The Female World of Cards and Holidays: Women, Families, and the Work of Kinship

Author(s): Micaela di Leonardo

Source: Signs, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Spring, 1987), pp. 440-453
Published by: University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3174331
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THE FEMALE WORLD OF CARDS

AND HOLIDAYS: WOMEN, FAMILIES,

AND THE WORK OF KINSHIP'
MICAELA DI LEONARDO

Whyis itthatthemarriedwomenofAmericaare supposedtowrite

all thelettersand sendall thecardsto theirhusbands'families?My
old man is a muchbetterwriterthanI am, yethe expectsme to
correspondwithhiswholefamily.IfI askedhimtocorrespondwith
mine,he would blow a gasket.[LETTER TO ANN LANDERS]
careWomen'splace in man'slifecyclehas been thatofnurturer,
taker,and helpmate,theweaverofthosenetworksofrelationships
on which she in turnrelies. [CAROL GILLIGAN, In a Different
Voice ]2

Feministscholarsin the past fifteenyears have made great stridesin

ofthe relationsamonggender,kinship,
new understandings
formulating
JohnWilloughby,
Manythanksto CynthiaCostello,RaynaRapp, RobertaSpalter-Roth,
and BarbaraGelpi, Susan Johnson,and SylviaYanagisakoof Signsfortheirhelp withthis
article.I wishin particularto acknowledgetheinfluenceofRaynaRapp'sworkon myideas.
1Acknowledgment
formyparaphraseof her
and gratitudeto CarrollSmith-Rosenberg
title,"The Female World of Love and Ritual:RelationsbetweenWomen in NineteenthCenturyAmerica,"Signs:JournalofWomenin Cultureand Society1, no. 1 (Autumn1975):
1-29.
2 Ann Landers letterprintedin WashingtonPost (April15, 1983); Carol Gilligan,In a
DifferentVoice (Cambridge,Mass.: HarvardUniversityPress, 1982), 17.
[Signs:Journalof Womenin Cultureand Society1987, vol. 12, no. 3]
C 1987 by The Universityof Chicago. All rightsreserved.0097-9740/87/1203-0003$01.00

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Spring1987 / SIGNS

and thelargereconomy.As a resultofthispioneeringresearch,womenare

newlyvisibleand audible,no longersubmergedwithintheirfamilies.We
see householdsas loci ofpoliticalstruggle,inseparablepartsofthe larger
societyand economy,ratherthanas havensfromthe heartlessworldof
Andhistoricaland culturalvariationsin kinshipand
industrialcapitalism.3
have
clearerwiththematuration
offeminist
become
forms
historical
family
and social-scientific
scholarship.
Two theoreticaltrends have been key to this reinterpretation
of
women'sworkand familydomain.The firstis theelevationto visibility
of
women's nonmarketactivities-housework,child care, the servicingof
ofall theseactivitiesas
men,and thecareoftheelderly-and thedefinition
labor, to be enumeratedalongsideand countedas partof overallsocial
reproduction.The second theoreticaltrendis the nonpejorativefocuson
women's domesticor kin-centerednetworks.We now see themas the
of kinship
productsof conscious strategy,as crucialto the functioning
women's
as
sources
autonomous
and
of
systems,
power
possibleprimary
sites of emotionalfulfillment,
and, at times, as the vehicles foractual
survivaland/orpoliticalresistance.4
Recently,however,a divisionhas developed betweenfeministinterpretersof the "labor"and the "network"perspectiveson women'slives.
Those who focuson women'sworktend to envisionwomenas sentient,
goal-orientedactors,while thosewho concernthemselveswithwomen's
ties to otherstend to perceivewomenprimarily
in termsofnurturance,
The mostcelebratedrecentexampleofthis
other-orientation-altruism.
3 Heidi I. Hartmann,"The Familyas the Locus ofGender,Class, and PoliticalStruggle:
The ExampleofHousework,"Signs6, no. 3 (Spring1981):366-94; and ChristopherLasch,
Haven in a HeartlessWorld: The FamilyBesieged(New York:Basic Books, 1977).
4 Representativeexamples of the firsttrend include JoannVanek, "Time Spent on
American231 (November1974): 116-20; RuthSchwartzCowan, "A
Housework,"Scientific
Case Studyof Technologicaland Social Change: The WashingMachine and the Working
Wife,"in Clio's ConsciousnessRaised, ed. Mary Hartmannand Lois Banner (New York:
Harper& Row, 1974),245-53; AnnOakley,Women'sWork:TheHousewife,Pastand Present
(New York: Vintage, 1974); Hartmann;and Susan Strasser,Never Done: A Historyof
AmericanHousework(New York:PantheonBooks, 1982). Key contributions
to the second
trendinclude Louise Lamphere,"Strategies,Cooperationand ConflictamongWomen in
Domestic Groups," in Women,Culture and Society,ed. Michelle ZimbalistRosaldo and
Louise Lamphere (Stanford,Calif.: StanfordUniversityPress, 1974), 97-112; Mina Davis
Caulfield,"Imperialism,the Familyand theCulturesofResistance,"SocialistRevolution20
(October 1974): 67-85; Smith-Rosenberg;
SylviaJunkoYanagisako,"Women-centeredKin
Networksand UrbanBilateralKinship,"AmericanEthnologist4, no. 2 (1977): 207-26; Jane
Humphries,"The WorkingClass Family,Women'sLiberationand Class Struggle:The Case
ofNineteenthCenturyBritishHistory,"ReviewofRadical PoliticalEconomics9 (Fall 1977):
25-41; Blanche Weisen Cook, "Female SupportNetworksand PoliticalActivism:Lillian
Wald, CrystalEastman,Emma Goldman,"inA HeritageofHer Own,ed. NancyF. Cottand
Elizabeth H. Pleck (New York: Simon & Schuster,1979); Temma Kaplan, "Female Consciousnessand CollectiveAction:The Case ofBarcelona,1910-1918,"Signs7, no. 3 (Spring
1982): 545-66.
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di Leonardo

