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Seven Aboriginal Marriage Systems and Their Correlates Ian Keen Western University Scholarship@Western Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi) 2002 Seven Aboriginal marriage systems and their correlates Ian Keen Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/aprci Part of the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Citation of this paper: Keen, Ian, "Seven Aboriginal marriage systems and their correlates" (2002). Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi). 336. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/aprci/336 This article was downloaded by: [University of Western Ontario] On: 20 December 2012, At: 11:32 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Anthropological Forum: A Journal of Social Anthropology and Comparative Sociology Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/canf20 Seven Aboriginal marriage systems and their correlates Ian Keen Version of record first published: 09 Jun 2010. To cite this article: Ian Keen (2002): Seven Aboriginal marriage systems and their correlates, Anthropological Forum: A Journal of Social Anthropology and Comparative Sociology, 12:2, 145-157 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/006646702320622770 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.tandfonline.com/page/ terms-and-conditions This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Downloaded by [University of Western Ontario] at 11:32 20 December 2012 Anthropological Forum, Vol. 12, No. 2, 2002 Seven Aboriginal marriage systems and their correlates IAN KEEN Introduction This paper outlines patterns of kin classi® cation and marriage in seven regions of Australia. It considers the implications of differences in those patterns for such features of economy and society as levels of polygyny, the structure and dynamics of country groups, the form of exchange networks and, very brie¯ y, cosmologies and the roles of religious leaders. The analysis demonstrates certain associations between modes of kin classi® cation and organisational forms such as moieties. Finally, the paper draws conclusions about the environmental and institutional conditions for differences in `levels’ of polygynous marriage, as well as their political and economic consequences. Comparative studies of Aboriginal kinship and marriage have been rather restricted in scope. In his classic studies, A. R. Radcliffe-Brown (1913, 1930± 31) looked for associations between forms of kin classi® cation and marriage rules, while Le vi-Strauss’s (1969) typology of marriage exchange systems de® nes exchange somewhat narrowly. Other comparative studies have concentrated on kinship semantics (Schef¯ er 1978) or modelled systems of kinship and marriage as relations among patri® lial groups (Turner 1980). Hamilton’s (1980) exploration of the wider social implications of differences in marriage systems is limited to a comparison between the eastern Western Desert and Arnhem Land. This paper attempts to broaden the range of comparison. The seven cases (Table 1) display immediate contrasts in a number of dimensions. First, they relate to very different environments and resources. Second, the cases represent contrasting culture-areas and language families, both Pama-Nyungan and non-Pama-Nyungan. Third, they sample contrasting social organisational elements, from patri-moieties and patri-groups to gender totems Downloaded by [University of Western Ontario] at 11:32 20 December 2012 and generation moieties. These are not bounded societies, and not all their names have the same status, but I use them to identify distinct local `systems’. The broader study on which this paper is based shows that, in spite of differences in ecology and technology, the basics of the organisation of produc- tion and distribution were similar in the seven regions, while kinship and marriage, cosmology, and the ownership of land and waters varied. Differences in marriage bear a strong relationship to some of the differences in the structure of what Sutton (1999) calls `country groups’ and exchange systems, feeding back into the organisation of production, as well as exchange. ISSN 0066-4677 print/ISSN 1469-2902 online/02/020145-13 DOI: 10.1080/006646702200001443 5 Ó 2002 Department of Anthropology, The University of Western Australia 146 ANTHROPOLOGICAL FORUM Table 1. Peoples and environmentsa Population People