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1997

Tibetan Fraternal Polyandry: A Review of its Advantages and Breakdown

Jeff Willett

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Willett, Jeff, "Tibetan Fraternal Polyandry: A Review of its Advantages and Breakdown" (1997). Nebraska Anthropologist. 113. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nebanthro/113

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Jeff Willett

·Polyandry is primarily selected caused by the younger brothers of the not for bread and butter motives - household, because of unhappiness fear of starvation in a difficult with their , their lower environment - but rather primarily reproductive success than older for the Tibetan equivalent of brothers, a desire for personal oysters, champagne, and social autonomy, and difficulty in maintaining a esteem.- Melvyn C. Goldstein (1978). large household. Goldstein (1981) also finds that brothers are more likely to The fraternal polyandry leave polyandrous when relationship of is widely considered unexpected economic opportunities to be a means of preventing the division arise. of a 's resources among its male heirs. As a family resource preservation Tibetan Fraternal Polyandry strategy, Tibetan polyandry Fraternal polyandry is the accomplishes the same goal of the preferred form of marriage among the European stem family system, but in a culturally Tibetan villages where Levine very different way. Researchers have and Goldstein based their studies. The suggested that polyandry developed in Tibetan's own explanations for the Tibet, because it provides a household practice of polyandry are materialistic. with enough male laborers to fully They claim that a strategy of fraternal exploit the marginal agricultural lands in polyandry preserves the productive the Himalayas, that it serves as a resources of their family units across means of population control, or that it generations (Goldstein 1978). serves as a way of reducing tax Throughout pre-Chinese occupied Tibet, obligations to feudal Tibetan lords. A polyandry was considered the preferred more convincing explanation why form of marriage among agricultural Tibetan polyandry is practiced is upper class peasants, landholding provided by Nancy E. Levine. She aristocrats, and priest households claims that polyandry provides a (Levine 1988:158). The practice of household with a large labor force, polyandry is so common that in the enabling the family to pursue village of Nyinba, landholding simultaneous and extensive involvement households with two or more sons enter in the three different sectors of the into a polyandrous marriage 100 percent Tibetan economy: , herding, of the time (Levine 1988:143). Only and trading (1988). Since Tibetan Nyinba's landless former slaves avoid polyandry provides such important polyandry when there are two or more economic advantages to households, brothers. one can assume that the reasons for the In a polyandrous family, the dissolution of polyandrous marriages eldest brother is the dominant authority are largely for individual interests. member. The eldest brother is Levine (1981) and Melvyn C. Goldstein responsible for finding a and for (1981) find that the of making arrangements for bride-price polyandrous marriages is usually and the ceremony. Control of the family estate is passed from the

96 former household head to the eldest son ideals (Levine 1988:159). A strong soon after the marriage. As the head of undivided household not only leads to the household, the eldest brother is benefits for the family, it also leads to considered the final authority in all stronger village viability. Stronger family decision making (Levine households are able to meet collective 1988:115). He determines the obligations such as payment of food allocation of cash, makes decisions during public rituals, occasional about involvement in agriculture, communal labor, better defense of herding and trading, and serves as the infringement on their lands, and family representative in village political govemment obligations (Levine gatherings. 1988:184). Upon marriage, all of the eldest Tibetan polyandry leads to more brother's younger brothers (including powerful households by preventing possible unbom brothers) become co­ multiple heirs from dividing family to the wife. Tibetan society resources. All male offspring of the stresses sexual access and equity for all polyandrous union replicate the of the co-husbands once they reach household structure of their maturity (Levine 1988:151). The eldest instead of each brother draining off brother generally concedes much of his estate resources through monogamous sexual access to the wife once his marriages. Poor soil fertility, lack of younger brothers mature. Sexual irrigation waters, and slope conditions preference is also generally shown for are severe constraints to agricultural brothers who have been away from the production in the Himalayas (Berreman village on trading trips or who have 1978). The Tibetan villages studied by taken the herds to distant pasturage Levine and Goldstein have opened up when they retum to the household all possible lands to agricultural (Levine 1988:164). production. Dividing a household's In Tibetan polyandry, it is limited agricultural lands among male important for both the wife and the co­ heirs would quickly lead to non-viable husbands to participate in sexual plot sizes and associated losses in relationships. who deny sexual economic and social status (Goldstein access to their husbands are considered 1976). troublemakers, threatening the stability Multiple male heirs would also of the polyandrous union. Husbands split up family herds, making an who refuse to enter into or maintain individual family more wlnerable to sexual relations with their wives have herd depopulation through disease, renunciated potential marriage claims drought, and theft. Luxury items such (Levine 1988:151). as jewelry, fumiture, saddles, etc. are In addition, brothers in also held intact in polyandrous polyandrous marriages are expected to marriages. Stores of these items cooperate in household activities to represent a household's savings maximize its economic, social, and account which can be sold during political standing. Brothers often difficult economic times. specialize in one of the three major aspects of Tibetan economy: Polyandry and the Stem Family agriculture, herding, and long distance Researchers have shown how trade. The co-husbands are also Tibetan polyandry accomplished similar responsible for cooperating with child goals to the stem family system of care and household maintenance Europe and Japan (Goldstein 1978, activities. In short, solidarity among the Levine 1988). The prevention of brothers is at the core of Tibetan dividing a family's resources among

