Negotiation and Social Space: A Gendered Analysis of Changing Kin and Security Networks in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa

An AltaMira Press Book

Deviating significantly from the existing discourses on family and kinship, this volume of original essays (a companion to SHIFTING CIRCLES OF SUPPORT, AltaMira Press, 1996) offers a fresh conceptualization which views individuals and, then, relationships as crucial elements.Through a combination of macro and micro perspectives, it provides a comparative and gendered analysis of shifts within marriage, family kin and social networks of people who live in societies undergoing substantial change in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The analysis develops a critique of certain hegemonic qualities of the term “family,” its supposedly unchanging character, as well as its assumed harmonious nature. In fact, the family is viewed as a primary social arena where relationships are constantly renegotiated and which, while providing valuable security and support, also contains exploitation and violence. Overall, the volume articulates a fresh approach to kinship and family through which subtle erosions in the security of vulnerable individuals–not only women, but also children and the elderly–can be uncovered. It highlights the importance of the comparative perspective and the urgency of adopting such an approach for policy initiatives.