Kinship III: Kinship Units and Groups

Cultural Anthropology

Demonstrated and Stipulated Descent Demonstrated Descent: Descent is traced through all linking males/females to ancestor Stipulated descent Descent from ancestor Is assumed and cannot be traced through linking kin

Lineages and Clans Lineages: Unilineal descent units and groups Whose kin can demonstrate their descent From their ancestor Clans: Unilineal descent units and groups Whose kin can only stipulate their descent From their ancestors

Descent Units and Descent Groups Descent organizes larger kin as well Descent Groups Descent Units

Descent Units A group of kin descended unilineally or bilaterally who reckon their descent for some purpose but who are not necessarily organized Example Navajo are matrilineal dispersed throughout countryside main function: hospitality

Descent Groups (Corporate Groups) Are organized with the following

characteristics Own estate: land, cattle, fishing/hunting

ground May be owned by group or owned by their constituent families

Descent Groups: Rights and Obligations Estate entails rights and obligations Examples: Rights to cattle for bridewealth Obligation to provide cattle for bridewealth Obligation to defend herds (or add to them) Fulani: If one loses herd due to disease Others contribute to replenishment of here

Descent Groups: Perpetuity The lineage or clan is sociocentric It outlasts the life span of individuals Not unlike corporations and downsizing Contrasts with kindreds-egocentric Kindred comprises full brothers and sisters Overlaps with other kindreds When full siblings die, kindred dies

Legal Persons Corporations are defined as legal persons Similar to descent groups Kwakiutl: murder of noble of one clan by

commoner of another Requires death of noble of commoner’s clan Responsibility is thereby collective New Guinea: murder requires revenge--

regardless of individual view

Principles of Lineage Formation and Segmentation Suppose an extended family gets too large The family divides into two The families may retain ties as lineages When lineages get large They divide into two May retain affiliation as even larger lineages Process can continue indefinitely

Patrilineal Descent Units/Groups Patrilocal extended families undergo

division They can keep ties through lineages Process continues indefinitely At the end, they may form clans.

Matrilineal Descent Units/Groups Matrilocal extended families undergo like

division Keep ties again through lineages Process continues indefinitely Again form clans over long term Main difference: role of brother and husband Authority figures compete for power Usually, segmentation involves Br-Si.

Nonunilineal or Ambilineal Descent Groups Develops from ambilocal extended families--whose

descent is bilateral Each couple chooses residence based on

economic advantage Example: Kainga on Truk in Gilberts Kainga is a landholding unit When couple chooses residence, departing spouse

retains rights But rights do not pass to his/her child

Ambilocal Descent Group: Conditions Usually found where Land is circumscribed by geography Islands Highlands And population shifts rapidly Another example: Scottish clans Arable land restricted in highland Similar practices observed

Marriage as Alliance Another function of marriage: alliance European history: peace sealed by monarchial

marriage Yanomamo: highest alliance is sealed by marriage Women marry cross-cousin--kind of protection No such protection if she marries outside Must reflect high degree of trust Ways to secure alliance: bridewealth and exchange

marriage

Bridewealth More than a marriage transaction Loss of daughter: loss of reproductivity Loss must be compensated. Bridewealth Entails payment by groom’s kin to wife’s kin Ensures that wife’s kin attracts wives for its sons Strengthens bond of kin through network of

obligations

Bride Labor and Dowry Theme and variation: son proves his worth

Ensures that wife will be looked after

Dowry (p. 252) Transfer of wealth from wife’s family to husband Condition: he looks after wife’s welfare even after

his own death An assurance that woman’s status is on par with

husband’s

Exchange Theory: Mauss’s Analysis of the Gift Exchange Creates and maintains ties between two groups Three obligations To give: to form ties To receive To cement ties Failure: creates hostilities To repay Failure makes the recipient a beggar Results in his/her inferior status

Parallel and Cross-Cousin Marriage Parallel cousin marriage Father’s brother’s child or Mother’s sister’s child Cross-cousin marriage Sister’s brother’s child Mother’s brother’s child

Patrilateral Parallel Cousin Marriage Father’s brother’s children belong to same

patrilineal descent unit Practiced among Arab nomadic peoples Example: Rwala Bedouin Serves to preserve wealth within extended

family or lineage Disadvantage: limitation on alliance/network

Cross-Cousin Marriage Partner is always outside one’s own lineage or

clan Illustration Mother’s brother’s daughter: belongs to lineage

or clan of the brother Father’s sister’s daughter: belongs to lineage or

clan of sister’s husband Conclusion: cross-cousins always belong to

different lineages or clans

Matrilateral Cross-Cousin Marriage Definition: marriage of man to his mother’s brother’s

daughter Man is woman’s father’s sister’s son Reference point is always male What happens when everyone practices matrilateral

cross-cousin marriage There are at least 3 groups They marry in a circle Diagram illustrates why

Matrilateral Cross-Cousin Marriage: Alliance Patterns Effects on social status Group B takes wife from Group A Group B can never return favor with wife from own

group Why: man from Group A would marry father’s

sister’s daughter “Violates” matrilateral cross-cousin rule Result: B is “beggar” to A: likewise C to B Has effect in stratified states, as will be seen

Patrilateral Cross-Cousin Marriage Woman is man’s father’s sister’s daughter But man is woman’s mother’s brother’s son Again, male is reference point Pattern is somewhat more complicated and rarer in occurrence Structural implications will be bypassed

Bilateral Cross-Cousin Marriage Two definitions Man marries either Mother’s brother’s daughter or Father’s sister’s daughter OR He marries both Mother’s brother’s daughter or Father’s sister’s daughter This diagram shows how

Alliance Patterns: Bilateral Cross-Cousin Marriage Results If you have only two lineages And everyone does it You have only one choice: cross cousin An ideal type Only one male and only one female Applied to Yanomamo, every marriage Involves a cross-cousin tie (p 146. 148) Strong because it involves future spouses

Bilateral Cross-Cousin Marriage: Results Fissioning village, Villages always divide in pairs Two kinds of people: your kin and your future spouse’s kin Kin terms Iroquois cousin terminology: Parallel cousins: same as brother and sister Cross-cousin: Suaboya: female cross cousin and wife Hearoya: male cross-cousin and husband

Importance of Kin Terms: Bilateral Reflect how cousins are to behave toward

each other Hawaiian: all cousins merge siblings with

cousins Bilateral: marriage outside kin Eskimo: our own: immediate siblings

separated from cousins Often found with nuclear families

Importance of Kin Terms: Unilineal Iroquois: Parallel cousins merged with siblings Separated from cross cousins Yanomamo: give indication of marriageable

partners Guinea: Cross-cousins separated from immediate

siblings and parallel cousins, Matrilateral and patrilateral cousins also separated Suggests matrilateral or patrilateral cross-cousin

marriage is preferred

Kinship Terminology Much more could be said Omaha and Crow reflect Patrilineal and matrilineal relations,

respectively Main point: terms are “markers” of basic

relationships

Conclusion: Value of Marriage and Kinship Involves how gender relations are managed Sexual relations Division of labor Marriage and childbirth Involves relations outside immediate realm of

kin Economic rights and obligations (next) Social control through other institutions