97 male heirs was also the goal of pre­ him unable to manage it effectively. modem European societies. The stem This led to lengthy delays to marriage as family strategy developed in European older sons had to wait until they societies had much different controlled enough of the estate to afford mechanisms for accomplishing this goal a family of their own. than the Tibetan strategy of fratemal Younger brothers and sisters polyandry. The system kept an estate's had even more troubles. Netting (1981) resources intact by allowing only one found high levels of bachelorhood and male child per generation to marry spinsters in the community, many of (Levine 1988:132). In the stem family whom were allowed to remain on the system, or ultimogeniture family estate as laborers. The brothers was practiced to pass the family estate helped out with agricultural activities to only one male offspring. Levine while their sisters often maintained the outlines the four components of the household and cared for elderly parents. stem family system: 1) Only one person It was very difficult for younger brothers assumes headship of the estate, 2) to make a living on their own within the Non-successors must seek their living community, and in tum, many left the elsewhere, 3) Impartible inheritance village to try and find their fortunes maintains the estate; and 4)The estate elsewhere. continues over generations. Tibetan polyandry maintains the estate with Explanations for Tibetan Polyandry impartible inheritance and helps ensure Many researchers have tried to that the estate survives over determine why Tibetans adopted generations,_ but it allows all male _polyandry, with its possible problems of offspring to share in the economic sexual among co-husbands opportunities of the household. and reduced male fertility, rather than Robert Netting provides an the stem family system of European excellent example of the stem family communities like Torbel. These system in his study of Torbel, a Swiss researchers have suggested that the mountain community (Netting 1981). marginal agricultural lands of the Torbel faces many of the ecological Himalayas required a number of male constraints faced by the Tibetan laborers to provide an adequate communities studied by Levine and subsistence base for a household, and Goldstein. Lack of fertile soils and without this large labor force household irrigation, high slopes, and rocky soils members would be reduced to limited the amount of land which could "beggary-. The benefits of polyandry as be converted to agricultural production. a means of population control and a way These limitations also prevented to ease the tax burdens of landholding potential heirs from converting "virgin­ households have also been proposed. lands to agricultural production to However, none of these explanations facilitate the creation of new are sufficiently supported by the Tibetan households. communities in which Levine and In Torbel, primogeniture gave Goldstein conducted their research. control of the family estate to the eldest Jesuit Ippolito Desideri, who son. Unlike the Tibetan system where lived in Lhasa in the early eighteenth the eldest son gained control of the century, summed up early opinions on estate upon marriage, residents of the reason for Tibetan polyandry: Torbel were forced to wait as the gradually gave up control of the family "One reason for this most odius custom estate. The father may not give up total is the sterility of the soil, and the small control of the estate until old age made amount of land that can be cultivated

