Boots, Gloves, and Tactical Kinship

This chapter exposes the continuation of war in the places one might least expect: family, and considers what happens in families when they become a part of the conflict itself. It uses the cases of two women to show how kinship can become “tactical” and provide vivid examples of everyday war. The chapter tells the story Oleksandra, who provisioned her father who fought as a pro-Russian volunteer sniper killing former neighbors and Larysa, who redoubled her commitment to country after her son was shot by separatists that her mother and sister funded. Given the diffuse nature of contemporary warfare that is waged without discreet frontlines and involves different kinds of nonstate actors, it is worthwhile to consider the quotidian and mundane, practices that advance conflict from the sidelines. The chapter also describes cruel optimism and tactical kinship that provide more granular detail of the logic behind people's willingness to participate in war.