Antropologia

Introduction. Contemporary Relatedness: Between Normativity and Transgressions

Mattalucci Mattalucci, Simonetta Grilli — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In the 21st century, anthropological studies have witnessed new research on kinship understood as relatedness. The authors of the articles included in this issue of Anthropologia show the richness and diversity of contemporary kinship studies. They underscore the vitality of kinship as an ideal model for broader relations of solidarity. Recall the situated relevance that specific relationships – marital, parental, reproductive, among siblings – have within different local contexts. Describe the tension between norms, normality, and transgressions, questioning the processes that give relations meaning and produce hierarchies, marginality, and exclusion. Finally, they highlight the enduring relevance that the analysis of kinship and reproduction continues to have in social and cultural anthropology as a privileged field for understanding the texture of social life and questioning what would otherwise be taken for granted.

Violating Statutory Bans: an Ethnography of “Forbidden” Marriages in the Highlands of Madagascar

Marco Gardini — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The academic literature on the legacies of slavery in Madagascar (as in other African contexts) has stressed how marriage interdictions between people of free origin and slave descendants still characterize, in often silent but pervasive ways, the reproduction of local kin networks and contribute to reaffirm the stigma associated to slave origin. This article focuses instead on the stories, difficulties, and experiences of those who have - knowingly or unknowingly - violated these interdictions, creating – often at the risk of being excluded from their respective families – new bonds of kinship and intergenerational care that laboriously attempt to transcend the constraints of local statutory distinctions. Generally not formalized, these “forbidden” unions not only contribute to produce tensions, conflicts, and profound reformulations of local forms of relationality, but also reveal the contradictions that emerge between the need to keep “family purity and honour” intact and the principles of inclusiveness and extended kinship linked to the local concept of ﬁhavanana (lit. “to act like a relative”).

Relatedness and Non-Heteronormative Subjectivities. Insights from Fa'afafine Experiences

M. Carolina Vesce — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Gender transgressions in non-Western contexts show the role of non-conforming subjectivities, both in the domestic and family sphere, as in the public sphere. For the purpose of this essay, I would like to assume a lateral perspective to focus on several re-arrangements of parental configurations engendered among Samoan fa'afafine. Basing my arguments on data collected during the fieldwork I conducted in Samoa between 2014 and 2015, I would like to show how fa'afafine retain toward their siblings the obligations and responsibilities prescribed by their assigned sex, while they take upon themselves the burden of caring as for their gender. In another respect, incorporating non-related fa'afafine in their household can rebalance the weight of certain social obligations while exacerbating others, and producing different forms of personal dependence.

“But where is your Husband?”.“Matrifocalizing” Connections among the Meshes of the Somali Diaspora

Francesca Scarselli — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In this paper I propose a reflection on the experiences of single mothers in the Somali diaspora, a very common and socially accepted experience within the diaspora, which illuminates interesting processes related to experiences of mobility and transnationalism. Intersecting the theoretical frameworks of diaspora studies and those of matrifocality, I propose to reflect on the connections that can be detected between the experience of single motherhood and the more profound and enduring familial and social changes among people who identify as Somalis in diaspora around the world.

Embryos, Pregnancies, and Transgressions: a Comparative Analysis of Social Representations of Surrogacy and Embryo Donation in Italy

Guerzoni Guerzoni — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Every year the number of people who use assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) to have children is growing. Among the most complex techniques are in vitro fertilization (IVF), which includes donation of gametes, embryos (embryo donation), and surrogacy. This article presents ethnographic cases collected in California (2014-2017; 2017-2020) and Italy (2020-2023) and examines embryo donation and surrogacy, practices that involve social, legal, and moral transgressions. My findings show how social representations of surrogacy and embryo donation influence the perceptions and experiences of those involved, revealing a complex framework of social, moral, and legal norms that are renegotiated within ARTs’ processes.

“NO PFAS Moms”: Understandings Parenting and Reproduction in a Context of Life Altered by Chemical Contamination

Sacchi Sacchi — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The NO PFAS Mothers’ movement in the Italian province of Vicenza originated when it was found that their children’s blood contained perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that were produced by the Miteni plant in Trissino and were causing the pollution of groundwater. Confronted by the serious health damages these chemical compounds can induce, they have taken a stance where the care of their children and the remediation of the territory intertwine in a worldview that combines issues of reproductive and environmental justice. Their “resistance” actions against contamination rest on networks of consolidated relations and a shared feeling that mothers have a moral responsibility towards future generations, in a process of rethinking reproduction and kinship that appears to be the women’s burden. My contribution explores these questions in an intrafamilial and intergenerational frame, with the aim of capturing the imaginaries, the asymmetries and the forms of relationality that emerge.

Affects, Transgressions and Resistance among Girls, Boys and Families in Times of Crisis (Gallura, Sardinia)

Rossana Di Silvio — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In an altered human environment, childhood and youth can be marked by forms of mental distress and inappropriate social behaviors that enhance the climate of social anxiety.

From an economically depressed but socially cohesive area, Gallura has quickly transformed into an exclusive tourist destination for rich continentals and foreigners. The Gallura people have not benefited from so much imported opulence, on the contrary, they have suffered from the perverse socio-cultural alteration that has torn the traditional fabric of relationality leaving behind a desolate social scenario. Following the narrative of boys, girls, and families in times of crisis, this contribution tries to illustrate and discuss their efforts to position themselves on the social scene as political subjects who build the future, facing guilt-inducing categorizations and claiming recognition for their suffering and daily affective labor.

Dancing Power in Porto-Novo: the Adjògàn between Royal Court and Catholic Church

Federica My — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Considered the “traditional” dance par excellence of the royal court of Porto-Novo, the adjògàn owes much of its political and identity relevance to its performance nature and celebratory function. Assuming the role of promoter of the new instances which swept through Porto-Novian society during the 20th century, the dance engaged itself between continuity and change. In continuous and open dialogue with new players in the political, social and religious spheres, the adjògàn finally involved also the Catholic Church. Based on fieldwork materials, the article analyses the changes in rhythm over time, noting its constant expansion towards spaces dedicated to the celebration of power. Thus, the adjògàn emerges as an aggregator and negotiator of meanings capable of coexisting within a socio-political context full of tensions.

Reviews

Various Authors — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Dario Nardini, 2022, Surfers Paradise. Un’Etnografia del Surf sulla Gold Coast Australiana (Andrea Buchetti)
David Nemer, 2022, Technology of the Oppressed: Inequity and the Digital Mundane in Favelas of Brazil(Annalisa Molgora)
Laura Menin, 2024, Quest for Love in Central Morocco: Young Women and the Dynamics of Intimate Lives (Chiara Pilotto)
Sabrina Tosi Cambini, 2023 (2021), Other Borders. History, Mobility and Migration of Rudari Families between Romania and Italy (Francesco Vietti)

About the Authors

Various Authors — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

About the Authors