J. Pouwer Social structure in the Western interior of Sarmi (Northern Netherlands New Guinea): a response to a response. (Zie nr. 1552) In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 116 (1960), no: 3, Leiden, 365-372 This PDF-file was downloaded from http://www.kitlv-journals.nl Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 11:14:11AM via free access SOCIAL STRUCTURE IN THE WESTERN INTERIOR OF SARMI (NORTHERN NETHERLANDS NEW GUINEA): A RESPONSE TO A RESPONSE forthcoming article of mine,1 devoted principally to a discussion of New Guinea as a field for anthropological researchA, will link up with the admirable observations of a more general tenor by A. C. van der Leeden contained in a rejoinder to my review of his doctoral thesis.2 I wish here to go further into his reply con- cerning the interpretation of the data published in his thesis about the social structure of two tribes in the interior of Sarmi. In doing so I shall follow as far as possible the lines of his own exposition. Van der Leeden is of the opinion that, given the minimal stability in the composition of the local kin groups, nothing is contributed to their characterisation by calling them ambilateral ramages,3 and that no new element is thereby added to the interpretation. I think, how- ever, that something is indeed added. If we look at the situation from the point of view of lineal or bilineal descent, as does van der Leeden, then it will certainly give the impression of "structural looseness". But if, on the contrary, we approach it from the angle of non-unilineal descent, based on bilateral reckoning of kinship, with the continuity of the kin groups through the generations guaranteed by the aid of territorially-limited membership, then the conclusion is obvious that we are dealing with a peculiar type of structure; one which has moreover the merit of according excellently with an unstable demo- graphic, economic and territorial situation. An ambilineal system is flexible, and always permits change in the composition of the kin group, without thereby being describable as loose or incoherent. Furthermore, I should like to state 4 that I should equally seriously 1 This article will probably appear in the first 1961 issue of the Bijdragen. 2 "Social structure in New Guinea." Bijdragen tot de Taal-, land- en Volken- kunde, 116, 1960, pp. 119-149. 3 Van der Leeden, op. cit., p. 126, bottom. 4 I shall return to this subject in the article mentioned in footnote 1. Dl. 116 24 Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 11:14:11AM via free access 366 j. POUWER. take into account as factors in the definition of the degree of inte- gration in a culture, factors just as weighty as e.g. the operation of the principle of reciprocity, the extent to which the society succeeds in adapting itself to, makes use of, and maintains itself in a certain natural environment. An ambilineal system is in fact a system deserving a place next to a unilineal system; it is by no means simply a phenomenon of adapt- ation. Moreover, "being suited to" and "being adapted to" must nevertheless be clearly distinguished. The question of in what economic circumstances a unilineal system can appear, and in what circumstances another system, is in every way scientifically justified.5 I would deny that the concept of ambilineality rests on a quantitative analysis of genealogical material.6 It is not the case that we can straight- away speak of ambilineality whenever the total of deviations from the rule of unilineality greatly surpasses the number of confirmations of it. Such a situation can only be taken as a very useful signpost which permits the supposition that an ambilineal system probably exists. In this way the researcher arrives at a supposition, a hypothesis, which he then proceeds to test. No more may we rely simply on the importance of the sibling group, since this is a basic feature of every form of kinship organisation. In New Guinea, as van der Leeden correctly remarks, the sibling group has everywhere an especially important function in the realisation of the social structure. Exogamy and marriage regulations, for example, are frequently defined by the Papuans with reference to the sibling group. The material for testing referred to above must be sought in the totality of bilateral phenomena, expressed in the kinship ter- minology, criteria for membership of the kin group, and rules of inheritance, as well as in the importance of the sibling group discussed above and in the composition of the kin groups. Naturally, qualitative factors such as the ideas of the people themselves are at the same time 5 See Meyer Fortes, "The structure of unilineal descent groups", American Anthropologist, 55, 1953, p. 24: "it does seem that unilineal descent groups are not of significance among people who live in small groups, depend on a rudi- mentary technology and have little durable property... Where these groups are most in evidence is in the middle range of relatively homogeneous, pre- capitalistic economies in which there is some degree of technological sophis- tication and value is attached to rights in durable property." 6 Van der Leeden, op. cit, p. 127. Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 11:14:11AM via free access SOCIAL STRUCTURE IN THE WESTERN INTERIOR OF SARMI. 367 of great importance. It should be remarked, in this connexion, that I nevertheless attach great value to van der Leeden's own view, when he ascribes the indistinctness in the definition of the groups to the fact that the individual feels himself equally a member of both his father's and his mother's kin group. Does he refer to filiation or to descent ? If the structural significance of the bilateral phenomena has been thus assessed, an investigation can then be undertaken into the way in which the kin group is perpetuated through the generations. Is there, ideally and in practice, any choice possible? And is this choice precipitated in descent lines containing male as well as female persons ? Or does one belong automatically, as it were, to the kin group of the father and the father's father? In this connexion I should like em- phatically to call attention to the fact that one may only speak of unilineality or ambilineality when the corporate descent line comprises at least three generations. It is not permissible, then, to see the mother's brother-sister's son relationship, as van der Leeden does, as in itself an expression of an elementary matrilineal reckoning of kinship. This relationship derives from that between brother and sister; and this in its turn is among other things defined by the idea that the woman (sister) is an object in the exchange of women, while the man (her brother) constitutes a subject. Hence the fact that the mother's brother- sister's son relationship can be of great functional importance in either patrilineal or matrilineal systems, as well as in non-unilineal systems. Very many New Guinea societies are themselves telling examples of this. The phenomenon is thus not linked to a particular mode of reckoning descent, and cannot therefore be employed in itself as evidence for the existence of matrilineal descent. Van der Leeden thinks that I attribute patrilineal and matrilineal tendencies to the elasticity of the ambilineal framework.7 But this is not what I said. I merely wrote that the ambilineal framework leaves room for matrilineal and patrilineal tracing of descent within any one kin group. The explanation for these ways of tracing descent and of the tendencies which are presented in them must be sought elsewhere; e.g. patrilineal tracing in the factors named by van der Leeden, viz. a preference for patrilocal marriage together with the asymmetry of the sexes. With respect to matrilineal tracing of descent, a distinction must be drawn between tracing within the localised kin group and 7 op. cit., p. 131. Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 11:14:11AM via free access 368 j. POUWER. outside it. In the review I was referring to matrilineal tracing within the kin group, but expressed this unclearly. During research in eastern Vogelkop, where within an ambilineal structural framework a patrilineal tendency exists, I encountered a significant number of cases in which persons belonged to, and lived in the territory of, local kin group by reason of matrilineal descent. I should like to ask van der Leeden how he would try to explain this on the basis of a patrilineal or a bilineal system. I have related this phenomenon to bilateralism, to the flexibility peculiar to an ambilineal system, and to a particular demographic situation. When a group threatens to become too small, from the point of view of its continued existence, or is still too small, it keeps the married female members at home. The children of these women thus constitute part of the ramage, and increase the potential of the group. As the group expands, more and more women are married out to other places, and the lines of descent are masculinised. This is the case on the Anggi lakes. If the group remains small, however, then there is a good chance that a certain number of women will continue to be kept in the group. Thus one meets people who trace their descent from a founder in the matrilineal line. This is the case especially in the Arfak range. A matrilineal tracing of descent which leads outside the corporate kin group can indeed be attributed to the operation of circulating con- nubium through the generations.