The NEW Kinship Diagram

A kinship diagram is a visual representation of relations of blood and marriage; basically it is a family tree. Whereas ‘the family’ was the center of everything way back before the industrial revolution, things have somewhat changed since then (in the United States, at least). Society is more individualistic as we focus more on “my wants” and “my needs”. It is because of this that individual definitions of kinship are not limited to blood and marriage relations; today it is more about who you are closest to and who is in your network. So, I have been challenged to create an updated kinship chart based on what kinship means today.


So Let's Get Started!
The diagram revolves around the ego (myself) and so it is circular instead of a horizontal or vertical list.  Because of this, each individual's diagram will look different.  I included my family because they are a very big part of my life; we have always been a tight knit family and we are very close. I did change a few things from the original kinship diagram. Because of social networking websites, relationship status is no longer limited to single or married; they have added ‘dating’ and ‘engaged’ to the mix. I changed the ≈ symbol to a line with a C for various reasons. The ≈ symbol is used to symbolize a cohabiting couple, but not all cohabiting couples are the same; some couples are engaged to be married while others are not planning to get married at all or unable to get married due to legal reasons (by this I mean the injustices towards the LGBT community). I also added a line with a dot to symbolize dating or engaged couples who are not cohabiting.
In addition to adding relationship statuses, I added symbols for ‘best/close friends’ and ‘network’. In this society, it is all about who you know and it is not uncommon to find a job through your friends or networks. It is all about your network!