US inheritance laws mandate that without a clear will, land is inherited in equal shares by all legal heirs creating what has been termed ‘heir property’.  This bio-material formation of kinship, imposed through property laws, has directly affected family farmers in the US, and especially African American farmers. Many contemporary Black farmers, especially those in the US South, farm on heir property that has been owned for four to five generations, creating a large number of often disparate and geographically dispersed shareholders in a property that is usually managed by one or two individuals. Land sharks have taken advantage of this legal category to dispossess Black farmers for generations. Nevertheless, many Black farmers and landowners themselves see this legal category as an opportunity to transform private property into communal property, or into what they term ‘family land.’ This ideological construction, however, does not prevent material dispossession. In this context, Black farmers have combined forces by forming cooperatives. Farmer cooperatives not only work to prevent land loss but also function as an extended family by creating an alternative kinship network that is not bio-materially formed, but communal. My project first looks at how the bio-material formation of kinship is interpreted and acted upon very differently by land sharks and African American farmers. It then investigates how communal networks simultaneously supplant and nurture bio-kinship. My research combines ethnography, filmmaking, and analysis of property laws. This project will result in a map-based interactive documentary, a book manuscript, and an article.