STRUCTURE, ECONOMY AND RESIDENCE: A RE-EXAMINATION OF NORTH AMERICAN PATTERNS OF RESIDENCE by SAMUEL W. CORRIGAN B.A., The University of Manitoba, 1962 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA August, 1964 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that per• mission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that, copying or publi• cation of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permissions- Department of Anthropology and Sociology The University of British Columbia, Vancouver 8, Canada Date August 26, 1964. ABSTRACT This paper is basically a re-examination of the existing ethnographic literature concerning Indian tribes in four subsistence areas of North America. The purpose is twofold: to outline the principles governing the size and composition of local groups, and to draw distinctions among rules and patterns of residence. I suggest initially that patterns of residence are a key factor in the analysis of local group composition; that such patterns are at least partially rooted in ecological factors; that residence patterns will be similar in their effects on local group composition within given subsistence areas; and that major differences among residence patterns and the composition of local groups will be found only among residence patterns and local groups of different subsistence areas. The tribes of the Northwest coast region were found to have corporate local groups and definite cultural preferences for permanent residence by adult males in those local groups in which they enjoyed the greatest advantage, in terms both of material wealth and prestige. This was termed a preferred rule of residence. Because of the preferred patterns of patrilateral and matrilateral cross cousin marriage, and the elaborate complex of status and rank, this was often the ii local group of ego's mother's brother, that is, avunculocal residence. More commonly, however, this would be the local group of ego's wife, that is, matrilocal residence. The Sub-arctic region was divided into two areas. In the east, the local groups were corporate and residence was ideally patrilocal, i.e. with the local group of a man's father or brothers• This was based largely on status consi• derations and was termed a prescribed rule of residence. The ideal pattern was not always possible due to ecological factors however. In the west, local groups were not corporate. There was no ideal pattern of residence, although there was what was termed a statistical regularity of patrilocal residence. Local groups were not corporate on the Plains. Statistical regularities of both patrilocal and matrilocal residence were found, but these did not normally affect local group composition to any significant degree. The only ideal of residence was that of affiliation with a local group in which one had some kin. In the Great Basin region, local groups were not corporate. Only statistical irregularities in residence pattern were found, due to ecological factors. Several common elements were noted in the study. Descent systems had little effect on local group composition, other than by establishing a dichotomy of kin and non-kin. iii Local groups tended to be bilateral groups of kin, on the Northwest coast due largely to sociological factors, and intthe Sub-arctic and Great Basin regions because of situ• ational factors. The local groups of the Plains region were clusters of bilateral groups of kin. Local groups were found to be limited in size, both maximum and minimum, by such factors as ecology. Within those limits precise patterns were based both on sociological factors and on such aspects of ecology as demography. The final chapter of the thesis is a general discussion of the various factors affecting both local groups and residence patterns. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. NORTHWEST COAST. ..... ..... 28 The Northern Northwest Coast 31 The Southern Northwest Coast • • . 45 III. THE SUB-ARCTIC 60 The Eastern Sub-arctic ...... 60 The Western Sub-arctic ........... 74 IV. THE PLAINS .......... 91 V. GREAT BASIN. ................. 112 VI. CONCLUSIONS . .125 The Local Group. ..............125 Local Group Size 126 Local Group Composition. • •••••••• .129 Local Group Nature .133 Patterns of Residence • . 138 The General Hypotheses ••••• 141 The Specific Hypotheses . .146 BIBLIOGRAPHY CODE .152 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... .154 V LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE I. Pa trilateral Cross Cousin Marriage 43 II. Ma trilateral Cross Cousin Marriage 43 III. Sister Exchange Marriage. 44 IV. The Ancestral Family, the Kindred and the Local Group 58 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This paper is basically a re-examination of residence patterns in North America. It was inspired by a dissatis• faction with current ideas on the subject and is an attempt at some new thinking on an old and stubborn problem. The results are purely tentative and indeed far less important than the methodology utilized in the study. It is to be hoped, however, that the very fact of new thinking, of a new type of analysis, will lead to more concrete results than previous forms have yielded. I have formulated two general and four specific hypotheses for testing purposes. It must be bom in mind, however, that there could be a possible methodological error which could well serve as an invalidating factor against the idea of new thinking and new analysis, as stated above, unless the hypotheses are rigidly controlled. The use of hypotheses is a help in any study in the sense that they limit the field and must result in straight "yes" or "no" answers. Nonetheless, in a study based upon the re-examination of well known materials, hypotheses can prove to be a defeating element simply by virtue of their limiting the field 2. of enquiry; however, hypotheses were deemed advisable and are used here although they have been designed as broad outlines only and will be used simply to set the stage and to examine it again at the conclusion of the study. They are conceived of as an organizing tool, as it were, and will be referred to only briefly in the major part of the work. Edmund Leach has recently suggested (1961b:3), with some justification, that there are very serious limitations to the Radcliffe-Brownian method of scientific analysis by mere comparison and the creation of never-ending typological series of structural forms. Some of his recent work involves another method instead, that of generalization, the examination of data concerning several aspects of social structure for a number of societies with the hope of identifying common patterns of structural relevance in human behaviour. It is this latter method which I propose to follow in this thesis. The method represents a departure from the methods of anthro• pological analysis, particularly of social organization, normally used in North America. This specific project pro• vides an illustration of the difference between the two methods of scientific analysis. Until a few years ago, two principal works formed the major body of data on residence theory and North American rules 3. and patterns of residence, George Peter Murdock's Social Structure and Harold E. Driver and William C. Massey's Comparative Studies of North American Indians respectively. More recently, a journal, Ethnology, has begun to classify all world societies into a series of "known cultural types", using a series of typologies. The bulk of this work so far has been concerned with North American Indian societies. The first book, Social Structure.was based on an examination of some of the literature on some two hundred and fifty societies around the world, and resulted in the breakdown of the residence patterns of these societies into what are virtually three basic types and three sub-types. The former were termed patrilocal, matrilocal and bilocal, and the latter matri-patrilocal, avunculocal and neolocal respectively. To these patterns was attached the term "rules of residence". Although Murdock was careful to preface this phrase with "culturally preferred" (1960: 16), he had in fact catalogued these forms in a very basic manner, placing statistical facts above behavioural patterns and failing almost totally to distinguish minor variations of the same basic social structure in relation to "general economic, social and cultural conditions" (Murdock, 1960: 17) in wide areas of the world. In short, he compared social structures, including residence patterns, found some differences and attached labels. 4. Sixteen of the societies under consideration in this paper have been so typed. Driver and Massey followed this example by abstracting these six types and sub-types from the literature on North American societies (1957: 400-401) and applying the terms in a blanket disposition of the Continent. The method in this case was exactly the same as that of the earlier work: the comparison was of social structure only. I have one major criticism of these two works, then. Although both studies took the initial step of examining the relevant literature with reasonable care, neither one looked for common elements of behaviour in certain spheres, pre• ferring instead to examine only structure and to catalogue by a single standard, that of locality. I suggest that these examinations might have produced quite different results than they actually did if they had been carried further to include studies of human behaviour and the reasons for that behaviour, rather than just the "algebraic and numerical indices" of social structure (Leach, 1964: 429).