Kinship in Intersectional Analysis

Kinship is an established and extensively used concept in anthropology. In sociology including intersectional analysis, however, the term is nearly absent, despite its obvious connection to various dimensions of inequality. Previous sociological research on adoptions and on implementation of family law in disputed custody, contact and resident cases suggests that two disparate discourses on kinship compete; one that emphasizes biological kinship and another that draw from a constructionist perspective (Andersson 2010, Eriksson 2003, Ottosen 2006). The paper aims at discussing the gains and possible implications of using kinship in intersectional analysis together with age, class, gender, ethnicity and sexuality. Empirical examples from my ongoing dissertation project are used as illustrations of how such an analysis could look like. The dissertation deals with professional and ideological discourses and practices around children who are exposed and/or subjected to violence in the context of parental separation and family law proceedings in the Swedish welfare state. A central issue is how these discourses and practices are shaped by intersections of some of the abovementioned axes of privilege and oppression. The present paper draws from a review of all court orders in disputes on contact, custody, residence and maintenance, from three districts courts in Sweden during 2010 and 2011. A sample of in total 224 children who were present in cases with information on violence or some form of abuse was selected and further analyzed.