Kinship And Gender: An Introduction

This undergraduate textbook uses anthropological kinship as a framework for the cross-cultural study of gender. Connecting kinship with gender, Linda Stone focuses on human reproduction and the social and cultural implications of male and female reproductive roles. Her insightful narrative introduces new ways of approaching and understanding cross-cultural variations.Stone provides coverage of the field of kinship at the introductory level, but she also explores the major issues and debates in the study of the interrelation of gender and culture. The book reviews studies of primate kinship, considers ideas about the evolution of human kinship, and looks at kinship and gender in relation to different modes of descent, as illustrated by seven in-depth ethnographic case studies. Stone examines marriage through case studies of marriage in ancient Rome and Himalayan polyandry and offers a history of Euro-American kinship and gender, as well as an examination of the repercussions of the new reproductive technologies on both kinship and gender.