/ THE WORK OF KINSHIP

ofhistoriansAlice Kessler-Harrisand
divisionis the opposingtestimony
RosalindRosenbergin theEqual Employment
Commission's
Opportunity
case againstSears Roebuck and Company. Kesslersex discrimination
Harris argued that Americanwomen historicallyhave activelysought
higher-paying
jobs and havebeen preventedfromgainingthembecause of
sexdiscrimination
byemployers.RosenbergarguedthatAmericanwomen
in the nineteenthcenturycreated among themselves,throughtheir
domesticnetworks,a "women'sculture"thatemphasizedthe nurturance
ofchildrenand othersand themaintenanceoffamilylifeand thatdiscouraged women fromcompetitionover or heavy emotionalinvestmentin
demanding,high-paidemployment.5
I shallnothere addressthisspecificdebatebut,instead,shallconsider
its theoreticalbackgroundand implications.I shallarguethatwe need to
fuse,ratherthanto oppose, thedomesticnetworkand laborperspectives.
In whatfollows,I introducea newconcept,theworkofkinship,bothtoaid
empiricalfeministresearchon women, work,and familyand to help
advancefeminist
theoryin thisarena.I believethattheboundary-crossing
dichotnatureofthe concepthelps to confoundthe self-interest/altruism
omy,forcingus froman either-orstanceto a positionthatincludesboth
perspectives.I hope in thisway to contributeto a morecriticalfeminist
visionofwomen'slives and the meaningoffamilyin the industrialWest.
in Northern
In my recent field researchamong Italian-Americans
California,I foundmyselfconsideringthe relationsbetween women's
I was concernedwith
kinshipand economiclives. As an anthropologist,
Americannuclearfamilyor housepeople's kinlivesbeyondconventional
hold boundaries.To thisend, I collectedindividualand familylifehistories, askingabout all kinand close friendsand theiractivities.I was also
veryinterestedinwomen'slabor.As I satwithwomenandlistenedtotheir
accountsoftheirpast and presentlives,I began to realizethattheywere
involvedin threetypesofwork:houseworkand childcare, workin the
labor market,and the workofkinship.6
and ritualcelebraBykinworkI referto theconception,maintenance,
kinties, includingvisits,letters,telephonecalls,
tionofcross-household
presents,and cards to kin; the organizationof holidaygatherings;the
creationand maintenanceofquasi-kinrelations;decisionsto neglector to
5 On this debate, see Jon Weiner, "Women's Historyon Trial," Nation 241, no. 6
(September7, 1985): 161, 176, 178-80; KarenJ. Winkler,"Two Scholars'Conflictin Sears
Sex-BiasCase Sets OffWar in Women'sHistory,"ChronicleofHigherEducation(February
5, 1986), 1, 8; RosalindRosenberg,"What Harms Women in the Workplace,"New York
Times(February27, 1986);AliceKessler-Harris,
Commis"Equal Employment
Opportunity
sionvs. Sears Roebuckand Company:A PersonalAccount,"RadicalHistoryReview35 (April
1986): 57-79.
6 Portionsofthe
following
analysisare reportedin Micaela di Leonardo,The Varietiesof
EthnicExperience:Kinship,Class and GenderamongCaliforniaItalian-Americans
(Ithaca,
N.Y.: Cornell UniversityPress, 1984), chap. 6.
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Spring1987 / SIGNS

