Week 8 Cultural Anthropology: Chapter Nine: and Descent Conformity and Culture: David W. McCurdy: and Kinship in Village India

What are Descent Groups? o Kin Groups: made up of our relatives, both consanguine (blood) and affinal (in-laws) o Organize our kin along descent groupings o Descent Groupings: a king of kinship group whereby being a lineal descendant of a particular real or mythical is a criterion of membership o Descent may be reckoned exclusively through women, or through both

What Functions Do Descent Groups Serve? o Descent groups of various kinds – lineages, , and moieties- are convenient devices for solving many problems facing human societies: 1. how to maintain integrity of resources that cannot be divided without destruction; 2.how to generate workforces for task that require a labour pool larger than a can provide, and 3.how to allow members of one sovereign local group to claim support and protection from members of another o Not all cultures have descent groups; in many foraging/industrial societies, some of these problems handled by : o kindred: a group of people with living relative in common but this kindred or membership is not clearly and explicitly defined so it’s generally a weaker unit than the descent group

How do Descent Groups Form? o Arise from family organization as long as problems of organization exist that such groups help o Most apt to happen in food-producing groups o First to develop are localized lineages, followed by larger, dispersed groups such as clans o Over time, itself its affected by and adjusts the kinds of descent or other king groups important to a culture

How do Anthropologists Study Descent? o Understand not who is descended from whom, but how descent systems function in societies o Through ethnographic methods, descent systems of a multitude of the world’s cultures have been understood o Disparate systems are given classifications o Representations of these descent systems use symbols o Other areas of research into descent are rather recent such as extraction of DNA from living, historic and prehistoric samples

o Kinship = one of most important areas of anthropological study o Radcliffe-Brown, Evans-Prichard, Malinowski – all conducted important ethnographic studies of kinship that revealed that kinship was much more than a means of naming relations. Kinship carried with it deep cultural meanings and obligations and was deeply embedded in economic and ritual structures o Every culture develops some sort of family or household structure as a means to address various needs, such as to foster economic cooperation between the sexes, provide a setting for childrearing, to regular sexual activity o Family and household organization can be an efficient and flexible means for rising to these challenges but the fact remains that many cultures confront problems that are beyond the coping abilities of and o Ex: members of a sovereign local group often need some means of claiming support and protection from individuals in another group. Is crucial for defence against human or natural disasters – if people have right of entry into local groups other than their own, they can get protection or resources that they may not have o Ex: a group often share rights to some means of production that cannot be divided without its destruction. Witnessed in horticultural societies, where division of land becomes impractical beyond a certain point. Problem can be avoided if land ownership vested in a corporate system that outlives its members. o Ex: people often need some means to provide cooperative workforces for task that require more people than available in the household o One way of dealing with these problems is: develop a formal political system with personnel to mare and enforce laws, keep peace, allocate resources, and perform other regulatory and societal functions o A common practice in nonindustrial societies – especially horticultural and pastoral societies – is to develop kinship groups o Kinship: group composed of people we are related to through blood (consanguineal) and (affinal) o Kin can be divided into three groups (nominal, effective, and intimate or core) o We may have little or no contact with nominal kin, even though we usually are aware of their existence o We meet effective kin frequently at family functions such as weddings, funerals, reunions o Maintain continuous close relationship with our intimate kin, which includes , , , , both affinal and consanguineal o In Canadian society, kin group influenced by personal choice, and to a lesser extent by proximity, gender and class factors o In rural, or preindustrial societies, kinship is the focal point of social organization; members live in close proximity and generally form economic bonds o In terms of water or land ownership o In urban, industrial, modern “cults” of individualism and privacy as well as increased mobility and the structure have altered kinship systems to a degree o Ex: what used to be family obligations – daycare centres, banks, schools are now no longer within household

Why we study Kinship? o Everyone has a kin whether biological, adopted and these “relatives” play an important role in our lives o Kinship is learned from birth o Kinship involves not only how we classify relatives but also how we organize our family – support/family we can count on, how we view our world, our future o Kinship defines gender roles, how many children we will bear, what will happen to us when we grow old and even what faith we may practice o Kinship is culturally diverse

