This week, we look at the grounds in which relationships form. Where exactly does kinship arise? What is the importance of place in all of this? Why is context critical? We look at how the quality of the environment and the architecture of the spaces we inhabit informs the quality of our relationships. We explore how unusual "places”, like the internet, or a science lab, can also lead to forms of kinship, and why this is important in a time when many feel they need to retreat to pristine nature in order to feel connection (this option is widely unavailable). This week is about where we find ourselves.
Adah Parris: Belonging in the Cyborg Age, Session 6
Is the concept of belonging purely a state of mind or is it about the choices that we make in the pursuit of intimate relationships, especially in our increasingly digitally hyper-connected world? Do we have a reductionist view of intimacy and belonging, focusing only on how it relates to our perception of what it means to be human in relation to other humans? What has been the role of technology and social media in this 21st Century narrative of belonging? What could be possible if we take a living system approach to belonging by reframing our understanding of intimate relationships and therefore the potential of kinship in this age of cyborgs?
Gavin Van Horn: Place & Urban Space, Session 7
In this session Gavin will expand on the importance of place in kinship relations. What is it about place that is different to “space”? Why is context so profoundly important? Gavin will draw from his time living in urban environments to talk about how, despite being “unlikely” places to connect with nature, kinship is possible. Gavin is the author of The Way of Coyote: Shared Journeys in the Urban Wilds, and co-editor of Wildness: Relations of People and Place and City Creatures: Animal Encounters in the Chicago Wilderness. He is co-editor, along with Robin Wall Kimmerer and John Hausdoerffer, of the book series, Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations.
Tim Ingold: Kinship and Generation - An Anthropological Perspective, Session 8
All kinship depends upon the passage of generations. But what is a generation, and how should we understand the relations between them? Western bioscience has tended to separate lifelines from lines of genealogical succession, confining the former within generations while drawing the latter between them. Kinship, then is reckoned in terms of a calculus of genealogical relatedness, which specifies individuals in their basic constitution independently and in advance of their lifelong involvement in relationships with one another. We argue, to the contrary, that the process of begetting and being begotten that brings generations into being, and defines their interrelations, is itself a life-process. Generational lifespans do not succeed one another so much as proceed in parallel, overlapping for at least part of their length. For begetting is a labour of love, through which parents produce their offspring, and the latter theirs, in the everyday work of nurturance and care. Herein lies the essence of kinship.
Tyson Yunkaporta: Indigenous Perspectives on Relational Ecosystems, Session 9
Kinship is at the heart of Australian Indigenous society. Tyson Yunkaporta shares how a kin-centred foundation allows us to grow and develop in the socially complex environments we are hardwired for; where the individual and collective exist as an interdependent dyad. He places importance on kinship pairs, our first being the mother/child bond - the epicentre of community in which all other relations are rooted. The kinship pairs between siblings, parents, aunties, uncles, cousins each hold sacred knowledge and stories. This relational space is one of fluidity, where the self-other boundary dissolves. As we orbit around these networks of human and non-human pairs, culture is formed, embedded in the landscape; an interrelated ecosystem of relationality. He raises concern about the “crisis of meaning” present in Western society today, induced by an economic system that creates fragmentation and separation. Tyson encourages us to attend to our longing to relate, and to explore intricate webs of relationship through dialogue with those who are living or have lived in deep connection with people and place.