Region Environment density Kuà nai (Pama- Gippsland Temperate, high year-round High: c. 1 person Nyungan) rainfall; resources of forests, per 2.5± 12 km2 rivers, lakes, estuaries and coast Yuwaaliyaay and Barwon-Darling Semi-arid, very variable Medium low/ neighbours (Pama- River rainfall; resources of low: c. 1 person Nyungan) savannah grassland, per 30± 60 km2 woodland, rivers and lakes Pitjantjatjara and Eastern Western Arid zone; low, unreliable Very low: c. 1 neighbours (Pama- Desert rainfall; resources of sandhills person per Nyungan) and spinifex 80± 100 km2 Sandbeach (Umpila, Eastern Cape Tropical monsoon climate, Very high: c. 1 Kuuku-Ya’u, etc.) York Peninsula high summer rainfall; person per 2.5± 3 (Pama-Nyungan) resources of rainforest, km2 rivers, coast and sea Wiilman/Minong South coast of Mediterranean climate, fairly Medium low: c. 1 Å (Pama-Nyungan) Southwest high winter rainfall; resources person per 25± 50 Australia of heathland, rivers, estuaries km2 (hinterland), and coast higher on coast Ngarinyin and their Northwest Tropical monsoon climate; Medium neighbours (non- Kimberley resources of rugged (hinterland) to Pama-Nyungan, uplands, woodland, rivers, high (coast): c. 1 Worrorran family) grassland, estuaries, coast person per 10± 25 and sea km2 Yolngu (Pama- Northeast Tropical monsoon climate; High/very high: Nyungan) Arnhem Land resources of forests, rivers, c. 1 person per swamps, lakes, estuaries, 4± 6 km2; 0.5 km2 coast and sea in some localities aThe population estimates are derived from discussions in Hotchin (1990) (Kuà nai); Allen (1972) (Yuwaaliyaay); Gould (1969, 1980:69) (Pitjantjatjara and their neighbours); Chase (1980:157) (Sandbeach); Bird (1985:126), Le SoueÈ f (1993:52) (Wiil/Minong); Kaberry (1939) Å (Ngarinyin and neighbours); Thomson (1937± 38), Warner (1937:157) (Yolngu). Downloaded by [University of Western Ontario] at 11:32 20 December 2012 Types of kinship and marriage systems The systems of kinship and marriage of the seven case studies sort quite well into four types according to the general form of the kin classi® cation, listed in the following sections. These systems share certain features (Schef¯ er 1978). According to what Radcliffe-Brown referred to as `the equivalence of siblings’, a parent’s sibling of the same sex is referred to by the same term as that parent, so that one’s mother’s sister is a `mother’ and a father’s brother is one’s `father’. SEVEN ABORIGINAL MARRIAGE SYSTEMS 147 Consequently, one’s mother’s sister’s child is one’s `brother’ or `sister’, and so on. This equivalence rami® es through the system: one’s mother’s mother’s sister is one’s `mother’s mother’, and so on. A related feature shared among the terminologies is a pattern of `bifurcate- merging’ in the parents’ generations: one’s parent’s same-sex siblings are termino- logically equivalent to that parent, but one’s father’s sister is of a category distinct from one’s mother and her sisters, and one’s mother’s brother is distinguished from one’s father and father’s brothers. However, the systems differed in many other ways. `Hawaiian’ terminologies Kuà nai and Yuwaaliyaay shared a relatively simple system of kin classi® cation with `Hawaiian’ or generational features in Ego’s generation (Ives 1998:100) and, in the Kuà nai system, the child’s generation as well. All relatives in one’s own generation were `brothers’ and `sisters’, but differentiated by relative age. (On Kuà nai kin classi® cation and marriage, see Bulmer 1994, n.d.:18; Fison & Howitt 1880:199 ± 204; Howitt 1904; Schef¯ er 1978:111± 112; Smyth 1878:46; Thomas 1860. On Yuwaaliyaay and related systems, see Austin et al. 1980; Fison & Howitt 1880:42± 49; Howitt 1904:217; Parker 1905:12, 15, 55± 56, 81; Ridley 1875; Teulon, in Curr 1886± 1887:196.) Kuà nai and Yuwaaliyaay marriage systems differed, however. A Kuà nai person was supposed to marry a distantly related `brother’ or `sister’, of a different residence group and patri® lial guardian totem. While some father± daughter and brother± sister bestowal was practised, many marriages apparently had the form of institutionalised elopement; a young couple typically took the opportunity of a large ceremony to abscond. Marriage exchanges sometimes occurred between brother± sister pairs, and it is apparent from the marriage network (reconstructed from Howitt’s account of marriages between
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