Urban Kinship Systems in Canada o In early part of 20th century, researchers assumed that urbanization and industrialization would reduce significance of kinship in Canadian society – that nuclear family would replace extended kin groups and that non-kin ties (friends) would become more important in our lives than kin. o Isolated Nuclear Family Structure: however recent studies show that extended family kin ties are still fundamental, especially within and adult children ( care during vacations, regular gift giving) o Modified Extended Family: does not require residential proximity or restrictive rights and obligations but maintains close emotional ties and support and common in 21st century fam o Canada is multi-cultural and strongly influenced by aboriginal cultures, immigration patterns and ethnic, linguistic and cultural proximities o Early immigrants to Canada, mainly of French, British and Irish descent, were organized in nuclear family structure but developed strong kin ties with other relatives in Canada o More recent immigrants to Canada such as Italians maintain close ties with kin, substitute friends especially of the same ethnic origin if they don’t have any family in Canada o Neolocal nuclear families are the basis of kinship unit although other members of kin usually live nearby o : friends not biologically related but considered part of the kin group o In Canada kinship is voluntary and selective with no strong obligations compared to tribal horticultural kin group. o Nuclear family doesn’t operate in isolation, instead they’re a modified extended family support system, involving frequent communication, visiting and support is available to each family

Descent Groups o Descent group: any publically recognized social entity requiring lineal descent from a particular real or mythical ancestor for membership o Members of a descent group trace their connections back to a common ancestor through -child links o Appear to stem from parent-child relationships which is built upon as the basis for a structured group o Descent groups define membership clearly, and it can also be restricted. Usually restricted by sex, so from birth you are assigned to either or ’s group only. Most common way is tracing membership through sex

Unilineal Descent o Unilineal (unilateral) Descent: descent that establishes group membership exclusively either through or the father’s line o In non-western cultures, Uni-lineal descent groups are very common especially in middle level societies (large variety of horticultural and pastoral societies which are neither hunting-gathering nor industrial) o At birth an individual assigned to membership of specific descent group, which may be matrilineal descent (through female line) or patrilineal descent (through male line o Close relationship between descent and culture’s economy -generally patrilineal descent dominates where male is breadwinner (pastoralists and intensive agriculture where male labour is key) -Matrilineal cultures in south Asia, also prominent in Aboriginal Group such as Huron and Iroquois and many parts of Africa including Bemba of Zambia o Just because you are in patrilineal descent, doesn’t mean mother’s side is unimportant, it’s just for the purposes of group membership, so for that mother’s relatives excluded o Even if TROBRIAND islanders keen on matrilineal descent, they also highly regard paternal side ( affection for kids is HUGE there) - although children belong to mother’s side, upon marriage, groom and bride’s paternal relatives contribute gifts and throughout life, a man may expect his paternal kin to help him improve his economic/political position and expect to inherit personal property from their fathers

Patrilineal Descent and Organization o Patrilineal Descent aka agnatic or male descent is more widespread of the two Unilineal descent systems o Male members of a patrilineal descent group trace their descent through other males from a common ancestor o and belong to the descent group of their father’s father, their father, their father’s siblings and their father’s children o A man’s and also trace their descent through the male line to their common ancestor o In a typical patrilineal group, the responsibility for training the children rests with father or his elder brother o Woman belong to same group as her father and his brothers but her children do not trace their descent through them o A patrilineal culture is very much a man’s world, and often women are in difficult situation (ex: back in the day, women wore tight corsets, now where high heels). Women try to manipulate the system to their own advantage as best they can