intensifyparticularties; the mentalwork of reflectionabout all these

ofalteringimagesoffamily
activities;and thecreationand communication
and kinvis-a-vistheimagesofothers,bothfolkand massmedia. Kinwork
is a keyelementthathas been missingin the synthesisofthe "household
labor" and "domesticnetwork"perspectives.In our emphasison individual women's responsibilitieswithinhouseholdsand on the job, we
reflectthecommonpictureofhouseholdsas nuclearunits,tiedperhapsto
thelargersocialand economicsystem,but notto each other.We missthe
point of telephone and softdrinkadvertising,of women's magazines'
confusednostalgiaforthemythical
Amerholidayissues,ofcommentators'
ican extendedfamily:it is kinshipcontactacross households,as muchas
our culturalexpectationof satiswomen'sworkwithinthem,thatfulfills
life.
fyingfamily
takestime,intention,
Maintainingthesecontacts,thissense offamily,
and skill. We tend to thinkof human social and kin networksas the
thesocialtracescreatedby
epiphenomenaofproductionand reproduction:
we see themas partof
our materiallives. Or, in theneoclassicaltradition,
leisure activities,outside an economic purviewexcept insofaras they
involveconsumptionbehavior.But the creationand maintenanceofkin
and quasi-kinnetworksin advanced industrialsocieties is work; and,
moreover,it is largelywomen'swork.
The kin-worklens broughtintofocusnew perspectiveson myinformants'familylives. First,lifehistoriesrevealedthatoftenthe veryexistence ofkincontactand holidaycelebrationdepended on the presenceof
an adult woman in the household. When couples divorcedor mothers
died, the workof kinshipwas leftundone; when women entered into
sanctionedsexual or maritalrelationshipswithmen in these situations,
the men's kinshipnetworksand organizedgatherings
theyreconstituted
and holidaycelebrations.Middle-agedbusinessmanAl Bertini,forexample, recalledthedeathofhismotherinhisearlyadolescence:"I thinkthat's
probablyone ofthebiggestlossesinlosinga family-yeah,I rememberas a
childwhenmyMom was alive . .. theholidaysweretreatedwithenthusiasm and love . . . aftershe died the attemptwas therebut itjust didn't
materialize."Laterin life,whenAl Bertiniand hiswifeseparated,hisown
and his sonJim'sparticipation
in extended-family
contactdecreasedrapida
But
when
ly.
Jimbegan relationshipwithJaneBateman,she and he
moved in with Al, and Jimand Jane began to invitehis kin over for
holidays.Janesingle-handedly
plannedand cooked the holidayfeasts.
Kinwork,then,is likehouseworkand childcare:menin theaggregate
do notdo it. It differs
fromtheseformsoflaborinthatitis harderformento
substitutehired labor to accomplishthese tasksin the absence of kinswomen. Second, I foundthatwomen,as theworkersin thisarena,generally had much greaterkin knowledgethan did their husbands, often
includingmoreaccurateand extensiveknowledgeoftheirhusbands'fami443
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di Leonardo / THE WORK OF KINSHIP

lies. This was truebothofmiddle-agedand youngercouplesand surfaced

in theformofhumorousarguments
and
as a phenomenonin myinterviews
in wives' detailed additionsto husbands'narratives.Nick Meraviglia,a
middle-agedprofessional,discussedhis Italianantecedentsin the presence ofhis wife,Pina:
was a veryoutspokenman, and it was reNick: My grandfather
portedhe tookoffforthehillswhenhe foundoutthatMussolini was in power.
Pina: Andhe was a verytallman;he used tohavetobowhishead to
get inside doors.
Nick: No, thatwas myuncle.
Pina: Your grandfather
too, I've heardyourmothersay.
Nick: My motherhas a sisterand a brother.
Pina: Two sisters!
Nick: You're right!
Pina: Maria and Angelina.
feudsand crises
Womenwere also muchmorewillingto discussfamily
and theirown roles in them;men tendedto repeatformulaicstatements
assertingfamilyunityand respectability.(This was much less true for
youngermen.) Joe and Cetta Longhinotti'sstatementsillustratethese
tendencies.Joerespondedto myquestionaboutkinrelations:"We all get
along. As a rule, relatives,you got nothingbut trouble."Cetta, instead,
discussedher relationswitheach ofher grownchildren,theirwives,her
in-laws,and her own blood kin in detail. She did not hide the factthat
relationswere strainedin several cases; she was eager to discuss the
evolutionofproblemsand to seek myopinionsofher actions.Similarly,
withone ofherbrothers
Pina Meravigliatoldthefollowing
storyofherfight
with hystericallaughter:"There was some bitingand hair pullingand
choking... itwas terrible!I shouldn'teventellyou .... "Nick,meanwhile,
an imageoffamilyunityand respectawas concernedabout maintaining
bility.
Also, men waxed fluentwhile womenwere quite inarticulatein discussingtheirpast and presentoccupations.When askedabouttheirwork
and NickMeraviglia,unionbakerand professional,
lives,JoeLonghinotti
oftheirworkcareers.CettaLonghigave detailednarratives
respectively,
nottiand Pina Meraviglia,clericaland formerclerical,respectively,offeredonlyshortdescriptionsfocusingon factorsofambience,suchas the
"lovelythings"sold by Cetta's firm.
These patternsare notrepeatedin theyoungergeneration,especially
among youngerwomen, such as Jane Bateman,who have managedto
acquire trainingand jobs withsome prospectofmobility.These younger

