Přednáška profesorky Tatjany Thelen (University of Vienna) „State, Kinship, Care: Towards a relational Approach“

Katedra obecné antropologie FHS UK společně s Českou asociací pro sociální antropologii, Českou sociologickou společností a CEFRESem srdečně zvou na přednášku profesorky Tatjany Thelen (University of Vienna) „State, Kinship, Care: Towards a relational Approach“. Přednáška se uskuteční v rámci Gellnerovských seminářů ve čtvrtek 14. listopadu od 17:30 v knihovně CEFRES (Na Florenci 1, Praha 1).

Anotace (english version): In October of this year (2019), the first two so-called ISIS-children arrived in Austria. Their mother was separated from her children, had disappeared during the war. Nothing is known about the father. Lacking birth certificates, citizenship was granted based on a DNA-test that established the kinship with their Austrian mother. The Kurdish self-government then gave them over to the Austrian state representatives at the Syrian border. Meanwhile, custody has been transferred to their maternal grandmother. This is only one recent example of the deep entanglement between kinship, state and care. Despite and constant co-production, kinship and state are still often dealt with conceptually separately, or even contrasting domains, which creates unhelpful blind spots. In my talk I will propose a relational approach that uses care as an entry road into ethnographically researching their intricate relationship. The aim is to show how kinship is not only influenced by the state but also shapes political structures. Ultimately, I argue that overcoming the stereotypical divide and myth of the “modern” family as functionless in politics, can be an important contribution of anthropology in public debates.