Law and the Unexpected: Relatives are Always a Surprise PDF
Preview Law and the Unexpected: Relatives are Always a Surprise
This page intentionally left blank P1:JZP 0521849926agg.xml CB863/Strathern 0521 849926 June10,2005 20:5 kinship,lawandtheunexpected How can we hold in the same view both cultural or historical constructs and generalities about social existence? In response to this anthropological conun- drum,Kinship,LawandtheUnexpectedtakesupanissueattheheartofstudiesof society–thewayweuserelationshipstouncoverrelationships.Relationalityis aphenomenonatoncecontingent(oncertainwaysofknowing)andubiquitous (tosociallife). Theroleofrelationsinwestern(Euro-American)knowledgepractices,from thescientificrevolutiononward,raisesaquestionabouttheextenttowhichEuro- Americankinshipisthekinshipofaknowledge-basedsociety.Theargumenttakes thereaderthroughcurrentissuesinbiotechnology,newfamilyformationsand legalinterventions,andintellectualpropertydebates,tomattersofpersonhood andownershipaffordedbymaterialfromMelanesiaandelsewhere.Ifweareoften surprisedbywhatourrelativesdo,wemayalsobesurprisedbywhatrelationstell usabouttheworldwelivein. Marilyn Strathern is William Wyse Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge. She has carriedoutfieldworkoverseveralyearsintheHighlandsofPapuaNewGuinea (Melanesia).SheistheauthorofTheGenderoftheGift,AfterNatureandProperty, SubstanceandEffect. i P1:JZP 0521849926agg.xml CB863/Strathern 0521 849926 June10,2005 20:5 ii P1:JZP 0521849926agg.xml CB863/Strathern 0521 849926 June10,2005 20:5 Kinship, Law and the Unexpected Relatives Are Always a Surprise marilyn strathern UniversityofCambridge iii CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB28RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521849920 © Marilyn Strathern 2005 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format ISBN-13 978-0-511-34514-2 eBook (NetLibrary) ISBN-10 0-511-34514-3 eBook (NetLibrary) ISBN-13 978-0-521-84992-0 hardback ISBN-10 0-521-84992-6 hardback ISBN-13 978-0-521-61509-9 paperback ISBN-10 0-521-61509-7 paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. P1:JZP 0521849926agg.xml CB863/Strathern 0521 849926 June10,2005 20:5 Contents Preface pagevii partone. dividedorigins Introduction:DividedOrigins 3 TheChild’sTwoBodies 4 ATool 6 DividedOrigins 9 1 RelativesAreAlwaysaSurprise:BiotechnologyinanAge ofIndividualism 15 AnAgeofIndividualism 15 AddingDebate 17 IndividualandCommonInterests 20 RecombinantFamilies 22 ThinkingAboutRelatives 25 2 EmbeddedScience 33 IsolatedKnowledge 35 RelationsEverywhere 37 KinshipUncovered 43 Caveat 46 3 EmergentProperties 50 I 51 MultipleOrigins 51 AnAnalogy 55 II 58 OffspringintoProperty 58 InformationintoKnowledge 61 RelationsintoRelations 64 III 67 KinshipandKnowledge 67 TheInformationalFamily 71 v P1:JZP 0521849926agg.xml CB863/Strathern 0521 849926 June10,2005 20:5 vi CONTENTS parttwo. thearithmeticofownership Introduction:TheArithmeticofOwnership 81 ConceptionbyIntent 82 Leaving‘Knowledge’toOneSide 83 TheArithmeticofOwnership 87 4 ThePatentandtheMalanggan 92 IntroducingtheBody 92 Enchantment 94 ReturntoNewIreland–1 96 PatentingTechnology 99 ReturntoNewIreland–2 104 5 Losing(outon)IntellectualResources 111 I 111 TheTermsofanAgreement 112 TraditionandModernity 114 II 116 BodyOwnership 118 WholePersons:Things 120 PartPersons:Agents 125 III 129 Decontextualisation 130 IntellectualResources 133 6 DividedOriginsandtheArithmeticofOwnership 135 I 135 II 138 CountingPeople:Murik 138 AnalogousWorlds 140 CountingAncestors:Omie 142 OwnersandMakers 144 PropagatingImages 147 III 149 IntellectualProducts? 149 OwnershipofPersons? 