What kinship is and is not in the work of Marshall Sahlins … and beyond

Abstract

This essay explores how anthropological assumptions about the differential place of kinship in kin-based and state-based societies shaped the work of Marshall Sahlins. On the one hand, I show how his expansive excursions into what kinship is, means, and does within the scope of kin-based societies clearly motivated some of his major contributions to anthropological theory: his critique of Western economic and biological determinisms; his exploration of the cultural dynamics of kinship as they articulate relations of hierarchy, power, and sovereignty; his rethinking of anthropological theories of structure; and his formulation of the concept of “performative” kinship. On the other hand, I analyze how these assumptions about the distinction between kin-based and state-based societies ultimately limited the scope of inquiry in his book, What Kinship Is—And Is Not. I then look beyond these limitations to more recent work in kinship studies that challenge the distinction between kin-based and state-based societies, and I end by arguing that, with regard to kinship studies, this distinction should best be left behind.