98 owing to the lack of water. The crops lucrative as remaining within the may suffice if the brothers all live polyandrous household. Levine's study together, but if they form separate of Nyinba shows that many can families they would be reduced to utilize additional laborers as shepherds beggary.w (OeFilippi 1937, cited in Goldstein 1978) or extra hands during peak agricultural periods. Throughout history, the Gerald D. Berreman presents landless populations of Tibet have infonnation to support this argument supported themselves through wage labor, craft making, and servitude ~1978). Berreman claims that polyandry IS a strategy which maximizes the ratio (Goldstein 1978). Brothers leaving polyandrous marriages could have of ~ec:>ple to resources. Polyandry maxJmlZes the adult labor force in order pursUed any of these activities. to fully utilize or expand agricultural While there may be economic lands. 8erreman contends that this opportunities for brothers who partition large labor force is required in the from polyandrous marriages at the Himalayas where conditions make individual level, the practice of polyandry agricultural production very difficult. protects interests at the group level. 8erreman's argument does not Polyandry has been shown to be an fit Tibetan society where women effective mechanism for population represent the majority of agricultural control within Tibetan communities labor. Levine notes that males are (Goldstein 1981, Levine 1988, Crook responsible for labor intensive and Crook 1988). Goldstein has shown agricultural activities such as plOwing, that a shift to would increase planting, building and maintaining the population of one Tibetan terrace walls and irrigation systems and community by sixteen percent. This threshing (Levine 1978:207). Wo~n, increase would create major stresses on on the other hand, perfonn tasks which the region's ability to support the are much more time consuming, such population (Goldstein 1976). The as clearing fields of stones and brush consequent stresses of population weeding, applying compost, and growth may be enough to reduce the processi.ng foods. As an example, a majority of the community to poverty field. which can be planted in one day conditions. Levine supports this by requires from five to sixteen days of showing that residents of Nyinba weeding. The former slaves which were understand the population control kept by Nyinban households were used ben~fits of polyandry (Levine 1988). to help with agricultural and domestic ReSidents of the community discourage the breakup of polyandrous marriages, a~vities a single wife couldn't keep up with. With these facts in mind, because of the strain that monogamous would appear to be a better strategy marriage and its associated increase in than polyandry if the goal is to maximize population puts on the community as a agricultural labor in Tibetan societies. whole. Goldstein also disagrees with the Goldstein has also argued that "beggary" argument. Younger brothers the development of polyandry was who split from polyandrous families and largely the result of tax responsibilities receive little or no arable lands are able to feudal lords (cited in Pasternak to find other ways to make a living and Ember ~nd Ember 1997). Among th~ are not reduced to beggary (Goldstein landholding serfs, feudal obligations 1978). Labor shortages in Tibet were imposed on households rather provided an economic alternative to tha~ individuals. Through polyandry, a agriculture, although it was not as family would be able to pool its labor and economic resources to satisfy these

99 obligations. If the family were to break distance trading seems to have been apart into several smaller units, each completely absent from the Torbel would have to satisfy the same economy. obligations as before with fewer Nancy Levine suggests that resources. Levine says that rather than polyandry is the most effective way for a being fooled by this "tax dodging" household to juggle agriculture, herding, strategy, the Tibetan authorities and trade, because it provides a encouraged polyandry among the household with a large labor force able landholding estates as a way of to pursue simultaneous and extensive maximizing the household's economic involvement in the different economic efficiency (Levine 1988). This in tum led sectors (Levine 1988:82). In to greater stability throughout Tibet and polyandrous marriages, brothers are more revenue for the govemmenl able to specialize in one of the three Although this argument may be economic aspects. This specialization the reason households adopted is encouraged and leads to greater polyandry in the past, it does not explain retums for the household (Levine why it continues. The feudal system 1988:237). Larger polyandrous ended well before the Chinese households also have greater flexibility occupation of Tibet in the 1950's, yet which can protect them during periods families continued to practice polyandry. of low retum in one of the three areas. Levine even found that former slaves As an example, Levine describes how . who never practiced polyandry in the many polyandrous households were past are beginning to adopt it today able to invest more resources in long (Levine 1988). distance trade during periods of declining agricultural yields in the early Tibetan Polyandry eighties. Brothers, rather than hired and Economic Specialization 'laborers, are the only individuals who Nancy Levine presents the most can be entrusted with estate resources. convincing explanation for the This trust is especially important in long development of fratemal polyandry and distance trade where men take a great its continued practice in contemporary deal of the household's resources and Tibetan society: the ability of are away from the community for much polyandrous households to maximize of the year. It is interesting to note that productivity from the three major Nyinban society does not allow non­ aspects of the Tibetan economy (Levine fratemal polyandry, which may be the 1988). The Tibetan alpine economy is result of the inefficiencies and mistrust made up of agriculture, long distance of these relationships. trading, and herding (in that order of In the Tibetan region, each major importance). Unlike the stem family component of the economy offers a system of Europe in which agriculture viable source of income, but agriculture was the dominant economic activity of is the central fixture of Tibetan life both the stem households, Tibetans can economically and symbolically (Levine pursue one of three economic 1988). An estate's first priority is to strategies. In Netting's study of Torbel, productively utilize its agricultural lands families devoted almost all of their labor to satisfy subsistence needs. As resources toward agricultural production mentioned earlier, women supply the (Netting 1981). Families only kept two majority of agricultural labor throughout or three cows to provide dairy products, much of the year. Men, however, are rather than accumulating large herds. responsible for labor intensive activities Few animals required little labor from during peak periods of the agricultural the , wife or children. Long cycle. Male labor is required from