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Spring1987 / SIGNS

and detailedinterestin their

women,though,have added a professional
for
the
work
of
a
felt
to
responsibility
kinship.7
jobs
tasks,familyhistoriesand
Althoughmen rarelytookon anykin-work
liferevealedthatkinswomenoftennegotiated
accountsof contemporary
and gift-buying
hosting,food-preparation,
amongthemselves,alternating
entire
task
sometimes
clusters
to one woman.
ceding
responsibilities-or
was
or
tasks
related
to
on
clearly
Taking
ceding
acquiringor divesting
oneselfof power withinkin networks,but womenvariedin theirinterforexample,
pretationof the meaningof thispower. Cetta Longhinotti,
reliedon the"familyChristmasdinner"as a symbolofhercentralkinship
withherdaughter-in-law
roleand was involvedinpainfulnegotiations
over
the issue: "Last year she insisted-this is touchy.She doesn't want to
spend the holidaydinnertogether.So lastyearwe wentthere.But I still
had mydinnerthe nextday ... I made a big dinneron ChristmasDay,
regardlessof who's coming-candles on the table, the whole routine..I
decoratethe house myselftoo . .. well, I just feelthatthe timewillcome
when maybe I won't feel like cookinga big dinner-she should take
advantageof the factthatI feel like doing it now." Pina Meraviglia,in
forceofthedevelopmentalcycle
contrast,was saddenedbythecentripetal
butwas unworriedaboutthepowerdynamicsinvolvedin hernegotiations
withdaughters-and mother-in-law
over holidaycelebrations.
Kin workis notjust a matterofpoweramongwomenbut also ofthe
mediationofpowerrepresentedbyhouseholdunits.8
Womenoftenchoose
to minimizestatusclaims in theirkin workand to include numbersof
sisterAnna,for
householdsundertherubricoffamily.CettaLonghinotti's
manwhoseparentshaveconsiderable
example,is marriedtoa professional
economicresources,whileJoeand Cetta have low incomesand no other
kin.Cettaand Annaremainclose,talkon thephoneseveraltimesa
well-off
week, and assisttheiradult children,dividedby distanceand economic
status,in remainingunitedas cousins.
Finally,women perceivedhousework,child care, marketlabor, the
care ofthe elderly,and theworkofkinshipas competingresponsibilities.
Kin workwas a unique category,however,because it was unlabeledand
because women feltthey could either cede some tasks to kinswomen
and/orcouldcutthembackseverely.Womenvariouslycitedthepressures
ofmarketlabor,theneeds oftheelderly,and theirowndesiresforfreedom
7
Clearly,manywomendo, in fact,discusstheirpaid laborwithwillingnessand clarity.
The point here is that there are opposing gender tendenciesin an identicalinterview
situation,tendenciesthatare explicablein termsofboththe materialrealitiesand current
culturalconstructions
of gender.
8 Papanekhas rightly
focusedon women'sunacknowledged
familystatusproduction,but
whatis conceivedofas "family"
shifts
and varies(Hanna Papanek,"FamilyStatusProduction:
The 'Work'and 'Non-Work'of Women," Signs4, no. 4 [Summer1979]: 775-81).

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di Leonirdo / THE WORK OF KINSHIP

and job enrichment

as reasonsforcuttingback Christmascardlists,organized holidaygatherings,multifamily
dinners,letters,visits,and phone
calls. They expressedguiltand defensivenessabout thiscutbackprocess
about theirfailuresto keep familiesclose throughconand, particularly,
stantcontactand abouttheirfailurestocreateperfectholidaycelebrations.
Cetta Longhinotti,duringthe periodwhen she was visitingher elderly
mothereveryweekendin additionto workinga full-time
job, said ofher
grownchildren,"I'd havethewholeganghereoncea month,butI've been
so busythatI haven'tdone thatforaboutsixmonths."AndPina Meraviglia
lamentedherinsufficient
workon familyChristmases,"I wishI had really
made it traditional. . . like mysister-in-law
has special stories."
Kin work,then,takesplace in an arena characterizedsimultaneously
Like housework
bycooperationand competition,
byguiltand gratification.
and childcare, it is women'swork,withthe same lackofclear-cutagreement concerningits proper components:How oftenshould sheets be
changed?When shouldchildrenbe toilettrained?Shouldan auntsend a
niece a birthdaypresent?Unlikehouseworkand childcare,however,kin
work,takingplace acrosstheboundariesofnormative
households,is as yet
unlabeled and has no retinueof expertsprescribingits correctforms.
have muchto sayabout
Neitherhome economistsnorchildpsychologists
nieces' birthdaypresents.Kin workis thusmoreeasilycut back without
On the otherhand,the resultsofkinwork-frequent
social interference.
kincontactand feelingsofintimacy-arethe subjectofconsiderablecultural manipulationas indicatorsof familyhappiness. Thus, women in
expressedovercuttingback
generalare subjectto theguiltmyinformants
kin-workactivities.
to theresultsofwomen'skin
referred
Althoughmanyofmyinformants
work-cross-householdkin contactsand attendantritualgatherings-as
I suggestthatin factthisphenomenonis
particularlyItalian-American,
ofAmericankinship.We thinkofkin-work
taskssuch
broadlycharacteristic
forholidaycardlists,and
as the preparationofritualfeasts,responsibility
forcooking,
giftbuyingas extensionsofwomen'sdomesticresponsibilities
consumption,and nurturance.Americanmen in generaldo not take on
thesetasksanymorethantheydo houseworkandchildcare-and probably
less, as thesetaskshave notyetbeen thesubjectofintensepublicdebate.
Andmyinformants'
on kinship
genderbreakdowninrelativearticulateness
and workplacethemes reflectsthe stillprevalentoccupationalsegregation-most women cannotfindjobs thatprovideenoughpay, status,or
promotionpossibilitiesto make them worthfocusingon-as well as
The commonrecogniwomen'sperceivedpowerwithinkinshipnetworks.
tionofthatpoweris reflectedin SelmaGreenberg'sbookon nonsexistchild
rearing.Greenbergcalls mothers"press agents"who sponsorrelations
between theirown childrenand other relatives;she advises a mother

