Performing Kinship: Narrative, Gender, and the Intimacies of Power in the AndesIn 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. |
From inside the book
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... Klemola and martha Tango for welcoming me into their home whenever i arrive in sucre. Verónica Cereceda and the late gabriel martínez initially suggested that i conduct research around the provincial town of Pocoata, x Performing KinshiP.
... Pocoata, Bolivia. gary Urton encouraged me along that path at a crucial juncture during my initial dissertation fieldwork. Thanks also to freddy and Angélica Chavez and their family, Desiderio and Dionysia Cocha, ginger hamby and helmut ...
... Pocoata as it appears in most maps and documents. The Quechua spelling of the word would be Pukwata. Personal names follow the spanish spelling in most cases. except where indicated otherwise, the stress in Quechua words is always ...
... Pocoata to ask that someone be arrested.” Although i had heard of violent inci- dents between other community members (brothers; sisters-in-law, mothers-in- law, and daughters-in-law; as well as spouses), i had never seen any evidence ...
... Pocoata, encouraged her to see the judge. The judge told ilena that other people should not be gossiping about her: “They should not be talking about you, they have no reason.” ilena added: “But they talk and talk, and then when ...
Contents
1 | |
27 | |
Circulation of Care A Primer on Sullkata Relatedness | 55 |
Narrating Sorrow Performing Relatedness A Story Told in Conversation | 79 |
Storied Silences Adolescent Desires Gendered Agency and the Practice of Stealing Women | 99 |
Reframing the Married Couple Affect and Exchange in Three Parts | 129 |
Now My Daughter Is Alone Violence and the Ambiguities of Affinity | 161 |
Conclusion Reflections on the Dialogical Production of Relatedness | 183 |
Chapter 5 Narrative Transcriptions in Quechua and in English | 197 |
Chapter 6 Interview Transcriptions in Quechua | 205 |
Notes | 209 |
Glossary | 225 |
Bibliography | 229 |
Index | 257 |