Introduction: Measuring Kinship, Negoti...

Widespread procedures tomeasure what is taken to be kinship condition negotiations of various forms ofbelonging (family, ethnicity, nation, race, and even humanity). Kinshipmeasurements require indicators, evidence, and persuasive display to becomeinstitutionalized. This introduction shows these measurements’ generativeforce, which enables their translation into differentiated access to resources.Kinship measurements pull together different and sometimes contrasting ideas,practices, and materialities. Different measurements can add up, mutuallyreinforcing each other, and reach thresholds for inclusion or exclusion. Yetmost often they remain contested, produce gradual results, and do not achieveclosure. Grouping them together as assessments of closeness or similarity, weexplore the productivity of kinship measurements in diverse settings, such asmedicine, bureaucracy, and ritual, to demonstrate how they shape inequalitiesand marginalizations.