This book proposes that romantic relationships-filtered through various
socio-cultural sieves-can lead to the development of affective kin
bonds, which underlie our sense of personhood and belonging. Sirisena
argues that the process resembles an attempt to make strangers into kin,
and that sort of affective relating is a form of self-conscious
relationality, in which the inhabitants reflect on their individual and
collective needs, as well as their expectations and dreams in the future
of their relationships. University students' romantic relationships,
which they gloss as 'serious, ' appear to be processual and non-linear,
and are considered to be stabilising forces which are pitched against
the inherent uncertainty in young people's lives