ABSTRACT

This paper examines how family, kin and other intimate relations are reimagined and reconstructed in contemporary India. I introduce the concept of ‘intimate networks’ to analyze connections between villages, cities and abroad, looking at ways in which people create familial relationships in and across various spatial locations. I argue that there is a shift away from traditional norm of emphasizing patriliny and primogeniture to broadening kin and personal relations, including lateral kin and affines, acquaintances and friends to seek opportunities for education and employment. There is a circular flow of people, things, cash and information between villages, cities and abroad, rather than a unilateral migration from rural to urban, as traditional modernization theory advocates. Circular flow is made possible by construction of intimate networks involving exchanges and flow of substance-codes, such as things, cash and information between people. I also examine emergence of new relationships of care beyond family and kin ties in rurban areas where residents combine aspects of rural and urban in ways that defy assumptions of straightforward modernizing transition from rural to urban.

摘要

本文探讨了当代印度如何重新构想和重建家庭，亲属和其他亲密关系。我介绍了“亲密网络”的概念，以分析村庄，城市与国外之间的联系，探讨人们在各个空间位置以及在各个空间位置之间建立家庭关系的方式。我认为，从强调父权制和长子继承制的传统规范转变为扩大亲戚和个人关系，包括亲戚和亲戚，熟人和朋友，以寻求受教育和就业的机会。乡村，城市与国外之间存在着人，物，现金和信息的循环流动，而不是像传统的现代化理论所主张的那样，是从农村向城市的单方面迁移。通过建立紧密的网络来进行循环流动，这种网络涉及诸如人，物，现金和信息之类的物质代码的交换和流动。我还考察了城市地区居民和亲戚以外的新型照护关系的出现，那里居民以不符合从乡村向城市直接现代化过渡的假设的方式结合了乡村和城市的方方面面。