Kin work, according to di Leonardo, is not only the means by which relationships between households are maintained, but also the means through which women secure their own position of power over other women as well as men and children. A form of labor which appears to transcend class and ethnic boundaries, kin work is universally the "work of women." Kin work "refer[s] to the conception, maintenance, and ritual celebration of cross-household kin ties, including visits, letters, telephone calls, presents, and cards to kin; the organization of holiday gatherings; the creation and maintenance of quasi-kin relations; decisions to neglect or to intensify particular ties; the mental work of reflection about all these activities; and the creation and communication of altering images of family and kin vis-á-vis the images of others, both folk and mass media" (di Leonardo 1987, 341-342)
The concept of kin work as an area of power negotiation may be especially useful in terms of trying to "reconstruct" a Viking culture in which generosity was the measure of power and kinship its arena. Di Leonardo found that households without the presence of an adult woman were marked by a significant decrease in kin relations and holiday celebrations. Not only could Viking marriages be strategic, then, in the political sense, but they could also create a context in which power relationships could be played out through displays of inter-household generosity. Meals and celebrations, according to di Leonardo, are central areas for negotiating power between women - with issues of preparation, contribution, and hosting as tense arenas for dispute and interpretation.
Di Leonardo also notes that not only are women more willing than men to talk about disputes within family networks, they are also much more knowledgeable about these networks, even in regards to their husband's family. For beings set within a naturalized domestic scene, domestic work and the acquisition of its associated skills seem to entail an emphasis on intergenerational ties, what Choderow calls "vertical integration" (as cited in Rosaldo, 1974). These intergenerational ties which link young women to their mothers and grandmothers serve to reinforce an extensive inventory of genealogical knowledge and political memory. I believe, therefore, that the possession of such genealogical knowledge might better explain the higher status attributed to older women (as inferred from burial goods) who were naturally more familiar with family relationships and were able to navigate these relationships more easily than as yet inexperienced young women. While Dommasnes (1991) suggests that these prestige goods may be associated with fertility cults (which might perhaps be easily confused with issues of descent), it seems to me that it may be more productive to understand "warrior cults" and "fertility cults" as complementary acts of power negotiation and image management within a kin-based system.
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