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. |
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... brothers whose envy for each other causes harm to befall them . Married adults — men and women — tell folktales about young lovers who run away together only to meet with dire consequences . Women - alternately angry , matter - of ...
... (brothers; sisters-in-law, mothers-in- law, and daughters-in-law; as well as spouses), i had never seen any evidence of violence between ilena and marcelino. Concerned by Claudina's news, in ilena's absence i tried to find out more about ...
... brothers and sisters” and told Julio that he must publicly apol- ogize for his malicious talk. Julio complied, going first to marcelino and ilena and then around the circle of gathered community members, bending down to shake hands ...
... brothers and sisters; parents and children; neighbors, strangers, and compadres; gringos and native Andeans) are subject to individual idiosyncrasies, local and national discourses, and the contingencies of events. These stories also ...
... brothers and sisters, parents and children, strangers and compadres, gringos and native Andeans are not simply categories but rather actors in dynamic relationships negotiated on a daily basis. in the process i also hope to give readers ...
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 |