Introduction to the panel "Rethinking Margins through Personhood"
Résumé
In social anthropology, margins have always been the subject of particular attention, in relation to life cycles, rites and kinship practices that punctuate it (transition to adulthood, childbirth, death, etc.). They are privileged places to question personhood in different societies because that is where the constitution or dissolution of persons, their relationships and bodies can be observed (Kaufman, Morgan, 2005). Practices surrounding death and birth, imaginaries related to procreation and childbirth or representations of transmission and similarity are all ways of understanding how a society conceives the constitution and construction of personhood. Thus, this panel will question personhood from the margins of kinship (Mauss, 1938 ; Porqueres, 2014). Marginal situations constitute a particularly rich observatory for understanding the societal dynamics at work in the construction of personhood. Some situations, such as biotechnologies and new kinship situations induced by these innovations, nevertheless require to rethink the very definition of margin and liminality. Consequently, this panel will also be an opportunity to revisit the notion of margin and its use in the light of contemporary contexts.