Matrilineal Descent and Organization o Matrilineal is opposite of patrilineal as it goes through mother’s line o However in matrilineal, the descent does not automatically confer authority o Although patrilineal societies are patriarchal, matrilineal societies are not matriarchal o Women still do not hold exclusive authority in descent its shared with men (brothers, rather than ) o Matrilineal systems usually in farming communities where women take on great productive work o In matrilineal system, brothers and sisters belong to the descent group of the mother’s mother, the mother, the mother’s siblings, and the mother’s ’s children o Males belong to the same descent group as their mother and sister but their children cannot trace their descent through them. o Ex: children of a man’s maternal are considered members of the uncle’s ’s matrilineal descent group o And a man’s children belong to his wife’s but not his descent group o Common feature in matrilineal systems is weak link b/w and wife o Because it is the women’s brother that holds authority, distributes resources, organizes work, etc. NOT the husband o Brothers and sisters maintain better ties but there is risk for ties between husband and wife o More unsatisfied in matrilineal as oppose to patrilineal o Matrilineal clans formed by the basis of IROQUOIAN kinship. - each owned a longhouse in which their members lived, matrilocality was preferred and usually long house consisted of an elder woman, her husband, their and families and any unmarried sons - senior women of matrilineages called clan mothers were held in great esteem as they were responsible for overseeing domestic tasks and allocating farmland to the women of the clan - if senior women were opposed to the men heading off to war, they could withhold supplies and men often complied to wife’s and mothers wishes - Clan mothers also play an important role in selecting or demoting chiefs and advisors - The political power of can mother can be likened to that of a senate or president as they had veto power over certain decisions - Greatly respected and the control over resources led early European observers to note this culture is MATRIARCHY - However, Europeans were wrong because “Iroquois culture was egalitarian: neither men nor women dominated the culture”

Original Study (The Domus: Households through the ages)

o Myriad rules of kinship and descent reflected in residential pattern o Matrilineal culture possess compounds, longhouses, or individual hunts which contain married daughters and their families o Patrilineal cultures feature male membership and are associated with avuncular or to her descent systems o Households occupy a crucial position in the evolution of human society and kinship patterns and it reflects symbolic orders – an area that has had great research in research years o Associates domus (Latin for house) with concept and practice of nursing and caring o Archaeologists and ethnographic studies on household reveals much about the culture living in it o DOGON OF MALI: build their houses resembling a human body, chief’s house at head of village and longhouses of the lineages arranged so they represent limbs of the community o MBUTI PYGMIES: orient their houses so they face friends and relatives and will not face people they dispute with o earliest forms of residence are basecamps of earlier hominids such as Homo Habilis with bases that were little more than a raised platform or a cave entrance safe from predators o these camps emerged monogamous pair bonding in bond groups which was a major step forward in the emergence of what would become a family o base camp is associated with mother, father and children o then later, when humans were mobile hunter-gatherers or forages, little development in architecture of the house o TERRA AMATA, close to nice: series of huts with fireplaces and small poles supported by rocks for walls and larger poles in centre to support roof – for 20 – 40 people and one of world’s first beachfront properties o CZECH REPUBLIC: before a site called Dolni Vestonice where huts made of animal skins -Separate hut has a kiln -Instead of wood, houses were from broad, strong bones, and houses were the centre of the world for socializing o True towns in middle east emerged where agriculture had been adopted and complex settlements developed o Two ex: Jericho – world’s oldest “real houses” were found and Catal Huyuk – symbolism of the first house becomes apparent o CATAL HUYUK: earliest towns and their households held 6000 at a time, each house had its own ritual shrine and housed images of wild animals and their actual remains (auroch, ancestor of cattle) - domesticated the wild ringing remains of animal into interior of houses - No obvious public building, there was an absence of social classes and each household was self-sufficient unit not just economically but spiritually o Linear Band Ceramic (LBK) built long houses over northern, western and central Europe and some of the dead were buried beneath the floor boards “the link between graves and houses were part of a metaphor for continuing life of those humans o Structures were more than just households: 1.they help maintain a sense of order, 2.orienting people’s daily lives and no doubt 3.played a large role in reflecting and determine kinship structure o IROQUOIAN people: lived in long houses and so did Huron and oriented houses in particular order by catching as much sunlight, entrances faced away from prevailing winds with no windows -typically long house lined by sleeping platforms on both sides as a central passageway - Huron residence appears to be matrilocal and the lived with extended family that consists of woman and her daughters or a group of sisters with their husbands and children all of whom normally lived in a long house o Neolithic houses represented a continuation of lineage, immortalised in wood and stone o House form is linked to gender roles and the physical division of the house - Women often at rear of house and entrances often with men Not just a physical space but a conceptual space o House not just material but built of ideas and concepts that reflect and creates lasting kinship ties

The Kinkeepers o In most extended families, one person takes responsibility of maintaining formal and informal ties with extended family members o Usually a female, and older woman o Regularly visits families especially with shut-ins and young couples with new baby and organizes holiday gatherings to bring into kin together o Offers emotional support to kin in crisis- usually becomes the primary caregiver for the elderly parents o Reminds other family members of their family obligations and responsibilities o Kinkeepers possess a certain power within their family and are found in every society and social class o In modern western society, Kinkeepers increasingly called as community services because of cut backs from government Kinkeepers expected to pick up slack by volunteering their unpaid labour o Types of work: housework, child care, labour market work, elder care and kinship work