151 SingleandMultipleOrigins 155 AppliedMaths 157 IV 160 Notes 163 References 201 AuthorIndex 217 SubjectIndex 220 P1:JZP 0521849926agg.xml CB863/Strathern 0521 849926 June10,2005 20:5 Preface Anthropologists use relationships to uncover relationships. The device is at theheartofsocialanthropology,andanthropologistsalsofinditattheheartof kinship.Thisbookwouldnothavebeenpossiblebutforthewaveofanthropo- logicalwritingthathasgoneunderthenameof‘thenewkinship’(studies),al- thoughitdoesnotfallintothegenre.Iwishtoaddafootnoteabouttherolethat appealstorelationalityplayinanthropologicalstudiesofsociallifeandsuggest whyweshouldbeinterestedinit.Appealsaremadetoaphenomenonatonce contingent(oncertainwaysofknowing)andubiquitous(tohumansociety). Oneoftheenduringmethodologicalconundrumsofanthropologyishow to hold in the same view what are clearly cultural and historical constructs and what are equally clearly generalities about social existence. The trick is to specify each without diminishing the other. If this is an attempt, by its very nature the present work must be incomplete precisely because of the specificcircumstancesthathavesuggestedkinshipasanintriguingfieldfor investigationhere.Thefieldalreadylimits(‘constructs’)theexercise. Thespecificcircumstancesareepitomisedinthenewkinship.Studiesunder thisrubricfocusonthereflexivenatureofanalyticalconstructs,andveryoften onpeople’sdealingswithoneanotherundernewtechnologicalregimes,with thestimulustoindigenousreflexivitythatbrings;peoplecometomakenew kindsofconnectionsbetweentheirlivesandtheworldtheylivein.Muchofthe substanceofwhatfollowswouldbefamiliartosuchconcerns,especiallyinthe firstpart.PartItouchesoncontextsinwhichthenewmedicaltechnologies have posed questions for families and relatives. These contexts become, in PartII,afoilforcomparativeanalysis.Theessaysthusmovefrommaterials lodgedlargelyintheUnitedStatesandtheUnitedKingdom,andinthefirst chapterwhiteAustralia,tocreatingthegroundsfortalkingaboutMelanesia, Amazoniaand(briefly)AboriginalAustralia.Theydescribetheconsequences ofrelationality,bothinthedataandintheorganisationofit;severalofthe vii P1:JZP 0521849926agg.xml CB863/Strathern 0521 849926 June10,2005 20:5 viii PREFACE essaysareillustrativeinthissense,deployingthetermnodifferentlyfromits useinmuchanthropologicalwriting. Indeed, relationality – as an abstract value placed on relationships – is highlightedinarecognisableandconventionalmannerthroughattentionto thelaw.Runningthroughtheseessaysisacommentaryonthewaymodernist legalthinkingatonceopensupandclosesdownpredispositionstothinkin terms of relations. Part I introduces Euro-American law on its own home territory,sotospeak,inbothcreativeandregulativemode,whereasPartII shows legal categories being introduced in situations otherwise foreign to them, in some cases in the name of governance, in others as an analytical deviceonthepartoftheobserver.Eitherway,oneshouldnotoverlookthe imagination and ingenuity of lawyers in dealing with new issues. Concepts developedinthenameofintellectualpropertyofferarichseamformining hereandareintheforegroundorbackgroundofseveralchapters.‘Thelaw’ is thus depicted in different guises, whether contributing to the conceptual resourcesthroughwhichpeopleapproachproblemsentailingownershipor rights,orinterveningindisputes,crystallisingcertainculturalmomentsfor thesakeofadvocacy,andsoforth. Thereisaparticularpurchasetobringinginlegalthinking.Itisadiscipline and a practice that has to deal with different kinds of relationships. After all, in European mythology, the law is the classic locus for situations where categoricalandinterpersonalrelationsconfronteachother,as–inherlectures ofthename–JudithButler(2000)remindsuswastrueofAntigone’sclaim. Ajudicationsinthecourts,pleasonthegroundsofhumanrights:thelawdeals withpersonsinrelationtocategories.Weshallseethesignificanceofthis. Theessaysareintendedtoconveytheembeddednessofrelationalthinking inthewayEuro-Americanscometoknowworld,andthedescriptionsofsocial lifethisembeddednesshasmade–andcontinuestomake–possible.Itoffers ustruthsofaveryspecialkind.Inturn,suchrelationalthinkingissuccessfulto theextentthatitcapitalisesonacommoncapacityorfacilityinthemakingof relationsthatexistinotherregistersaltogether.Fromherecomestheattempt toholdinthesameviewwhatareclearlyculturalandhistoricalconstructsand whatareequallyclearlygeneralitiesaboutsocialexistence.TheIntroductions tothetwoparts,DividedOriginsandTheArithmeticofOwnership,spellthis out. debts Separateacknowledgementsarerecordedattheendofeachchapter,aseach originatedataparticulareventorforanoccasion.(Tothisextent,theymaybe
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