description Kath Weston Overview
Kath Weston is an American anthropologist whose work connects kinship studies with gender and sexuality. Her book Families We Choose: Lesbians, Gays, Kinship, published in 1991, examined how gay men and lesbians formed families through friendship, partnership, community, and relationships with biological relatives. The book is a reference point in anthropology and queer studies for analyzing chosen family, class, identity, and the limits of biological definitions of kinship.
help Kath Weston FAQ
What is Kath Weston known for?
Weston is known for connecting kinship anthropology with gender and sexuality studies. Her book Families We Choose: Lesbians, Gays, Kinship was originally published in 1991. [Columbia University Press](https://cup.columbia.edu/book/families-we-choose/9780231110938)
What does chosen family mean in Kath Weston's research?
Chosen family refers to networks of friendship, partnership, care, and community that function as kinship. Weston showed how gay men and lesbians could create family relationships that were not based solely on blood or legal marriage.
How did Weston study queer family life?
Families We Choose draws on fieldwork and interviews with gay men and lesbians. It examines how people use the language of love, friendship, biology, and kinship to describe their relationships.
Why was Families We Choose important to anthropology?
It challenged the assumption that family must be defined by heterosexual marriage, descent, or biology. The 1991 book helped bring queer relationships into central debates about kinship and social belonging.
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