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Spring1987 / SIGNS

to deny those kin access to her

whose relativestreather disrespectfully
children.9
Kin workis a salientconceptin otherpartsofthe developedworldas
well. Larissa Adler Lomnitzand Marisol Perez Lizaur have foundthat
"centralizingwomen" are responsibleforthese tasksand forcommunicating "familyideology" among upper-classfamiliesin Mexico City.
MatthewsHamabata, in his studyof upper-classfamiliesin Japan,has
foundthatwomen's kin workinvolveskey financialtransactions.Sylvia
JunkoYanagisakodiscoveredthat,amongruralJapanesemigrantsto the
was assignedto womenas
UnitedStates,themaintenanceofkinnetworks
the migrantsadopted the Americanideologyofthe independentnuclear
familyhousehold. Maila StivensnotesthaturbanAustralianhousewives'
kintiesand kinideology"transcendwomen'sisolationindomesticunits."10
This is notto say thatculturalconceptionsofappropriatekinworkdo
notvary,even withinthe UnitedStates.Carol B. Stackdocumentsinstitutionalized fictivekinshipand concomitantreciprocitynetworksamong
impoverishedblack Americanwomen. Women in populationscharacterizedby intensefeelingsofethnicidentitymayfeelboundto emphasize
particularoccasions-Saint Patrick'sor Columbus Day-with organized
as
familyfeasts.These constructs
maybe mediatedby religiousaffiliation,
in the differing
emphaseson Fridayor SundayfamilydinnersamongJews
and Christians.Thus the personnelinvolvedand the amountand kindof
labor considerednecessaryforthe satisfactory
ofparticular
performance
kin-worktasksare likelyto be culturallyconstructed."But while the kin
and quasi-kinuniversesand the ritualcalendarmayvaryamongwomen
theirgeneralresponsibility
formaintaining
accordingto race or ethnicity,
kin linksand ritualobservancesdoes not.
As kinworkis notan ethnicor racialphenomenon,neitheris it linked
9 Selma Greenberg,Rightfromthe Start:A Guide to NonsexistChild Rearing(Boston:
Houghton MifflinCo., 1978), 147. Anotherexample of indirectsupportforkin work's
mathstudents,whichfoundthata major
genderedexistenceis a recentstudyofuniversity
reason forwomen's failureto pursue careers in mathematicswas the pressureof family
involvement.Compare David Maines et al., Social Processes of Sex Differentiation
in
Mathematics(Washington,D.C.: NationalInstituteof Education,1981).
10Larissa Adler Lomnitzand Marisol P6rez Lizaur, "The Historyof a Mexican Urban
Family,"Journalof FamilyHistory3, no. 4 (1978): 392-409, esp. 398; MatthewsHambata,
For Love and Power: FamilyBusinessin Japan (Chicago: Universityof Chicago Press, in
press);SylviaJunkoYanagisako,"Two ProcessesofChangein Japanese-American
Kinship,"
JournalofAnthropologicalResearch31 (1975): 196-224; Maila Stivens,"Womenand Their
Kin: Kin, Class and Solidarityin a Middle-ClassSuburbof Sydney,Australia,"in Women
United,Women Divided, ed. PatriciaCaplan and JanetM. Bujra (Bloomington:Indiana
UniversityPress, 1979), 157-84.
" Carol B. Stack,All Our Kin: Strategiesfor Survivalin a BlackCommunity
(New York:
Harper& Row, 1974). These culturalconstructions
may,however,varywithinethnic/racial
populationsas well.

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di Leonardo / THE WORK OF KINSHIP