lOO March, when the fields are prepared for is the least desirable aspect of the the year's first millet crops, to Tibetan economy. Wealthy families December, when bariey is sown. During often hire men to maintain their herds or this time men are responsible for sOwing give the task to an otherwise all of the family's crops, for construction uunproductive" brother (Levine of walls and .irrigation canals, and for 1988:226). Owning herds provides irrigating the fields. several resources for Tibetan Uke the Swiss community of households: manure, butter, milk, meat, Torbel, Tibetans follow a strategy which and pack animals for long distance utilizes' the miao-niches of alpine trading. Despite its benefits, the risk of agriculture. An estate's agriO"lItural herding makes it less attractive than plots are generally widely dispersed, agricultural production. Residents of often miles from the house, in order to Umi told Uland doesn't capitalize on variations of sunlight, die the way animals do" (1978). rainfall, and soils. These variations Males are responsible for the permit a wider variety of crops to be majority of animal husbandry activities, grown and helps reduce the risk of crop other than the preparation and failures due to climatic shocks. application of manure to the fields. Because of limitations of soil quality, Levine stresses the importance Nyinba slope, etc., the plots are rarely larger agriculturists place on applying manure than one quarter of an acre. This leads to fields. This strategy helps replenish to problems of dis-economies of scale nutrients of double cropped and (Levine 1988:211). The small, widely marginal soils. Levine says that dispersed plots lead to a great deal of Nyinban households which cannot travel time each day for both men and afford herds of their own collect manure women who need to work in several left on the roads. In order to gain fields. It also means that a man may access to as much manure as possible, spend most of one month traveling to wealthy families without labor to spare each small plot of land to plant that for herding hire men to take care of their season's crop. This activity could be herds. finished in a couple of days if the plots Animal husbandry also provides were consolidated. a very important component of Tibetan A household's dietary success is diet and culture - butter. Butter is often often related to how well it can fully required for many civil and religious exploit each small plot of land. Nyinban celebrations, especially . The households which understand the average yak produces eight kilograms of diversity of the miao-niches are able to butter each summer. Nyinban grow vegetables such as turnips, households keep around two kilograms potatoes, peas, cucumbers, pumpkin, for their personal consumption and use and squash (Levine 1988:214). These the rest as a trading commodity. The households have a wider diversity in widespread lack of butter in other parts diet, and probably exhibit better health. of Tibet and make it one of the Small amounts of soybeans, amaranth, most profitable trade goods for lentils, and kidney beans are also households. Obviously, the more produced by the more adept livestock a household has the more agriculturists and are used primarily for butter is available for trade. trading. Households which lack this Households which are able to agricultural fmesse are limited to maintain larger herds have more access producing the staple crops of to both milk and meat, and have greater buckwheat, barley, millet and radishes. diversity in diet. Milk and meat In contrast to agriculture, herding consumption is highest during the

