Expansive kinship encompasses relational practices that push back against patriarchal, heteronormative, capitalist, and colonialist supremacy.
Some of these practices include dismantling the idea of relationships as a form of ownership or requiring exclusivity; interrogating the role of the state or religion in codifying and enforcing rules in relationships, such as through marriage; questioning the utility of relational labels; supporting, creating, and maintaining intentional communities; elevating the roles of “aunties” and other alloparents; and cherishing and promoting chosen families in general.
September 16, 2026—7:00pm to 8:30pm
Overview
Jennifer will give a short introduction to her work on expansive kinship and then lead a discussion on the topic.
Expansive kinship is an umbrella term for varieties of relational diversity. It is the cornerstone of Jennifer's vision of a thriving, interdependent future. Relational diversity includes forms of relating that extend far beyond our current cultural notions of nuclear family, marriage, single-family households, child-rearing, and caregiving.
Expansive kinship looks toward reshaping relational landscapes into networks of intimacy, care, and mutual aid rather than atomized relational units based on competition, scarcity, and domination.
Many theorists and activists in the realms of feminism, LGBTQIA+ activism, polyamory, relationship anarchy, and intentional communities have influenced this vision of expansive kinship.
About the Presenter
Jennifer Luciani (she/they) is a relational trauma-informed coach, a facilitator of discussions on polyamory and relationship anarchy, and has been an educator/mentor for unschoolers and eclectic homeschoolers, including her child. She holds multiple long-term radical identities (queer/pansexual, polyamorous, relationship anarchist, feminist, and past co-creator and resident of intentional community).
Learn more about her work and writings at www.JenniferLuciani.com and jenniferluciani.substack.com.