Reconceptualising Europe as a society governed by kinship

Abstract (English)

I invite to look at the European kinship as if through the eyes of an alien – that is without the received wisdom of European tradition of self-image and by that re-think the core elements of European society.

If we adapt the view proposed by Needham half a century ago and later followed by others that kinship is about a particularly salient relations in any given society, then what are these “particularly salient relationships” in Europe? It has been argued by Needham, Schneider, Sahlins, McKinnon and others that the concept of kinship represents the European view on the bonds between people and that these bonds in European view stem naturally from the fact of birth; alternatively they can also be rooted in “law”, that is in marriage and perhaps - friendship. But the first is more important and the second is only mimicking the first. However, surprisingly, European thinkers and lay people alike constantly downgrade the ties that stem from birth as inappropriate and somehow backward and contaminated – in particular when it comes to the public and adult affairs or the society and the state.

Taking this in consideration I propose that we need to dismantle the theory of European kinship as rooted in the fact of birth and instead propose that the “particularly salient relationships” is a dynamic concept in Europe, tied to the process of “growing up” – when one is born the kin ties dominate, but with growing up, these are supposed to wither away to be substituted by ties that are constructed on the basis of more or less rational choice. Europe in this view is a thoroughly kin-based society. Not only birth-related issues are fundamental for understanding European citizenship and economy (though inheritance), but the general setup of the state is also deeply tied with this dynamic concept of kinship as integrated with growing up.