The Troublesome Kinship, or, How Are Family Tragedies Discussed in an Anonymous Online Community

Abstract

This paper focuses on public debates about kinship and family ties in the online group “Anonim 03”—the Buryat online community on the social network “VKontakte”. It explores why some people want to “air their dirty laundry”, telling strangers stories about intimate details of their family lives and breakdowns of mutual care, and why others willingly participate in these discussions. This article attempts to trace not only the terms in which connections between different people of kin are defined today, but also to unravel the mechanisms and global principles that, according to the participants of this community, dictate the life of a person who has a family. Observing only the presentation of family in the anonymous stories, this article argues that it is nevertheless possible to trace the circulation of the so-called “substances of kinship” according to Sharon Hutchinson—and simultaneously the circulation of affects, as Sarah Ahmed suggests—to see what new objects are born out of this discussion. Although debates in “Anonim 03” often resemble a TV show where participants try to hurt each other, I want to argue that these debates are a much more serious process than just entertainment. I suggest that they constitute a space for ethical reasoning and fixing moral norms of kinship relations, if for a very short period.