101 autumn and winter. In the autumn, After a month of rest, the trading season traders retum with sheep obtained in begins again. Tibet and several are usually Trading, as opposed to slaughtered for celebrations. In the agriculture and herding, directly benefits winter months, pasture lands are scarce from each additional labor input. The and cattle are kept near the village and more pack animals a household can fed hay. During this time it is much load with trade goods the greater their easier to provide a household with milk. retums can be. Similar1y, the more Herding also provides pack villages a trading group can reach the animals for the last aspect of Tibetan greater the retums. Additional males economy, long distance trading. Long help control larger herd sizes and allow distance trade appears to have figured the trading group to split up to reach in the Tibetan-Nepalese economy for different communities. While there is a centuries (Levine 1988:215). It serves clear relationship between the number as the only way for relatively isolated of traders and profits, success in trading and environmentally restricted also depends largely on the skills and Himalayan communities to gain access interests of the individual men (Levine to a wide variety of resources. Although 1988:222). trading can be the most lucrative aspect Participation in trading allows of the economy, it is almost necessarily households to actiieve what Goldstein the last avenue pursued. Households (1978) describes as the "Tibetan must first focus on agriculture and then equivalent of oysters, champagne, and build up a sizable number of available social esteem.· Successful traders pack animals before being able to enter bring home tremendous amounts of . into trading. Since the second or third food which improve their diet and can be brother can engage in long distance used to sponsor lavish feasts. On the trading, it is a luxury that polyandry and trade routes, wealthy households are its co-resident male laborers make able to purchase high status jewelry, attainable. manufactured goods, and clothing Trading is virtually a year round items. Households which don't engage occupation which is performed in trade suffer from diminished social exclusively by males. In Nyinba, the status. These estates cannot sponsor trading season begins in June when feasts and must borrow or buy rice for men travel into Tibet and acquire salt weddings and funerals. Households with the promise that it will be paid for with similar landholdings and agricultural with grain after the harvest. Until production will have very different November, the traders remain near the economic standings if one engages in Humla valley where they trade salt and trade and the other does not (Levine other goods such as cattle, butter, and 1988:223). wool. In December, the traders Long distance trade readily generally return to Nyinba with accommodates changes in household provisions for weddings before heading size. Households may enter and leave south for the winter salt trade. The trading from generation to generation winter journey takes the traders across depending on the availability of male Nepal to the border of where they labor (Levine 1988:224). In this way, trade salt for rice. Travel is slow as the trading is ideally suited to a polyandrous traders take advantage of available household system. It is easy to sell off grazing lands during the journey. excess animals when male labor is Finally, in May the men retum from the lacking and purchase them when more south with rice to provision another males are available. Land, on the other series of weddings and celebrations. hand, is almost never bought and sold

102 making agricuJturai expansion nearly benefits. First of all, it prevents the impossible. division of the family estate similar to the Trade is also very adaptable to stem family system of Europe. Unlike changing economic conditions. After the stem family system, polyandry the Chinese occupation of Tibet, allows a household to maximize its Nyinba traders were unable to cross the involvement in the three aspects of the border to trade for the salt necessary for Tibetan economy. This in tum leads to the rice trade in the south. During this greater social and political status for the period of reduced trading opportunities, household members. Polyandry also households focused more heavily on provides a flexible system that can shift agricultural production and animal its resources to adjust to major husbandry. When trade in Tibet was economic and environmental changes. made possible again, households Despite all of these benefits, quickly reorganized to accommodate the some brothers in polyandrous marriages salt-grain trade. The opposite occurred choose to leave the marriage and try to in the early 1980's when a series of bad make it on their own. Generally, it is the harvests devastated agricultural younger brothers who are responsible production and households had a for the break up of polyandrous greater reliance on long distance trade marriages (Levine and Silk 1997). for food needs. Clearly, there are situations in which The interrelationships between individual interests outweigh the desire the three aspects of the Tibetan to maintain the family estate and its economy suggest why polyandry is the associated socio-economic benefits. favored form of household organization. Levine and Goldstein offer several With three or more brothers, conditions which may lead a younger polyandrous households are able to brother to break up a polyandrous specialize in each of the three economic marriage including the conflicts of a sectors and pool their resources for the large household, lower reproductive benefit of the estate. In alpine success, less personal autonomy, a lack agriculture, with its microniche of satisfaction with an older wife, and environments, this specialization is new economic opportunities. critical. Households which are able to In a study of the Nyinba fully utilize their plots to grow trade community, Nancy Levine and Joan Silk goods such as lentils and soybeans are found that the probability of brothers contributing to an increase in overall partitioning from polyandrous marriages socio-economic status. Having a full increases in households with more male time animal husbandry specialist is also (1997). Marriages with four important. A specialist maximizes the husbands ended in partition 58% of the number and quality of livestock. As a time, those with three husbands result, a household will have more butter partitioned 25% of the time, and and wool available for trade and will be households with two husbands able to contribute more meat to partitioned only 10% of the time. community feasts. Trade requires an Households which partitioned had an almost year round commitment and average of 3.9 brothers, while those specialized skills in bargaining and which remained intad had an average managing pack animals. of 2.9 brothers. Levine and Silk believe that larger marital units may be more The Partition prone to internal conflicts. All of the of Polyandrous Marriages brothers must cooperate together and Polyandry seems to provide maintain an effective relationship for the Tibetan households with a number of marriage to last. With a greater number

