The intimacies of power: rethinking violence and affinity in the Bolivian Andes

In the Bolivian Andes although violence between spouses is more frequent, violence also erupts between women who are affines. By examining events of violence through the discourses and practices that sustain asymmetries of power among affines, I demonstrate that kinship and violence in the highland Andean region of Sullk'ata are shaped by multiple inequalities and embedded in, yet extend beyond, the domestic arena. Incorporating violence into an analysis of kinship further highlights the lived interactions of individuals rather than static structures of kinship.