Temperamental Differences

The Shifting Political Implications of Cousin Marriage in Nineteenth-Century America

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3224985
AutoresMckinnon (0000-0003-1181-6761, autor de correspondencia), Susan Mckinnon
Año2016
Volumen60
Número2
Fecha de publicación2016-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSocial Analysis (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0155-977X • E-ISSN: 1558-5727
EditorialBerghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3167/sa.2016.600203
OpenAlexW2529892219
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas19

By focusing on the debate about cousin marriage that unfolded over the mid- to late-nineteenth century in the United States, this article explores the capacity of kinship to produce difference as well as sameness, exclusion as well as inclusion. I follow the cultural logic of temperaments through which the relative value of cousin versus non-kin marriages was debated. I also examine the rhetoric that linked these contrasting forms of marriage with contrasting political formations-specifically those of 'backward' hierarchical monarchies and 'progressive' egalitarian democratic republics. This marital and political logic was countered by the political economy of race, which made evident the forms of racial exclusion that defined the boundaries of marriage, national belonging, equality, and democracy in nineteenth-century America

Cousin · Inclusion–exclusion principle · Australian History and Society · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes