Mediaciones políticas del parentesco: tiempo, documentos y ADN

Claudia Fonseca

doi:10.5565/rev/athenea.2206

Political mediations of kinship: time, documents and DNA

Authors

Claudia Fonseca Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7761-6095

Abstract

In this paper, we draw on literature from both science and technology studies and the anthropology of kinship, we describe a political movement aimed at legal reparation for human rights violations perpetrated by the Brazilian government against children of the compulsorily institutionalized patients of Hansen’s disease. We conduct our investigation by exploring the action of intertwining technologies – narrated recollections, written documents, and the DNA test – employed by major actors to “reckon” the family connections at the core of this drama. The notion of technologies helps underline not only the materiality of certain processes, but also the complex temporalities at play. Responding to a challenge proposed by Janet Carsten, our ultimate aim is to show how political events as well as collective institutionalized structures – operating through the mediation of these diverse technologies – produce a particular kind of sociality, interwoven with perceptions of family and community.

Keywords

Human rights, Hansen's disease, DNA, Kinship, Temporality

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Author Biography

Claudia Fonseca, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

Claudia Fonseca es profesora en el Programa de Estudios de Posgrado en Antropología Social en la Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Brasil) y en el Programa de Doctorado en Antropología de la Universidad Nacional de San Martín (Argentina). Se ha realizado investigaciones y publicado libros y artículos sobre género, familia, e infancia, con énfasis en la antropología jurídica y, más recientemente, la antropología de la ciencia. Es autora dos libros: Caminhos da Adoção; Família, Fofoca e Honra; Tecnologia, Parentesco e Lei na Era do DNA, más allá de inúmeros artículos (los más recientes no Journal of Community Genetics, Vibrant e Horizontes Antropológicos . Es co-organizadora de las coletânea (entre otras): Ciencias na Vida e Ciência, identificação e tecnologias de governo.