Words
Kin-keeping
The quiet work of keeping a family in touch: remembering birthdays, ringing the relatives, passing on news and arranging the visits.
Where it comes from
The sociologist Micaela di Leonardo named it in 1987, in an article in the journal Signs called “The Female World of Cards and Holidays”. She found that this work fell mostly to women and was rarely counted as work.
An example
When your mother dies and nobody rings your aunt any more, the kin-keeping has stopped.
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