Rethinking Kinship and Marriage

Routledge Library Editions RETHINKING KINSHIP AND MARRIAGE ANTHROPOLOGY AND ETHNOGRAPHY Routledge Library Editions Anthropology and Ethnography FAMILY & KINSHIP In 7 Volumes I Three Styles in the Study of Kinship Barnes II Kinship and the Social Order ForteJ III Comparative Studies in Kinship Goody IV Elementary Structures Reconsidered Kom V Remarks and Inventions Needham VI Rethinking Kinship and Marriage Needham VII A West Country Village: Ashworthy WillialllJ RETHINKING KINSHIP AND MARRIAGE EDITED BY RODNEY NEEDHAM I~ ~~~:!;n~~~up LONDON AND NEW YORK 711711 Third Third Avenue, Avenue, New New York, York, NY NY 10017 10017 First issued in paperback 2011 ISBN13:ISBN13: 978-0-415-33013-8 978-0-415-33013-8 (hbk) (hbk) ISBN13:ISBN13: 978-0-415-51127-8 978-0-415-51127-8 (pbk) (pbk) RETHINKING KINSHIP AND MARRIAGE Edited by Rodney Needham TAVISTOCK PUBLICATIONS London· New York· Sydney· Toronto· Wellington First published in 1971 by Tavistock Publications Limited 11 New Fetter Lane, London E04 This book has been set in Modern Series 7 and was printed by T. &1 A. Constable Limited, Edinburgh © Association ofSocial Anthropologists of the Oommonwealth 1971 SBN 422 73690 2 This volume derives in the main from material presented at a conferenceon 'Kinship and Marriage', sponsored by the Association of Social Anthropologists of the Oommonwealth, held at the University of Bristol, 1-4 April 1970 Distributed in the USA by Barnes &1 Noble, Inc. Dedication The contributors, with one protesting exception, join in dedicating this volume to EDMUND LEACH in grateful recognition of the quality of his empirical analyses, the provocative originality of his theoretical excursions, and the moral example set by the verve and the unpretentious radicality with which he has advanced the study of kinship and marriage Oontents page Prefatory Note xi RODNEY NEEDHAM Introduction xiii Background xiii Philosophy xv Formalism xxi Analysis xxxiv Wikmunkan xl Affect Iii Prescriptive alliance lix The Purum case lxvi Competence and authority lxxxi Acknowledgements cviii 1 RODNEY NEEDHAM Remarks on the Analysis ofKinship and Marriage 1 Introduction 1 Kinship 3 MMri~e 5 Descent 8 Terminologies 13 Incest 24 Conclusions 29 2 MARTIN SOUTHWOLD Meanings of Kinship 35 Introduction 35 The Ganda terminology 36 vii Contents What is Kinship? 39 Kinship and parentation 42 Social relationship 46 Parentation and congeniacy 47 Conclusions 53 3 P. G. RIVIERE Marriage: A Reassessment 57 Introduction 57 Functions 57 Constituents 63 Relationships 66 Conclusions 70 4 EDMUND LEACH More about 'Mama and 'Papa' 75 Introduction 75 Affect and phonology 76 Sinhalese 83 Kachin 95 Conclusions 97 5 FRANCIS KORN A Question of Preferences: The Iatmul Case 99 Introduction 99 Iatmul institutions 100 Relationship terminology 103 Rules of marriage 105 Marriage practices 108 Bateson's interpretation 108 Formal analysis of the terminology 109 Lines and categories 112 Vlll Contents Prescription and alternation 113 Alliances 115 Empirical correspondences 117 Prestations 119 Preferences 123 Ideal and variants 125 Preference and structure in Levi-Strauss 125 Iatmul society and elementary structures 126 Classification 127 Method 128 6 ANTHONY FORGE Marriage and Exchange in the Sepik: Comments on Francis Korn's Analysis of Iatmul Society 133 Introduction 133 Symmetrical exchange 135 Asymmetric marriage 138 Conclusions 143 7 DAVID MCKNIGHT Some Problems concerning the Wik-mungkan 145 Introduction 145 McConnel's analysis and kinship models 146 Descent lines 155 Kinship terms 158 Marriage system 159 Patterns of behaviour and attitudes 163 Homans and Schneider's theory 170 Levi-Strauss's law of the atom of kinship 172 Conclusions 176 Postcript 178 ix Contents 8 T. O. BEIDELMAN Some Kaguru Notions about Incest and Other Sexual Prohibitions 181 Introduction 181 Prohibitions 183 Infractions 191 Folklore 192 Conclusions 196 9 WILLIAM WILDER Purum Descent Groups: Some Vagaries of Method 203 Introduction 203 The Ackerman matrix 204 Direct exchange? 207 Purum descent groups 209 Concluding remarks 214 10 JAMES J. FOX Sister's Child as Plant: Metaphors in an Idiom of Consanguinity 219 Introduction 219 A formulation of the problem 220 The Rotinese of eastern Indonesia 223 Determination of the mother's brother (took) 226 Determination of the mother's brother of origin (too-huk) 228 Mother's brother and sister's child: performance and idiom 233 Comments and conclusions 244 Notes on Contributors 253 Name Index 257 compiled by James Urry Subject Index 261 x Prefatory Note Itis the normal practice ofthe Association for each ofits annual conferences to ask one of its members to organize the conference on a selected topic, and he is free to do so as he wishes. The convener of the conference acts as editor to the ensuing ASA Monograph and contributes his own Introduction to it. In this, as in other volumes, the views expressed by the editor and the contributors are those of the individual writers and should not be taken as