Abstract

MCCALLUM, Cecilia  and  BUSTAMANTE, Vania. Kinship, gender and individuation in the day-to-day life of the house in a working-class district of Salvador da Bahia. Etnográfica [online]. 2012, vol.16, n.2, pp.221-246. ISSN 0873-6561.

In this article we analyze the day-to-day construction of kinship, individuation and gender differences in a low income neighborhood of Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. We argue that these topics are best approached through a processual analysis based on the category “house”; and we show that those concepts linked to a structural-functionalist model still used in the literature, such as “the domestic life cycle” or “matrifocality”, hinder understand­ing more than help it. Our ethnography shows that in Salvador the house exists as included in a configuration of houses. Further, within both, relations are organized in such a way as to integrate two distinct principles of relatedness: “sangue” (“blood”) and “consideração” (“intentional” relatedness). Moreover, the relational existence of the house and of the configuration of houses is linked to the coexistence and mutual integration of individuating efforts and relational processes.

Keywords : kinship; gender; person; house; Salvador da Bahia; Brazil.

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