on Americanfamilylifestill
onlyto one social class. Some commentators
reflectthe influenceofworkdone in Englandin the 1950sand 1960s (by
ElizabethBottand byPeterWillmottand MichaelYoung)intheirassumpfamiliesare close and extended,whilethe middle
tionthatworking-class
classsubstitutes
friends(oranomie)forfamily.Othersreflecttheprevalent
normiddlefamilypessimismin theirpresumptionthatneitherworkingclassfamilieshave extendedkincontact.'2
Insofaras kincontactdependson
residentialproximity,
thelargereconomy'sshiftswillinfluenceparticular
groups'experiences.Factoryworkers,close to kin or not, are likelyto
disperse when plants shut down or relocate. Small businesspeopleor
independentprofessionalsmay,however,remainresidentin particular
to kin-forgenerations,
areas-and thusmaintainproximity
whileprofessionalemployeesoflargefirmsrelocateat theirfirms'
behest.Thispattern
obtainedamongmyinformants.
kincontactcan be and is effected
In anyevent,cross-household
at long
distance throughletters,cards, phone calls, and holidayand vacation
visits. The formand functionsof contact,however,varyaccordingto
economicresources.Stackand BrettWilliamsofferrichaccountsof kin
networks
Chicanofarmworkers
amongpoorblacksand migrant
functioning
to provideemotionalsupport,labor,commodity,and cash exchange- a
Far
funeralvisit,helpwithlaundry,thegiftofa dressorpiece offurniture.'3
in degree are exchangessuch as the loan ofa vacationhome, a
different
boatingtrip,or the provisionof freeprofessionalservicesmultifamily
The pointis
examplesfromthe kinnetworksofmywealthierinformants.
thathouseholds,as labor-and income-pooling
units,whatevertheirrelativewealth,are somewhatporousin relationto otherswithwhose members theyshare kin or quasi-kinties. We do not reallyknowhow class
differences
operatein thisrealm;it is possiblethattheydo so largelyin
termsofideology.It maybe, as David Schneiderand RaymondT. Smith
and theverypoorare moreopen in recognizing
suggest,thatthe affluent
12
Elizabeth Bott, Familyand Social Network,2d ed. (New York: Free Press, 1971);
MichaelYoungand PeterWillmott,Familyand Kinshipin East London(London:Routledge
& KeganPaul, 1957),and Familyand Class ina LondonSuburb(London:Routledge& Kegan
are HerbertGans, The Urban
Paul, 1960). Classic studiesthatpresumethisclass difference
Villagers:Groupand Class intheLifeofItalian-Americans
(New York:Free Press,1962);and
Mirra Komarovsky,Blue-Collar Marriage (New York: Random House, 1962). A recent
example is Ilene Philipson,"HeterosexualAntagonismsand the Politicsof Mothering,"
SocialistReview12, no. 6 (November-December1982):55-77. EdwardShorter,TheMaking
oftheModernFamily(New York:BasicBooks,1975),epitomizesthepessimismofthe"family
sentiments"school. See also MaryLyndonShanley,"The Historyofthe Familyin Modern
England: Review Essay," Signs4, no. 4 (Summer1979): 740-50.
13
Stack;and BrettWilliams,"The TripTakesUs: ChicanoMigrantstothePrairie"(Ph.D.
diss., Universityof Illinoisat Urbana-Champaign,
1975).

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Spring1987 / SIGNS

themselvesas
necessaryeconomicties to kinthanare thosewho identify
middle class.'4
Recognizingthatkinworkis genderratherthanclassbased allowsus to
see women'skinnetworksamongall groups,notjust amongworking-class
and impoverishedwomenin industrializedsocieties.This recognitionin
turnclarifiesour understanding
of the privilegesand limitsof women's
womencan "buy out" of
varyingaccess to economicresources.Affluent
housework,child care-and even some kin-workresponsibilities.But
they,like all women,are ultimately
responsible,and subjectto bothguilt
and blame,as theadministrators
ofhome,children,andkinnetwork.Even
thewealthiestwomenmustnegotiatethetimingandvenueofholidaysand
otherfamilyritualswiththeirkinswomen.It maybe thatkinworkis the
corewomen'sworkcategoryinwhichall womencooperate,whilewomen's
perceptionsof the appropriatenessof cooperationforhousework,child
care, and the care ofthe elderlyvariesby race,class, region,and generation.
But kinworkis notnecessarilyan appropriatecategoryoflabor,much
less genderedlabor,in all societies.In manysmall-scalesocieties,kinship
is the majororganizingprincipleofall social life,and all contactsare by
definition
kincontacts.'5
One cannot,therefore,
speakoflaborthatdoes not
involvekin. In the United States, kin workas a separable categoryof
in concertwiththe ideological
genderedlabor perhapsarose historically
and materialconstructsof the moralmother/cult
of domesticity
and the
in the eighteenth
privatizedfamilyduringthe courseofindustrialization
and nineteenthcenturies.These phenomenaareconnectedtotheincrease
in the ubiquityofproductiveoccupationsfor menthatare notorganized
throughkinship.This includes the demise of the familyfarmwith the
and rural-urban
thedeclineoffamcapitalizationofagriculture
migration;
in factoriesas firmsgrew,ended childlabor,and began to
ilyrecruitment
assertbureaucratizedformsofcontrol;thedeclineofartisanallaborand of
smallentrepreneurial
enterprisesas largefirmstookgreaterand greater
sharesofthecommoditymarket;thedeclineofthefamilyfirmas corporations-and theirmanagerialworkforces-grewbeyondthe capacitiesof
individualfamiliesto provisionthem;and, finally,
the riseofcivilservice
bureaucraciesand public pressureagainstnepotism.'6
David Schneiderand RaymondT. Smith,Class Differences
and Sex Rolesin American
Kinshipand FamilyStructure(EnglewoodCliffs,N.J.: Prentice-Hall,Inc., 1973),esp. 27.
15See NelsonGraburn,ed.,
Readingsin Kinshipand Social Structure(New York:Harper
& Row, 1971), esp. 3-4.
16 The moralmother/cult
ofdomesticity
is analyzedin BarbaraWelter,"The CultofTrue
Womanhood,1820-1860,"AmericanQuarterly18, no. 2 (Summer1966): 151-74; Nancy
Cott, The Bonds of Womanhood:"Women'sSphere" in New England, 1780-1835 (New
14

