When I started fieldwork among the Maka in SE Cameroon in 1971 I was suprised that for them kinship was hardly about ascribing people a fixed position. In retrospect this makes me realize how deeply Talcott Parsons’ famous pattern variables – notably ‘ascription’ versus ‘achievement’ influenced our perspective. But Maka people turned out to be true masters in ‘working’-with kinship, constantly ‘discovering’ kin in unexpected contexts, making creative equations and switch-es. My subsequent research in the area (up till now) highlighted how over time this plasticity of their kinship arrangements increased with growing urbanization and even more with transcontinental migration. Cameroon’s famous ‘bush-fallers’ have developed their own ways for ‘working’ with kinship. However, this plasticity should not only be studied as stemming from new and shifting conditions. I hope to show as well that such a more dynamic view on kinship is valuable for re-evaluating classical kinship theory.

当我于1971年在喀麦隆东南部的马卡（Maka）进行实地考察时，我感到惊讶的是，对于他们而言，血缘关系几乎不在于将人们定为固定职位。回想起来，这让我意识到塔尔科特·帕森斯（Talcott Parsons）著名的模式变量-特别是“归属”与“成就”对我们的观点产生了多大影响。但是事实证明，马卡人是真正的“亲戚”工作大师，在意想不到的情况下不断“发现”亲戚，创造了创造性的等式和转折点。我后来在该地区的研究（到目前为止）强调了他们的亲属关系的可塑性随着时间的推移如何随着城市化的发展以及跨大陆移民的增长而增加。喀麦隆著名的“丛林摔角者”已经发展出自己的与亲属“合作”的方式。然而，这种可塑性不仅应研究为来自新的和不断变化的条件。我也希望表明，对血族关系的这种更加动态的观点对于重新评估经典血族理论是有价值的。