This seminar will approach a classic topic in anthropology: Kinship. Relations are as much a part of everyday life as they are anthropological theories. From families we are born into or choose, to partners and lovers, or our networks of friends, kinship structures the way we live our lives. In this seminar we will ask what makes us kin, and how do these connections shape our ethical responsibilities to others and to the world? From blood, to genes, to emotions, property, nationhood, animals, and stories, we will explore what ties us to others and how families are formed. The implications of this will be an inquiry into responsibility: Who are “we” accountable to and why? What are the limits of Kinship? From global warming, to gender roles, to reproductive technologies, to reparations, students in this class we will trace how shifts in anthropological thinking on kinship might provide new answers to contemporary social and political problems. We will begin by looking at traditional theories of kinship structures in anthropology reading authors such as Marilyn Strathern, Janet Carsten and Kath Weston, we will introduce terms such as “relatedness” and “fictive kinship” to explore what “kinship” as a concept is. We will then explore kinship’s relationship to the home, the nation, and the land to unpack kinship’s relation to place. Finally, we will explore emotions and accountability through readings on love, friendship, obligation, and climate change. Alongside the core seminar participation, students will also be working independently on a group multi - media project that will allow them to investigate a topic of their choice. To prepare for this, class discussions will focus on pod-casts, documentaries, and art projects as well as academic texts.