When ‘blood speaks’: naming the father and the mystics of kinship in Dominica, Eastern Caribbean

Abstract

This article explores the mystical implication of fathers in reproduction in Dominica, Eastern Caribbean. It traces naming acts that assign paternity at various points in the filial life course, each attempting to disambiguate paternity. Confronting a recurring anthropological problematic – the problem of paternity (paternity's inherent putativity) – the article argues that Dominicans contest uncertain physical fatherhood through the proverb ‘blood speaks’. The article elaborates how relatedness reveals itself in the subtle bodies of kin at three moments: through a local version of the couvade (‘sympathetic pregnancy’); in elders’ post‐partum ritual scrutiny of children's bodies for familial resemblances; and during serendipitous encounters in later life. The article highlights how physical fatherhood is disclosed in fathers’ and children's symptoms, appearances, and sensations, revealing their kinship in transpersonal terms. Therefore, blood ‘speaks’ to counter broad‐brushed narratives of Caribbean fatherly absence by revealing the physical and spiritual significance of fatherhood. Herein, the article revives classic anthropological debates on legitimacy, the couvade, and Caribbean kinship, whilst contributing to contemporary theorizations of blood and naming.

What can be said about risks, vulnerabilities, and adaptation to climate change in Caribbean small island developing states (SIDS)? The case of Dominica. A qualitative study

“…Traditional construction practices are known as increasing adaptive capacity and therefore reducing vulnerability to tropical cyclones and floods (8). This seems especially valid for the Caribbean SIDS in reference to the building of local homes, such as the Ti Kai Creole, some of which have withstood multiple hurricanes (35).…”

Abyssal geographies: an ethnographic reply. A commentary on David Chandler and Jonathan Pugh's ‘Abyssal geography’.

“…Should the Caribbean be thought of as an ‘enabling’ geography for unpicking such ontological puzzles? Or might we think, instead, of what an ‘ethnography of relation’ (Philogene Heron, 2017) might look like. We might aspire for a scholarly praxis that gradually builds relationships to people and place, a praxis defined by care and radical solidarity, a sitting with difference and being in service of our interlocutors.…”

Nobody likes to sleep alone: aspiring to kinship futures in post‐Soviet Cuba

“…Clarke 1974 [1957]). This understanding, however, is currently more nuanced (Härkönen 2016: 95‐7; Philogene Heron 2019). By focusing on both men's and women's desires to obtain lasting love and create kinship futures through children, this article expands our understanding of gendered reproductive aspirations.…”