By Paula Vargas, Anna Harter, and Casey Castelli

Marriage: The customs, rules, and obligations that establish a socially endorsed relationship between adults and children, and between the kin groups of the married partners. Every society must: Regulate sexual access between males and females Find satisfactory ways to organize labor Assign responsibility for child care Provide a clear framework for organizing an individual’s rights and responsibilities Provide for the transfer of property and social position between generations

Marriage is the way most societies arrange for the products and services of men and women to be exchanged and for the care of children. It is difficult to find any one definition of marriage that will fit all cultural situations. Even the most widespread definition of marriage is NOT universal. All societies construct rules about sex, infant care, labor, and rights and obligations between generations, but they do so in very different ways.

The Na of southwest China raised questions about the universality of marriage and “the family”. Don’t practice marriage. The idealized Na partnership is one where men pass nights in a lover’s household and return to their own families in the morning. Referred to as the “visit”. Both men and women have multiple partners, serially or simultaneously, and no records are kept of “visits” to ascertain paternity of children. Unknowingly a man may have intercourse with his daughter; no Na word for incest. Marriage

Na households and families are very diverse and flexible: Children stay with their mother’s households for their entire lives. Ideas of “motherhood” and “fatherhood” are fluid. There are no husbands or “daddies”; only males in a Na household are boy children born in the various generations. Kinship

Historically, within the patrilineal, patriarchal, and ancestor-worshipping structure of mainstream Han Chinese culture, the Na “visit” has been condemned as a “barbarous practice”. Intermittent attempts to persuade or compel the Na into “normal” sexual marriage, and kinship modes, have not been successful in assimilating the Na to mainstream Han Chinese values. Chinese public schools gradually induce shame among Na children for their cultural deviance, and their inability to name a father on their documents. As the Na enter a materially better and wider world, their “visit” ultimately faces extinction, leaving us less familiar with the wide variety of cultural patterns of marriage and family that serve as counterpoints to our own. Analyze and Reflect

Rules Every society has rules concerning mating and marriage

Incest Taboos- prohibition on sexual relations between relatives. Incest taboos effectively prohibit marriage among certain kin. Inbreeding Avoidance Theory- mating between close kin produces deficient, weak children and is genetically harmful to the species.

Bronislow Malinowski and Sigmund Freud believed the desire for sexual relations within the family is very strong. Malinowski argued that it was natural for sexual curiosity to be filled by family during adolescence. Familial incest taboos prevent disruptions of the family over sexual competition and promotes outbreeding and genetic variability.

Marriage links groups of kin together. Arranged Marriages: senior family members exercise a great degree of control over the choice of their children’s spouses. Based on kinship rules, ideals of family structure, culture values, property American Ideals: Marriage is based off of love, emotional compatibility. Economic situations are less important than true love

Two types of marriage rules, exogamy and endogamy, together work to define the acceptable range of marriage partners. Exogamy- a rule specifying that a person must marry outside a particular group. Endogamy- a rule prescribing that a person must marry within a particular group.

Hunting-and-gathering bands exchange and share women in order to live in peace with one another. In Northern India, a man must take a wife from outside his village. Through exogamy, the Indian village becomes a center in a kinship network that spreads over hundreds of villages.

Blood relations may be encouraged or required to marry in order to keep wealth and privileges intact. Racial groups and social classes in the United States tend to be endogamous.

The levirate is a custom whereby a man marries the widow of his deceased brother. The sororate is a custom whereby, when a man’s wife dies, her sister is given to him as a wife. The family of the wife can be assured that she will be cared for, should her husband pass. This is only fair if she has fulfilled her part of the marriage contract by providing domestic services and bearing children. If no brother or sister is available, another kin may be substituted. If no qualifying relative is available, the levirate/sororate will not take place.

All societies have rules about how many spouses a person may have at one time. Monogamy permits a person to be married to one spouse at any given time. Serial Monogamy is used to describe the subsequent remarriage in the U.S. A man or woman has one spouse at a time but, because of the ease of divorce, does not necessarily remain with that partner for life.

Polygamy- a rule allowing more than one spouse. Polygyny- a rule permitting a man to have more than one wife at a time. Polyandry- a rule permitting a woman to have more than one husband at a time. Out of 554 societies, 415 favored polygyny, 135 monogamy, and polyandry in only 4.

Found most characteristically in horticultural societies that have a high level of productivity. Sororal Polygyny- a form of polygyny in which a man marries sisters. A husband tries to equally distribute economic resources and sexual attentions among his wives to avoid conflict.

Fraternal Polyandry- a custom whereby a woman marries a man and his brothers. Different patterns of choosing a mate are closely related to other social and cultural patterns, such as kinship rules, ideals of family structure, transfer of property at marriage, and core cultural values, all of which are rooted in how people make a living.

American Marriages Marry for love, emotional choice Families have less of a hand in the Sexual compatibility or physical attractiveness are valued Arranged Marriages Marry for socioeconomic reasons Marry for family/community interests Men: economic rank Women: reproductive health Go-Between: Marriage broker with information about multiple families for choice American Marriage Arranged Marriage in India

Marriage is a publicly accepted relationship that gives sexual access of husband and wife to each other, and rights over any children born to the marriage.

Marriage is a union between families Rights or service exchange Gifts Job services Bride Service/ Bridewealth Bride Service: man must work for his bride’s family for a variable length of time before or after the marriage Bridewealth: Goods presented by the groom’s kin to the bride’s kin to legitimize the marriage Legitimizes husband’s economic, sexual, reproductive rights over his wife Limits but does not eliminate divorce

Kipsigis: pastoralist/horticultural society in East Africa Bridewealth is a payment of livestock and sometimes money at the time of marriage Marriages paid for by groom’s family Bridewealth negotiated by bride’s family Westerners perceive bridewealth as low status for women: BUYING a woman Kipsigis Women

A dowry is a presentation of goods by the bride’s kin to the groom’s family. This is less common than any other exchanges in marriage. This transfer of wealth is a woman’s share of inheritance. Used to set up a new family household, insurance in case the husband dies, or savings for children’s futures.

Voluntary gift that symbolizes daughter’s affection as she leaves home Source of security for a woman Transfer of sources to groom’s family for taking on economic burden of the daughter (upper-class women don’t work) Expensive beads sometimes used as a dowry

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