes that are not compareable to, nor exclude, a natural family and, much less, natural and universal parents-having-children reproduction system. * Compadrazgo is a form of fictive kinship that is rooted in Central Mexico history for many years. Literally meaning "co-parenthood", compadrazgo is a term to describe the set of relationships between a child, their parents, and their godparents. It has been hypothesized that these relationships evolved after the Spanish conquest in 1521 to help deal with stressful situations.〔Horstman, Compadrazgo and Adaptation in Sixteenth Century Central Mexico〕 These fictive kinships still exist in modern day Mexican societies, and are established by providing some form of aid throughout the child's life.〔Carlos, Fictive Kinship and Modernization in Mexico: A Comparative Analysis.〕 Godparents seldom become more important than parents, though, much less in a non-economic fashion. * Undocumented immigrants have also demonstrated fictive kin relationships. Undocumented restaurant workers are known to form pseudo-families in which they cooperate within living and working situations.〔Kim, "Mama's Family": Fictive Kinship and undocumented immigrant restaurant workers.〕 These relationships benefit the workers by creating a support system that would otherwise be unavailable to those living far from home. These ties are, however, fictive in a strict sense and mean nothing to the people in such pretenses. * Some fictive kin relationships have been discovered in Israel in relation to organ transplants. Hospital committees are formed to assess whether the organ donation is from a true family member or from a friend.〔Jacob, Unknotting fictive kinship and legal process.〕 In order to obtain organ transplants, some individuals are forced to find strangers and pay them compensation for the procedure. However, the relationship between the donor and recipient must be invented as a familial relationship in order to pass through the hospital committee. In this case, fictive kinship is created knowingly to both parties in order to achieve their goals, and is mutualistic in nature. * Adoption and foster care have always been grouped into the fictive kinship category (in cases where the child shares no genetic relatedness to the caregivers). The children are normally treated as the adopters' biological kin, receiving a lot of parental investment despite not having family ties. This view has been chastised by some who claim that notions of kinship are not always based on biological determinants.〔Howell, Adoption of the Unrelated Child: Some Challenges to the Anthropological Study of Kinship〕 But these links do not mean that the adopters would not love more their biological offspring, given the extra natural motivation of survival. * The military has also been an avenue to propagate fictive kinship, such as the sense of brotherhood felt by the soldiers. Fictive kinship has been demonstrated among the spouses of military men and women as well.〔Frese, Anthropology and the United States military: Coming of Age in the Twenty First Century.〕 These relationships may facilitate close bonds that are beneficial during times of hardship. * Other times, relationships can appear from the outside to be fictive kinship relationships, but the reality is that this appearance is just the result of kinship terminology. Members of the Shanti Nagar village in North India refer to everyone—even strangers—in familial terms.〔Freed, Fictive Kinship in a North Indian Village〕 A man would address another man of a similar in age as "brother", and would address an older man as "uncle". Although these terms used in addressing one another appear to be indicative of fictive kinship, they do not actually suggest the existence of ritual kin relationships.〔Vatuk, Reference, Address, and Fictive Kinship in Urban North India.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fictive kinship」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|