Kinship Dynamics Explaining Culture Through Biology

Copyright © Pearson Education Canada 2004 The KEY Questions n How do cultures define kinship through descent? n How do cultures define kinship through marriage?

Copyright © Pearson Education Canada 2004 What is Kinship? n Sense of being related to another person(s) n Set by rules (sometimes laws) n Often taken for granted as being “natural” rather than cultural n Cultures define “blood” relatives differently n Provides a sense of solidarity and cohesion between individuals.

Copyright © Pearson Education Canada 2004 Kinship Characteristics female male deceased female deceased male female “ego” of the diagram male “ego” of the diagram

Copyright © Pearson Education Canada 2004 Kinship Relationships is married to is cohabiting with is divorced from is separated from adopted-in female adopted-in male is descended from Is the sibling of

Copyright © Pearson Education Canada 2004 Unilineal descent n Basis of kinship in 60% of world’s cultures n Most associated with pastoralism, horticulture and agricultural systems n Fulfills many functions, e.g. inheritance of land, co- operative work groups, regulates marriage, defines norms of reciprocity. n 65 % of unilineal groups are patrilineal, and the rest are matrilineal. n Unilineal descent groups are exogamous, i.e. marriage must occur outside the descent group.

Copyright © Pearson Education Canada 2004 Patrilineal Descent Found among 44% of all cultures Kinship is traced through the male line Males dominate position, power and property Girls are raised for marriage in other families Found in East and South Asia, Europe, and Middle East

Copyright © Pearson Education Canada 2004 Matrilineal Descent Found among 15% of all cultures Kinship is traced through the female line Women often control products: e.g. Iroquois. Found in the Pacific, Australia, small parts of Mediterranean coast Declining though contact with patrilineal groups

Copyright © Pearson Education Canada 2004 Bilineal Descent n Descent is traced equally from both parents n Married couples live away from their parents n Inheritance is allocated equally between siblings n Dominant in foraging and industrial cultures

Copyright © Pearson Education Canada 2004 Marriage n Cultures define marriage differently –Rules of exclusion and inclusion: endogamy and exogamy. Endogamy may apply to a lineage, an ethnic group, a class, or a ‘tribe’ –Generalized exchange: women move in one direction, goods in another. –Marriage and kinship are social categories, e.g. among the Igbo, women can become social ‘fathers’ if they pay brideprice. –Major groups within which marriage is prohibited includes lineages and clans. –Lineages are unilineal descent groups in which a common ancestor can be traced; clans consist of several lineages and are larger; exact descent cannot be traced.