Double Descent o Also called double Unilineal descen, where descent is reckoned both patrilineally and matrilineally at the same time, is very rare o Double Descent: a system tracing descent matrilineal for some purposes and patrilineal for others o Generally where double descent is reckoned, the matrilineal and patrilineal groups take actions in different spheres of society o Ex: YAKO of eastern Nigeria: property is divided into both patrilineal and matrilineal line positions -patrilineal owns productive resources such as land, whereas mat lineage owns consumable property such as livestock -in effort to achieve balance, the legally weaker matrilineal line is somewhat more important in religious matters than the patrilineal line - Through double descent, a YAKO can inherit grazing lands from father’s patrilineal group and certain ritual privileges from mother’s matrilineal line

Ambilineal Descent o Unilineal descent provides a convenient way of restricting descent group membership to avoid problems of divided loyalty and the like o Many cultures in the Pacific and Southeast Asia do similar tasks in other areas o Resultant descent groups are Ambilineal, nonunilineal or cognatic o Ambilineal Descent: provides the option of affiliating with either mother’s or father’s descent group, provides flexibility not normally found under unilineal descent o In these cultures, an individual can only be with one descent group at a time, so in this case, the group may be divided into the same discrete and separate groups of kin as patrilineal or matrilineal culture o Cognatic Societies: such as SAMOANS of South Pacific or the Bella Cool and the southern branch of KWAKAWAKA’WAKW of the Pacific coast of North America allow overlapping membership in number of descent groups

Forms and Functions of Descent Groups o Usually more than a group of relatives providing warmth and sense of belongings o Sometimes descent groups have a more corporate function in societies that lack civil institutions or where the liberal-democratic model is followed o May support the aged and infirm ad help with marriages and deaths o Often paly a role in determining who an individual may or may not marry o May act as a repository of religious traditions, such as ancestor worship

The Lineage o Lineage: corporate descent group composed of consaguineal kin who trace descent through known links to a common ancestor o Usually employed where a unilineal descent is the rule o Corporate means acting as a single body o Lineage is ancestor-oriented; membership in the group is recognized only if relationship to a common ancestor can be traced and proved. o An individual may have no legal or political status except as a lineage member o Since citizenship is derived from lineage membership and legal status depends on it, political and religious power is derived from it as well such as those associated with the cults of gods and o Corporate lineage endures after the deaths of members with new members continually being born into it and have perpetual existence that enables it to take corporate actions such as owning property, organizing reproductive activities, distributing goods and labour, assigning status and regulating relations with other group o Lineage is a strong effective base of social organization o A common feature of lineages is their exogamy o Lineage members must find their marriage partners in other lineages o Advantage of exogamy in lineages” 1. One advantage of lineage exogamy is that potential sexual competition within the group is curbed 2. Lineage exogamy also means that teach marriage is more than an arrangement between to individuals because it is a new alliance between lineages 3. Lineage exogamy supports open communication within a culture by promoting the diffusion of knowledge from one lineage to another

The Clan o A HURON trader from the VILLAGE OF IHONATIRIA is exhausted and hungry, stumbles into distance village of contarea, and although there have been tensions between the two villages, the huron trade was immediately welcome into the longhouse of the turle clan and was fed, clothed and entertained at no cost o He was given this welcome because the huron was based on clan lines which cut across local village and kinship loyalties and which involved different clans from different in a symbiotic relationship o Clan provided an external support system that criss-crossed different villages o As generation come and go, new members born into a lineage will have difficulty getting resources, so Fission occurs: lineage splits into new smaller lineages, and members of new lineages continue to recognize their ultimate relationship to one another -result of this process is the appearance of a second kind of descent group, the clan o The Clan (or sib): a non corporate descent group whose members claim descent from a common ancestor without actually knowing the genealogical links to that ancestor o Clan differs from a lineage in another respect: lacks the residential unity generally- although not invariably – characteristic of a lineage’s core members. As with the lineage, descent may be patrilineal, matrilineal or ambilineal o Clan’s membership is dispersed rather than localized, it usually does not hold tangible property corporately o Instead its more of a unit for ceremonial purposes and for external aid in times of great need o Only on special occasions does the entire clan get together o They may regulate exogamy they give individuals entry rights into local groups other than their own because of dispersity o Clans often depend on symbols –of animals, plants, natural forces and objects- to provide members with solidarity and a ready means of identification o Symbols are called totems, associated with clan’s mythical or real, origina and reinforce an awareness of their common descent with what totems represent o Totemism: the belief that people are related to particular animals and plants or natural objets by virtue of descent from common ancestral spirits. This word by defined by A.R. Radcliffe Brown o Among HAIDA, important families were divided into totem groups such as bear, killer whale, Cannibal sprit, salmon and beaver

