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Home > Activities > Committees >Seminar on the New History of Kinship

Short Report on International Seminar on the New History of Kinship Paris, France, 1-2 October 2004

Organized and funded by the IUSSP Scientific Committee on Historical Demography, Institut National Etudes Démographiques (INED) and l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) with institutional support from the Research Group in Economic Demography, Lund University.

Program Committee: Tommy Bengtsson, chair (Lund University), James Z Lee (University of Michigan), Geri Mineau (University of Utah) and Paul-André Rosental (École des hautes études en sciences sociales/INED).

The historical demographic study of kinship has experienced tremendous change over the last fifteen years.

Historians of population have demonstrated the importance of kinship networks in understanding demographic and social processes. Studies of extended kinship have stimulated new analytical approaches and have produced findings that are among the most innovative and productive lines of inquiry in population and social history.

Historical demographers, economic historians and sociologists have identified the social and demographic consequences of familial and kin networks in the past and in so doing have expanded the databases of familial and demographic information to include notarial archives, taxes records, land registers, and especially genealogical information. Anthropologists have used similar historical genealogical and social information to expand research in their field. In addition, extended kinships are used by geneticists and others to identify the presence of disease aggregation in families and to study the association of consanguinity and health outcomes.

The aim of this seminar was to bring together international specialists in the field of historical kinship studies to assess each other's findings; begin discussion on the new issues raised, the ideas, concepts and tools to be developed, and lines of research to be encouraged; and promote integrated multidisciplinary research.

The seminar was attended by historical demographers, economic historians, sociologists, anthropologists, geneticists, and scholars from other disciplines interested in exchanging the latest scientific knowledge on forms of kinship and their effects on demographic and social behaviour.

Fourteen papers were presented in sessions on health; kinship and fertility; generations and social history; and kinship and social stratification. The papers generally fell into one of two categories: the making and construction of kinship, or, the effect of kinship on demographic and social outcomes including mortality, fertility, migration and social mobility.

Much discussion throughout the seminar centered on the relative importance of genetics and historical studies of kinship, and the contribution that one can make to the other. Opinions varied widely. At one end of the spectrum was the belief that molecular and genetic science would supplant kinship studies; that there is ‘no future in the past, the future is in the present’. At the other end was the view that the social sciences should remain autonomous and that social-science kinship studies should not incorporate genetics, on ideological and moral grounds.

Further discussion raised a number of issues, for example that terminology such as “familial” rather than “genetic” could be used across disciplines. This allows observations without implying whether the influence is due to inherited factors versus those that are environmental or social.

The middle ground was held by those who believe that each discipline can make important contributions to the other. A demographic basis is required for many disciplines such as population genetics, epidemiology, genetic epidemiology, and cultural evolution. Genealogies can help explain today’s genetic information and provide precise information in terms of the homogeneity of the population. In addition, genetics may be relevant in demographic studies of health and mortality, where biological pathways can be used as explanatory factors.

For other participants there is no such middle ground. Thus the conference displayed a strong opposition, not to say controversy, between two views of dealing with complex kinship forms. One treats it as a partially biological phenomenon, where some patterns (in terms of longevity) may be genetically inherited. The other approach treats kin as a social construction, where strategies and actions to draw resources from the environment, explain demographic and social outcomes. It also considers that statistics, though necessary as a validation tool, is not sufficient to understand the context and meanings associated to family behaviors. According to this view, the conference tends to show that these two approaches will not be easily reconciliated in the future.

Please click here for the Seminar's long report.