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What is Kinning? | 20 Best Methods Kinners Used

September 24, 2024September 25, 2024

Kinning refers to the process of forming social or familial bonds that are akin to kinship. This concept is often used in anthropology and sociology to describe how people create relationships that are similar to family ties, even when they are not biologically related.

Kinning is common in various social contexts, such as:

Adoption: When adoptive parents and children form family-like bonds.
Fictive Kinship: When friends, mentors, or community members are treated as family.
Immigrant Communities: Where individuals or groups form close, family-like relationships in a foreign country for emotional or social support.
Workplaces: Colleagues may refer to themselves as a “work family,” implying kin-like bonds of loyalty and care.

In summary, kinning involves creating strong social relationships that mimic the closeness and obligations of biological family ties.

What is the Meaning of Kinning

Kinning refers to the process of creating or recognizing relationships that are equivalent to kinship, typically outside of biological or traditional family structures. It involves the formation of social bonds that are treated as familial, even though the individuals involved may not be blood relatives. Kinning is a way people extend the concept of “family” to include friends, communities, or even pets, often driven by shared experiences, mutual support, or emotional closeness.

In essence, kinning transforms non-biological relationships into kin-like ones, giving them the same social, emotional, and sometimes legal importance as family ties.

20 Methods Kinners Used and What is Kinning

Kinning refers to the process of creating social or familial bonds similar to kinship, often beyond biological or legal ties. It is the act of establishing a connection that makes someone “like family,” even if they are not related by blood. This process can happen in various cultural, social, and interpersonal contexts. The term is frequently used in anthropology, sociology, and studies of adoption or foster care, and highlights the fluidity of what it means to be “family.”

Here are 20 methods that “kinners” or people who engage in the process of kinning use to form these kin-like relationships:

1. Adoption

Formal adoption legally makes a child part of a family. This is one of the most common forms of kinning.

2. Foster Care

Foster families often treat children as if they are biologically related, even if the arrangement is temporary.

3. Godparenting

The godparent is often treated as a secondary parent, building a kin-like relationship within the religious or cultural tradition.

4. Ritual Kinship

In some cultures, ceremonies like baptism or certain rites of passage formally create kinship bonds between non-relatives.

5. Fictive Kinship

Refers to labeling non-family members as kin, such as calling close friends “brother,” “sister,” “aunt,” or “uncle.”

6. Marriage

Through marriage, in-laws are incorporated into one’s kinship network, creating new family bonds.

7. Surrogate Parenthood

Surrogate mothers or fathers help create familial ties where the biological link is absent or secondary.

8. Co-parenting

Shared parenting responsibilities (such as in stepfamilies or between friends) create family-like ties among the adults and children involved.

9. Adoption of Pets

Many people consider their pets as “family,” thus engaging in kinning through emotional bonds with animals.

10. Elder Care

Non-relatives who care for the elderly can form strong familial bonds, treating each other as kin over time.

11. Friendship

Close friends often become chosen family members, supporting each other like relatives would.

12. Mentorship

In mentorship, especially long-term, the relationship may take on a family-like quality, with a mentor playing a “parental” role.

13. Communal Living

In some intentional communities, people live together and treat one another as family members.

14. Co-housing or Shared Households

Similar to communal living, but on a smaller scale. Shared homes often lead to deep relationships akin to family.

15. Emergency Support Networks

In times of crisis, people often turn to non-relatives who act as family for emotional and financial support, fostering kin-like relationships.

16. Sibling-Like Bonds

Friends or individuals who are raised together but not biologically related often form sibling-like bonds, calling each other “brother” or “sister.”

17. Volunteering and Charity Work

In volunteer organizations, close-knit groups often develop a family-like camaraderie over shared service experiences.

18. Workplace “Family”

Teams that work closely together often describe themselves as “family,” reflecting deep professional and personal bonds.

19. Ceremonial Family Roles

In some cultures, certain non-family members are assigned specific familial roles during important ceremonies like weddings, funerals, or festivals.

20. Cultural or Religious Brotherhoods/Sisterhoods

Fraternities, sororities, and religious brotherhoods or sisterhoods create kinship-like bonds through shared identity and practices.

Summary

Kinning is the flexible social process of forming strong, kin-like relationships with people outside one’s biological family. It encompasses everything from legal structures like adoption and marriage to informal practices like treating friends as siblings or creating family-like bonds in professional or social environments.