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di Leonardo

/ THE WORK OF KINSHIP

workedalongsideofnon-kin,
As menincreasingly
andas theideologyof
for
accepted,perhapstheresponsibility
separatesphereswas increasingly
kinmaintenance,likethatforchildrearing,becamegender-focused.
Ryan
pointsout that"built into the updated familyeconomy. . . was a new
Thisvoluntarism,
measureofvoluntarism."
though,"perceivedas theshift
to domesticaffection,"
also signaledthe riseof
frompatriarchalauthority
forfamily
life.Justas the"idea offatherhood
women'smoralresponsibility
itselfseemed almost to witheraway" so did male involvementin the
forkindredlapse.'7
responsibility
With postbellum economic growth and geographic movement,
women'snew kinburdeninvolvedincreasingamountsoftimeand labor.
The ubiquity of lengthyvisits and of frequentletter-writing
among
womenatteststo this.And forvisitorsand forthose
nineteenth-century
who were residentiallyproximate,the continuingcommonalitiesof
women'sdomesticlaborallowedforkindsofworksharing-nursing,childdifferentikeeping,cooking,cleaning-that men,withtheirincreasingly
ated and controlledactivities,probablycould notmaintain.This is notto
male productiveworkdid notcontinue;myown
saythatsome kin-related
data,forinstance,showkininvolvement
amongsmallbusinessmenin the
present. It is, instead,to suggesta generaltrendin materiallifeand a
culturalshiftthatinfluencedeven thosewhose productiveand kin lives
remainedcommingled.Yanagisakohas distinguished
betweenthe realms
to anthropology's
ofdomesticand publickinshipin orderto drawattention
relatively"thindescriptions"ofthe domestic(female)domain.Usingher
typology,we mightsay thatkinworkas genderedlaborcomes intoexistencewithinthe domesticdomainwiththerelativeerasureofthedomain
ofpublic, male kinship."8
Press, 1977);and RuthBloch,"AmericanFeminineIdeals in
Haven, Conn.: Yale University
Transition:The Rise ofthe MoralMother,1785-1815,"FeministStudies4, no. 2 (June1978):
shiftintheUnitedStatesis based on
ofthegeneralpolitical-economic
101-26.The description
HarryBraverman,Labor and MonopolyCapital: The DegradationofWorkin theTwentieth
and
Century(New York:MonthlyReviewPress,1974);PeterDobkinHall, "FamilyStructure
EconomicOrganization:MassachusettsMerchants,1700-1850,"in Familyand Kinin Urban
Communities,
1700-1950,ed. TamaraK. Hareven(New York:NewViewpoints,1977),38-61;
Michael Anderson,"Family,Household and the IndustrialRevolution,"in The American
Familyin Social-HistoricalPerspective,ed. MichaelGordon(New York:St. Martin'sPress,
1978),38-50; Tamara K. Hareven,Amoskeag:Lifeand Workin an AmericanFactoryCity
(New York:PantheonBooks, 1978); RichardEdwards,ContestedTerrain:The TransformationoftheWorkplacein theTwentieth
Century(New York:Basic Books,1979); MaryRyan,
The Cradle of the Middle Class: The Family in Oneida County,New York, 1790-1865
(Cambridge:Cambridge UniversityPress, 1981); Alice Kessler-Harris,Out to Work: A
Press,
Historyof Wage-earningWomenin the UnitedStates(New York:OxfordUniversity
1982).
17
Ryan,231-32.
18
SylviaJunkoYanagisako,"Familyand Household:The AnalysisofDomesticGroups,"
8 (1979): 161-205.
Annual Reviewof Anthropology

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Spring1987 / SIGNS

Whetheror notthisproposedhistoricalmodelbears up underfurther

research,the questionremains,Why do womendo kinwork?However
materialfactorsmay shape activities,theydo not determinehow individuals may perceive them. And in consideringissues of motivation,of
intention,of the culturalconstructionof kin work,we returnto the
inrecentfeminist
altruismversusself-interest
theory.Consider
dichotomy
weavers
theepigraphstothisarticle.Arewomenkinworkersthenurturant
ofthe Gilliganquotation,or victims,likethefed-upwomanwhowritesto
complainto Ann Landers?That is, are we to see kinworkas yetanother
exampleof"women'sculture"thattakesthe care ofothersas its primary
desideratum?Or are we to see kinworkas anotherwayin whichmen,the
economy,and the stateextractlaborfromwomenwithouta fairreturn?
And how do women themselvessee theirkinworkand its place in their
lives?
As I have indicatedabove, I believe that it is the creationof the
self-interest/altruism
dichotomythat is itselfthe problem here. My
like mostAmericanwomen,accepted theirprimary
women informants,
forhouseworkand thecare ofdependentchildren.Despite
responsibility
two major waves of feministactivismin this century,the genderingof
certaincategoriesof unpaid labor is stilllargelyunaltered.These work
withsome women'slaborforcecommitclearlyinterfere
responsibilities
womenare simply
mentsat certainlife-cycle
stages;but,moreimportant,
discriminatedagainstin the labor marketand rarelyare able to achieve
wage and statusparitywithmen ofthe same age, race, class, and educationalbackground.19
as formostAmericanwomen, the
Thus formy women informants,
domesticdomainis notonlyan arenainwhichmuchunpaidlabormustbe
undertakenbut also a realm in whichone may attemptto gain human
satisfactions-andpower-not availablein the labormarket.Anthropoloon the
gistsJaneCollierand Louise Lampherehave writtencompellingly
which
and
economic
in
structures
varyingkinship
may shape
ways
women's competitionor cooperationwith one another in domestic
domains.20Feminists consideringWestern women and familieshave
in termsofhusband-wife
relationsor
lookedat theissue ofpowerprimarily
and
children.
If
we
relations
between
adoptCollier
parents
psychological
is notonly
we
see
that
kin
work
and Lamphere'sbroadercanvas,though,
men
and
children
benefit
but
also
from
which
labor that
women'slabor
womenundertakeinordertocreateobligationsin menand childrenand to
strugglewithher
gainpowerover one another.Thus Cetta Longhinotti's
venue
of
Christmas
dinner
over
the
is
notjust about a
daughter-in-law
19See Donald J.Treimanand Heidi I. Hartmann,eds., Women,Workand Wages:
Equal
Pay for Jobsof Equal Value (Washington,D.C.: NationalAcademyPress, 1981).
20Lamphere(n. 4 above); JaneFishburneCollier,"Womenin Politics,"in Rosaldoand
Lamphere,eds. (n. 4 above), 89-96.
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di Leonardo / THE WORK OF KINSHIP

