Chapter four shows how a religious spirit animated the two schools and considers how they in turn nurtured different kinds of families, or solidarity among
fictive kin. Chapter five linked themes from previous chapters and examines how the schools cultivated different kinds of men.
In fact, many state and county child welfare agencies are building on federal law to help children achieve legal permanency through guardianship with relatives and
fictive kin. To better understand state policies guiding guardianship, this article presents trends in state statutes and administrative codes for guardianship across all 50 states.
Communities that Care and the Impact of
Fictive KinThough certainly not unique to African Americans, the significance of
fictive kin in contributing to life satisfaction for African Americans is buttressed by research data (Taylor, Chatters, Hardison, & Riley, 2001).
The "your black life matters" message would be the same, but rather than a lone voice exhorting a namesake nephew, The Fire This Time would be a chorus of
fictive kin speaking to a generation of African Americans who were raised to identify beyond race, only to find themselves judged yet again by--and, in recent high-profile cases, executed because of--the color of their skin.
More importantly, the intimacy generated by living together may create strong emotional bonds that cause
fictive kin to act like kin, or more extended kin to act like adult children.
caring and childrearing creates a woman-centered "
fictive kin"
It could be said that
fictive kin address is very much part of Kelabit custom.
As the book well shows, making land productive required labor, the labor of both men and women, labor that was mostly organized through families with three dimensions, the male-female partnership among adults of prime working age, their intergenerational relationships with their elders and their children, and the wider networks provided extended families of both biological and
fictive kin. Distinct microclimates allowed different kinds of products, and each product required specific forms of labor: cowboys and shepherds, seasonal harvesters, people to plow, plant, weed, and process, people to make handicrafts or work in packing sheds.
Analytically separating Black southerners from their migrating cousins,
fictive kin, and white counterparts, Robinson demonstrates how place intersects with race, class, gender, and regional identities and differences.
These caring commitments may cross the boundaries of blood, marriage, residence, culture, and country This can manifest itself in terms of caring for
fictive kin (Reynolds 2006).