representing the views of the Association as an organized body. xi INTRODUCTION Rodney Needham 'Menard used to declare that censure and praise were sentimental operations which had nothing to do with criticism.' JORGE LUIS BORGES I BACKGROUND At the annual general meeting of the Association of Social Anthropologists, held at the University ofSussex in April 1969, the chairman, Dr Edmund Leach, suggested that the next conference ought to get back to 'firm anthropological ground'. The members present decided that this meant kinship and marriage, and they asked me to act as convener. This was ironic, for Leach had prominently argued that marriage was not an isolable institution, nor subject to any universal definition (1961, ch. 4), and I had contended that kinship was a thoroughly misleading term and a false criterion for the comparison of social facts (1966: 31-2). Nevertheless, our colleagues were definite that these were the topics they wanted discussed, so with an unfeigned reluct ance I agreed to organize a conference on kinship and marriage. Leach, whose participation I naturally judged to be essential, at once consented to prepare a paper for it, but thereafter the organization admitted various possibilities, each with its own difficulties. One course was to select a theme and to invite con tributors to address themselves to this; another was to concen trate on theoretical issues, or alternatively on empirical prob lems; a further possibility was to circumscribe anethnographical province and to work comparatively within that; and so on. But this range of procedures implied a degree of liberty which I soon had to realize I did not possess; for it appeared to me that the real and fundamental difficulty, and one that attached to any kind of arrangement for the conference, was simply to find a squad of social anthropologists who were sufficiently interested in the topics, technically competent, and willing to prepare essays for public debate. I mention these considerations because for me they were the first lesson of the conference, in xiii Rodney Needham driving home more forcefully the condition of the profession in these respects and the theoretical state of affairs with regard to the topics in question. Also, readers are entitled to a report on the circumstances in which the conference took shape and on some of the reasons for the ultimate constitution of this volume. As it was, I invited in the first place people whose work I respected, no matter what their field ofinterest and without any restriction or guidance as to choice of subject. All I asked was that they should talk about something that interested them. An exception was Mr McKnight: I knew he had visited the Wikmunkan, so I asked him specifically whether he would like to address the association on his findings in that society. Some whose collaboration I particularly desired could not be free for the occasion or, understandably, did not want to take part in an academic gathering when term was over and they could other wise get some work done; some others were too far away, in places such as Australia and Brazil, to come to England for the purpose. In the end, however, as I trust readers will agree, matters worked out very well: we had enough speakers, and their papers proved to complement one another very nicely. Then there were posterior benefits which materially improved the monograph: Mr Forge, who had delivered an authoritative commentary on Mrs Korn's analysis of the Iatmul system, very kindly consented to compose his notes into a formal assessment for publication; Dr Beidelman, who had agreed to take part but found himself unable to attend, afterwards sent an essay on the Kaguru; Mr Wilder, who had made a vigorous contribu tion to the discussions at Bristol, offered an examination of Purum descent groups which I had a special pleasure in includ ing; and Dr Fox, who had not been able to participate in the conference, later submitted (after the volume had been pre pared for publication, and thus not in time for appropriate mention in this introduction) an expanded version of the paper that he had intended to deliver. Apart from the additional papers, the essays which make up this volume present a full record ofthe main proceedings of the conference. Some of them have been slightly rewritten at cer tain points (all the authors had the opportunity to do so), but for the most part the arguments remain as they were delivered. xiv Introduction The papers speak clearly enough for themselves, and there would be no point in an editorial recapitulation of their major themes; but there are some aspects of them which call for further emphasis, and the discussions at the conference raised other matters which deserve comment. It may serve to inter connect the individual contributions, and make for a more rounded presentation of the outcome of the proceedings, if I offer here some observations on certain recurrent or otherwise prominent themes.

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