Chronotopic Formulations and Kinship Behaviors in Social History

Reflexive models of kinship behavior permit social persons to establish kin relations, real or imagined, both with persons they meet and with persons altogether elsewhere, and at varying degrees of spatial and temporal remove in social history. Such chronotopic formulations of social relations enable persons and groups to co-locate themselves and kin-like others in place and time, and through these formulations, to participate in collective social projects in the times and places in which they happen to be living, whether through practices that maintain an established social order or through practices that attempt to alter it or their place within it. Based on examples from the accompanying articles, I provide a comparative discussion and commentary on the many varied and fascinating issues raised in this special collection on “kinship chronotopes.”