103 of personalities in the household, husbands (1988). Often when the cooperative relationships become more younger brothers complain, they are told difficult They also cite sociobiological that the wife is just molding them explanations which state that a greater according to her desires, and when they number of co-husbands leads to a grow up they will be her favorites. further reduction of a male's Despite this possibility, younger reproductive opportunities. Finally, husbands may resent their wife's sexual may also lead to greater or feel uncomfortable around conflicts with more males competing for her after years of teaSing. the same wife. Disparity in age between Levine and Silk (1997) also cite husbands and wives is directly related to the influence of age differences between the birth order of the husbands. Since husbands and wives in the partitioning authority in polyandrous marriages rests of polyandrous marriages. Elder with the eldest brother, the youngest brothers generally marry at age 20, and brothers would have a difficult time they find a wife an average of 3.8 years pursuing any of their own interests. The younger than themselves. Typically, all elder brother often determines how they other brothers are younger than their will serve the household, and what wife. The third brother is typically seven economic tasks they will undertake. years younger than the wife, and the Free-spirited younger brothers may fourth brother is typically ten years prefer to escape from the control of their younger. This disparity in age between older brothers and fend for themselves the brothers and the wife is directly outside the estate. Levine and Silk related to the partitioning of the (1997) found that second brothers marriages. The younger a brother is initiated 22% of partitions and conjoint than his wife, the more likely he is to marriages, and men bom later in the initiate the partition of the marriage. birth order initiated around 38%. Levine and Silk (1997) suggest Levine and Silk (1997) also cite that men married to older women may the lower reproductive success of the find them to be less physically attractive, younger husbands as a reason for less satisfying sexually, and less leaving the polyandrous marriage. In satisfying companions. The researchers Nyinban society, determination of show that men who arrange new patemity is critical to membership in the marriages after leaving the polyandrous kinship system (Levine 1988:38). It is union almost always many a woman usually the wife's responsibility to younger than their first wife. On determine the patemity of her children average men forming new marriages and she uses a number of methods for leave wives 5.7 years older, and many this. First, Nyinban women believe they women 3.6 years younger than are most fertile during the second week themselves. of their menstrual cycle. The man who Levine also shows that wives has intercourse with her during this time often take an active role in raising their is the prime candidate for being the younger husbands (1988). The father. Long distance trading, and travel Westermark effect may have a strong to distant pasturelands also limits the influence on the dissatisfaction of the possibilities of certain husbands having marriage. Younger brothers may view fathered the children. Finally, the their wife as more of a or sister physical appearance of the child can figure than a spouse, and therefore, will determine its patemity, it is even be unsatisfied with the marriage. possible for the society at large to Levine describes how wives may change the patemity designations of tease or even their younger children if their appearance resembles a

104 different husband. Melvyn Goldstein stresses that At the beginning of the marriage, polyandrous marriages are more likely the eldest brother has an obvious to split when brothers are presented reproductive advantage over his with profitable economic alternatives younger, less mature siblings. Levine (1978). During the Chinese occupation and Silk (1997) found that 67% of first of Tibet in 1959, thousands of refugees born children of the polyandrous left Tibet and fled to India and Nepal. marriage were attributed to the eldest Many of the pastoral nomads of the brother. The eldest brother had also Lake Manasarawa region of Tibet fled produced more children than any other into Umi. Umi is at the end of the alpine brother prior to the termination of steppe ecozone which was necessary to polyandrous marriages. Men who support the nomad's sheep and yak actively pursued the partition of the herds. Unable to take them any further, marriage produced .04 children per year the nomads were forced to sell their of marriage after their 18th birthdays. herds to Umi households at a very Men who remained in the marriages cheap price or abandon them produced an average of .1 children per completely. The sudden abundance of year. livestock encouraged the fission of Levine and Silk (1997) suggest polyandrous households by many that younger brothers may be denied younger brothers during this time. sexual access to the wife by their older After the border of Tibet was brothers. This follows sociobiological opened once again to Umi traders, the motives that encourage males to Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal maximize their own fitness. The offered a large market for trade. Tibetan researchers also suggest that younger jewelry, crafts, and wooden eating and brothers may deliberately avoid sexual drinking bowls were in high demand relations with the wife to facilitate their among the refugees. Umi traders were eventual split from the household. This able to make a large profit with very little makes economic sense because males economic investment during this trade. who father sons with the common wife This too has led to an increase in the are required to leave a share of his frequency in marriage partitions by property behind for them. younger brothers who could maintain Another explanation may come their socio-economic status outside the from the economic roles pursued by the polyandrous marriage by relying solely brothers in polyandrous marriages. on trade. Since agricultural production is the first Males, who decide to fission economic sector to be explOited and has from polyandrous marriages because of the highest status, it is likely that the personal interests, often find it elder brother is generally in charge of it. impossible to survive only on their share The importance of economic of the estate's resources (Levine 1988). specialization has been mentioned. While Tibetan law ensures that each Thus, it would be reasonable that brother will gain an equal share of the younger brothers would focus on the estate if they decide to partition, this is trading or herding sectors. Both herding usually not the case. Leaving a and trading require men to be absent polyandrous marriage is a risky from the community for extended undertaking, because the partitioning periods of time. If the elder brothers males have no idea exactly how much remain in the household year round to of the estate they will eventually receive engage in agricultural activities, they (Levine and Silk 1997). The elder would have greater sexual access to the brother, who wishes to see the wife. polyandrous marriage remain intad and

