State Kinning and Kinning the State in Serbian Elder Care Programs

Author(s)

Tatjana Thelen, Andre Thiemann, Duška Roth

Abstract

In this article, we analyze processes of kinning within state- initiated programs of elder care in Serbia in order to explore how images of the state as an entity are cast as distinct from the domain of the family. We present data from the fieldwork we conducted in two settle- ments, in northern and central Serbia respectively. Contrary to the find- ings of many anthropological studies of the state, state actors in these cases surpass the expectations of citizens. Nevertheless, within complex processes of kinning between state-paid care workers and their clients, dominant images of an absent state as well as state-kinship boundaries are (re)produced. Placing this boundary work within the evolving rela- tions at the center of the analysis underlines the merits of rethinking the interconnections between kinship and the state with a relational focus.

Organisation(s)

Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology

External organisation(s)

Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen

Journal

Social Analysis

Volume

58

Pages

107-123

No. of pages

17

ISSN

0155-977X

DOI

https://doi.org/10.3167/sa.2014.580308

Publication date

12-2014

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

504017 Cultural anthropology, 504010 European ethnology, 504009 Ethnology

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Cultural Studies, General Arts and Humanities, Anthropology, Sociology and Political Science

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/ba6cc8af-e040-491a-beae-3c8f54f6d358