Abstract

This article explores how anthropological studies have approached those kinship ties that are not based on biological descent or marriage alliance. I reconstruct the idea of fictive kinship in classical studies, and I then illustrate the debates that favored the birth of new concepts, such as making kin and kinning, which overcome the real/fictitious dichotomy. In the final part of the essay, I focus on the kinning of care roles: based on research on Latin American au pairs in the south of France, I highlight the potential, limitations and contradictions that characterize kinning processes and I reflect on the challenges for anthropological research in the contemporary world