Learned Family on the Educator-Kibbutzim—Knowledge, Kinship, and Social Transformation as Historical Legacy

Abstract

This article explores how educator-kibbutzim recruit socialist-Zionist learning traditions to construct new forms of kinship. Bringing communities of practice theory to new kinship studies, we expand on the role of knowledge in bridging the social/biological. Based on ethnographic research and participatory-archival research, we describe social learning practices drawn from historical repertoire that are utilized to create new forms of family. The findings highlight the versatility of ways that knowledge/learning can transform seemingly natural ties.