overaltruism,itis alsoaboutthecreationoffutureobligations.
competition
oftheirchildren'sfriendship
with
AndthusCetta'sand Anna'ssponsorship
and a cooperativemeansofgaining
each otheris bothan act ofnurturance
power over thosechildren.
thoseofmyinformants
Althoughthiswas not a clear-cutdistinction,
tendedto be mostinvestedin kin
who were moreexplicitlyantifeminist
shift
historical
towardgreaterautonomyfor
work.Giventheoverwhelming
youngergenerationsand the witheringof children'sfinancialand labor
was in mostcases tragically
obligationsto theirparents,thisinvestment
doomed. Cetta Longhinotti,forexample,had repaid her own mother's
devotionwith extensivehome nursingduringthe mother'slast years.
Given Cetta's generalfailureto directher adultchildrenin work,marital
choice, religiousworship,or even frequencyofvisits,she is unlikelyto
receive such care fromthemwhen she is older.
lensthusrevealsthecloserelationsbetweenaltruismand
The kin-work
in women'sactions.As economistsNancyFolbre and Heidi
self-interest
Hartmannpointout, we have inheriteda Westernintellectualtradition
thatboth dichotomizesthe domesticand public domainsand associates
to see self-interest
in
themon exclusiveaxes such thatwe findit difficult
the home and altruismin the workplace.21But why,in fact,have women
foughtforbetterjobs if not, in part, to supporttheirchildren?These
ofwomen's
beds thatwarpourunderstanding
dichotomiesare Procrustean
and "self-interest"
are cultural
livesbothat homeand at work."Altruism"
thatare not necessarilymutuallyexclusive,and we forget
constructions
thisto our peril.
unacThe conceptofkinworkhelps to bringintofocusa heretofore
knowledgedarrayof tasksthatis culturallyassignedto womenin industrializedsocieties.At the same time,thisconcept,embodyingnotionsof
bothlove and workand crossingtheboundariesofhouseholds,helpsus to
and commudebateson women'swork,family,
reflecton currentfeminist
ofthesephenomenaand womnity.We newlysee boththeinterrelations
thoseinterrelations.
en's rolesin creatingand maintaining
Revealingthe
conceiveas love and consideractuallaborembodiedinwhatwe culturally
theself-interest/alingthepoliticaluses ofthislaborhelpsto deconstruct
truismdichotomyand to connectmore closelywomen's domesticand
lives.
labor-force
The truevalue ofthe concept,however,remainsto be testedthrough
researchon gender, kinship,and
furtherhistoricaland contemporary
labor.We need to assessthesuggestionthatgenderedkinworkemergesin
concertwiththe capitalistdevelopmentprocess;to probe the historical
recordforwomen'sand men'svaryingand changingconceptionsofit;and
21
Nancy Folbre and Heidi I. Hartmann,"The Rhetoricof Self-Interest:Selfishness,
and Genderin EconomicTheory,"in TheConsequencesofEconomicRhetoric,ed.
Altruism,
Press,forthcoming).
ArjoKlamerand Donald McCloskey(New York:CambridgeUniversity

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Spring1987 / SIGNS

and material
to researchthe currentrange of its culturalconstructions
realities.We knowthathouseholdboundariesare moreporousthanwe
had thought-buttheyare undoubtedlydifferentially
porous,and thisis
whatwe need to specify.We need, in particular,to assess therelationsof
to
changinglaborprocesses,residentialpatterns,and theuse oftechnology
changingkinwork.
Alteringthe values attachedto this particularset of women's tasks
will be as difficult
as are the housework,child-care,and occupationalresearchin theselatterareas is
segregationstruggles.Butjust as feminist
and cumulative,so researching
kinworkshouldhelp us to
complementary
piece togetherthe home, work,and public-lifelandscape-to see the
femaleworldofcardsand holidaysas itis constructed
and livedwithinthe
changingpoliticaleconomy.How femalethatworldis to remain,and what
itwouldlooklikeifitwerenotsex-segregated,
are questionswe cannotyet
answer.
DepartmentofAnthropology
Yale University

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