lOS is supported by the community as a availability of cheap livestock or while, decides what resources the lucrative trading opportunities, will partitioner will take with him (Levine encourage brothers to split from 1988). Partitioners may be given the polyandrous marriages and the family worst agricultural la1ds or older, less estate. valuable animals. The family may also Finally, it is clear that when the decide that the partitioner only has economic opportunities which Goldstein rights to an equal share of his father's describes do not become available, lands, an amount which is much smaller forming a new household can be very than a share of the estate as a whole. risky for partitioning males. Despite As a final deterrent to partitioning, males having the right to an equal share of the are required to leave portions of their family estate, they are often given shares behind for any sons they have smaller or less productive shares of the fathered in the marriage. estate's resources. These brothers have few legal options for obtaining Conclusion larger or more productive shares While Tibetan polyandry and the because the community often views European stem family system their actions as a threat to community accomplish the same goals of stability. preventing the division of a family estate, they do so in very different ways. Traditional explanations for Tibetan REFERENCES CITED polyandry describe it as a way that a household can provide enough male Berreman, Gerald D. laborers for agricultural production, that 1978 Ecology, Demography and Domestic a population can be controlled, or that Strategies in the Western Himalayas. tax obligations can be accomodated for Joum81 of Anthropological Research. the feudal lords. The Tibetan Vol. 34. communities studied by Nancy Levine Crook, John H. and Crook, Stamati J. and Melvyn Goldstein do not adequately 1988 Tibetan Polyandry: problems of support any of these explanations. A adaptation and fitness. From Human better explanation comes from Nancy Reproductive Behavior. Cambridge University Press. Levine who shows that polyandry allows Tibetan households to fully capitalize on Goldstein, Melvyn C. the three elements of the Himalayan 1973 The Circulation of Estates in Tibet: economy: agriculture, herding, and Reincarnation, Land and Politics. Joumal of Asian Studies. Vol XXXII, trading. A household's participation in No.3, May. these three sectors leads to an increase in social, political and economic status. Goldstein, Melvyn C. While Tibetan fratemal polyandry 1976 Fraternal Polyandry and Fertility in a provides increased benefits at the High Himalayan Valley in Northwest Nepal. Human Ecology. Vol. 4, NO.3. household level, many younger brothers opt to leave the marriage and try to Goldstein, Melvyn C. make it on their own. Nancy Levine and 1978 Pahari and Tibetan Polyandry Revisited. Joan Silk show that younger brothers Ethnology. 17:32~7. are often unhappy with their older Goldstein, Melvyn C. and Beall, Cynthia spouse, their lower reproductive 1981 Tibetan Fraternal Polyandry: A Test of success, and their diminished personal SOCiobiological Theory. American autonomy. Melvyn Goldstein also Anthropologist. 83. suggests that economic opportunities requiring little investment, such as the

106 Levine, Nance E. Netting, Robert. 1988 The Dynamics of Polyandry. The 1981 Balancing on an Alp: Ecological change University of Chicago Press. and continuity in a Swiss mountain community. cambridge University Levine, Nancy E. and Silk, Joan B. Press. 1997 Why Polyandry Fails: Sources of Instability in Polyandrous Marriages. Pasternak, Burton; Ember, Carol R.; Ember, Cummt Anthropology. Volume 38, Melvin. Number 3, June. 1997 Sex, Gender and Kinship. Prentice Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

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