Moieties o One other kind of descent group is moiety o Moiety: each group that results from a division of a society into two halves on the basis of descent o Believe they share common ancestor but cannot prove it through genealogical links o As a rule, the feelings of kinship among members of lineages and clans are stronger than those among members of moieties due to the larger size and more diffuse nature of the other groups o Exogamy is a general rule o Like clans and lineages, moietires are often exogamous and are bound together by marriages between their members o And like clans they provide members rights of access to other communities o Even if a community doesn’t include any clan members, an individual’s moiety members will stillbe there to turn to for hospitality o Moieties may perform reciprocal services for each other, as among the Mohawks and other Iroquoian nations of southern Ontario and New York State o Among them, individuals turned to members of the opposite moiety for the necessary rituals when a member of their own moiety died. Interdependence between moieties served to maintain the integrity of the entire society

Bilateral Descent and the Kindred o Bilateral: a characteristic of western society as well as many foraging groups, affiliates a person with close relatives through both sexes, in other words, they trace descent from both parents, all four grandparents, etc. recognizing multiple ancestors and they are associated equal with all sides o Principle relates an individual lineally to all eight grandparents and laterally to all 3rd and 4th , but this group is too large to be socially practical, so it’s reduced to kindred (smaller circle of paternal and maternal relatives) o Kindred: may be defined as a group of people closely related to one living individual through both parents o North Americans often familiar with kindred because those who belong are simply relatives and are seen on important occasions o Excepting aborginals because they trace kindred back a long time but most people in Canada can only trace back to their grandparents and if not first or maybe second o Limits of kindred are variable and indefinite o Because of its bilateral structure, a kindred is never the same for any two people except between siblings o Kindred is composed not of people with an ancestor in common but rather of people with a living relative – ego – in common o As ego goes through life, kindreds he or she is affiliated with will change o Kindred are not self-perpetuating: ceases with the ego’s death o Has no constant leader, nor can it easily hold, administer or pass on property o Unit that supplies support both financial and emotional o Acts as a ceremonial group for ties of passage aroundbirth, initiation ceremonies, marriages, funerals etc o Kindreds are most often found in industrial societies such as Canada where mobility weakens contact with relatives. Individuality is emphasized in such societies and strong kinship organization is usually not as important as it is among non Western people o Bilateral kindred groups may be found in societies where kinship ties are important, sometimes they occur alongside descent groups

The Descent Group o As various types of families occur in different societies, so do various kinds of non- familial kin groups o Descent groups are NOT common in foraging societies where marriage acts as the social mechanism for integrating individuals within communities o Absence of descent groups is a feature that foragers share with urbanized, industrial socities around the world o Sometimes known as middle-range societies in horticultural, pastoral, and many intensive agricultural cultures o Lineages arise from extended-family organization, as long as organizational problems exist that such groups help solve o Members of existing extended families find it necessary to split off and establish new households elsewhere, they not move too far away, that the core members of such related families explicitly acknowledge their descent from a common ancestor, continue to participate in common activities in an organized way o Clans may arise through legal fictions to integrate autonomous units o Ex: 5 Iroquoian nations of what now is NY state- Mohawk, Oneida, Onandaga Cayuga and Seneca developed clans by behaving as if lineages of the same name in different villages were related. Members became fictitious brothers and sisters o Five Nations (League of the Iroquois achieved a wider unity than had previously existed) o Six Nations was formed when the Tuscarora Indians joined the League in the 18th century o Rapid social and economic change and penetration of the market causes extended families and lineages to undergo change o Clans might survive if the provide an important integrative function. This helps explain a clan’s continued strength and vitality among First Nations North Americans today- they perform an integrative function among kin who are geographically dispersed as well as socially diverse but in a way that doesn’t conflict with the mobility that is characteristic of North American society o Socially adaptive functions of clan organization may account for why clans remains significant in Chinese Canadian and other immigrant communities o In cultures where small domestic units (nuclear families or single-parent households) are of primary importance, and kindred organization are almost inevitable o Can be seen in modern industrial societies, in newly emerging societies in the developing world and in many foraging cultures throughout the world

Kinship terminology and kinship groups o As central importance of kinship in social life has declined, so has anthropologist’s interest in its study o Eskimo system in Canada is one of the six different systems for classifying kin o All kinship terminologies accomplish two important tasks: o They classify similar kinds of persons into specific categories o They separate different kinds of persons into distinct categories o Generally two or more kin are merged under the same term when the individuals share similar status, which emphasizes similarities o 6 different systems of kinship: Eskimo, Hawaiian, Iroquois, Crow, Omaha, and Sudanese o each identified according to the way cousins are classified o Eskimo: rare among all world’s system, used by Euro-Canadians and Anglo-Americans and a number of North American foraging peoples, including the Inuit and other HG people such as Ju/’hoansi o Emphasizes the nuclear family by specifically identifying the mother, father, brother and sister while lumping together all other relatives into a few general categories. Ex: mother’s sister and father’s sister are both called o Don’t indicate side of the family or their sex o Provides separate and distinct terms for each nuclear family member o Generally found in socities where dominant kin group is the bilateral kindred, in which only members are important on a daily basis o People in Canada distinguish between their closest kin (parents, siblings, and children) but lump together (aunts, uncles, cousins) other kin on both sides of the family o Hawaiian: least complex system, uses fewest terms o All relatives from their mother’s and father’s side of the family and of the same generation and sex are referred to by the same term o Ex: mother, mother’s sister and father’s sister are referred to by same kinship term o In ego’s generation, male and female kin are distinguished by terminology, but terms for brothers and sisters are the same as for cousins o Reflects absence of strong unilineal descent and is usually associated with ambilineal descent o Members are recognized as being similar relations and are merged under a single term appropriate for their sex o Iroquois System: important distinction between parallel and cross cousins o Offspring of two sisters or of two brothers are related to one another as parallel cousins, while the offspring of brother and sister are cross cousins o Father and father’s brother are referred to by a single term, similar with mother and mother’s sister o Father’s sister and mother’s brother are given separate terms o Cross cousins (offspring of parental siblings of opposite sex that is, mother’s brother’s children or father’s sister’s children) are distinguished by terms that set them apart from all other kin o In hundreds of nonindustrial societies, cross cousins are often preferred as , for marriage to them reaffirms alliances between related lineages o Iroquois terminology is widespread in matrilineal or double descent and emphasizes unilineal descent groups o Crow System: focus kinship terminology on mother’s side o Many social practices are oriented on the maternal line, which explains the importance of female members of one’s lineage o Ignores the distinction between generations among certain kin o Found in many parts of the world o Complex system is associated with strong matrilineal descent organization, and it groups differently the relations on the father and mother’s side o Cross cousins on the father’s side are equated with relatives of the parental generation, while those on the mother’s side are equated with ego’s children generation o Omaha System: patrilineal equivalent of the matrilineal Crow system o Mother and her sister are designated by a single term, father and his brother are merged under another and parallel cousins are merged with brothers and sisters o Cross cousins are referred to by separate terms o Man will refer to his brother’s children by using the same terms as his own children, but he will refer to his sister’s children using different terms o Generational merging on the mother’s side is a feature of this system, doesn’t happen on father’s side even though fathers and brothers are called by the same terms o Sudanese or Descriptive System: found among peoples of southern Sudan in Africa o Each and every relative in the kindred is potentially called by a separate kin term o Mother’s brother is distinguished from the father’s brother, who is distinguished from the father, the mother’s sister is distinguished from the mother as well as from the father’s sister o More precise than any of the other systems, which may account for why it is so rare o In few societies are all aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings treated differently from one another

Genetic Anthropology and the Descent of the Cheddar Man o