COMMENT 125 Nuer "actual" residence patterns deviate from seems hkely. Instead, I prefer the hypothesis the patrilocal norm, he argues that they are that the Pomo had an ambilateral system of much like the Pomo residential pattern. How­ relationships. Their rules of exogamy seem to ever, in order to do this he must be assuming support this, since cousin marriages of all that there really was a Pomo norm for types were forbidden to the degree of third patrilocahty. There is no good basis for this cousin. assumption. Pomo informants vary consid­ None of this should be regarded as conclu­ erably in their statements on this point. Some sive. There is room for some doubt, and a make statements to ethnographers that mdi- reexamination of all evidence available would cate a preference for patrilocal residence; be useful. others make statements that indicate a matri- University of Maryland local preference; still others make statements Far East Division that indicate either patrilocal or matrilocal Yongsan, Korea residence is acceptable. I have inferred from aU these statements that alternative choice was itself the norm. The choice seems to have been limited usually to two alternatives—either ma­ trilocal or patrilocal residence. The result of this choice, as limited, meant that people who hved together were usuaUy related either patri- laterally, matrilaterally, or affinally. Now, it can be argued that, despite the lack of a norm for unhocal post-marital Pomo Social Structure: residence, there could still have been a norm Problems of Ethnohistory for lineahty in tracing descent. Again, actual statements of Pomo informants are ambigu­ ous (e.g., when deahng with chiefly succes­ NELSON H. H. GRABURN sion, inheritance of sacred or other occupa­ tional specialties, and the hke). Therefore, I Kunkel's (1974) arficle on "Pomo kin have come to the conclusion that there was groups" and Kronenfeld's response, in this no unilineal descent norm in Pomo society. issue (Kronenfeld 1975), bring to the fore However, other conclusions could be drawn. once more the interesting problem of the For instance: (1) there could have been a ethnohistory of social structure. Kronenfeld is system of double descent; (2) some Pomo quite apt in his comparison with the Nuer groups may have had patrihneal descent while whose residential groupings and seasonal others had matrilineal descent; (3) all Pomo movements do not exactly reflect the fact groups may once have had patrilineal descent that the Nuer use the metaphor of unilineal but more recently some tendency to shift kinship to describe and understand their own toward a matrilineal (or non-lineal pattern); socio-pohtical organization. Kunkel seems to or (4) some or all Pomo groups may have have confused social organization for social been originally matrilineal, with a recent structure and while he has much of the tendency toward a patrilineal (or non-lineal) former type of data in hand the latter only pattern. After detailed examination of the seems to have existed in the minds of long ethnographic data I have come to the conclu­ deceased Pomo for it was not recorded by sion that none of these alternative hypotheses ethnographers or other reporters. Social struc- 126 THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGY ture consists of the conscious and uncon­ Pomo had an Omaha type system, the Rin­ scious models in people's heads, as a guide for con Valley a Crow system, and the Ukiah behavior but not related to behavior in any Valley group a Dakota system! All of these are one-to-one fashion. In much the same way, very compatible with unilineal descent sys­ one would not expect to find out that the tems—of different kinds—though Aginsky pre­ speed limit was 30 miles per hour by timing ferred to explain the terminology systems as all the cars and trucks that passed down a solutions to the problems of expressing con­ city street. flicting marriage rules and says nothing about Though Kronenfeld's argument holds descent. If he was right, then I might guess open the possibihty that lineal forms of social that all three systems were perhaps also structure may have existed, it is not very compatible with Pomo social structure as useful for it does not direct us how to find portrayed by Kunkel, but explanations such out whether they did or not given the as Aginsky's have fahen on very hard times, possibilities of present day research. Similarly, especially since Murdock (1947). Kunkel's claims for California Indians as the The other line of evidence to be con­ correct models for pre-agricultural hunters sidered is the relevant history of acculturation and gatherers is interesting but does not help of the Pomo and comparable groups. It is all us solve the specific problem of the Pomo. very well for Kronenfeld to say that "it is Since one cannot ask the relevant Pomo any impossible to rule out any unilineal basis," longer, one is dealing in a kind of guesswork but the burden is still on him to show that it or conjectural reconstruction for which one is still worth entertaining the proposition. If must consider two main kinds of evidence. the Pomo had a unihneal type of social The first kind is the nature of the reports structure once but not in recent times one available for the light they throw on the must look at the character of the authorities problem. For instance, it is well known that who might have overlooked the facts (see Kroeber was very much against emphasizing above) and one must also ask why it disap­ the importance of unilineal descent groups peared, especially as it did not disappear from (see especially Kroeber 1917) and to some the social world of the Indians of Central/ extent this rubbed off on Gifford, in spite of Southern California. We know that differen­ his reports on the Miwok and other groups. 1 tial acculturation pressures might account for am surprised that neither Kunkel nor Kronen­ different degrees of loss of aboriginal social feld mentioned the very thought provoking structures, amply documented by Eggan work of Aginsky (1935) who found himself in (1937) and Spoehr (1947), and perhaps such the field among the Pomo at the same time as is the case with the Pomo. It is surprising that Gifford and who described the latter as not neither of the authors took this into account. being very interested in "sociology" but as interesting himself in other matters. Aginsky University of California agreed that the largest autonomous groups of Berkeley Pomo socio-pohtical organization were "val­ REFERENCES ley groups" of which there were seven. He worked with three, and was particularly con­ Aginsky, B. W. cerned with the relationship between kinship 1935 The Mechanics of Kinship. American An­ terminology systems and rules of preferred thropologist 37:450-457. marriages—parts of social structure—and found Eggan, F. considerable variation. The Hopland Vahey 1937 Historical Changes in the Choctaw Kinship COMMENT 127 System. American Anthropologist 39:34- correct the record and add further data to 52. what httle is presently available. Kroeber, A. L. I am reasonably certain, on the basis of 1917 Zuni Kin and Clan. American Museum of various bits of information contained in the Natural History, Anthropological Papers ethnographic field notes of John P. Harring­ 19:39-104. ton, that the particular man shown in the Kronenfeld, D. B. photograph is Rafael Solares. Rafael is known 1975 Pomo Lineages: 'Why Not?' A Response to have worked closely with de Cessac when to Kunkel. The Journal of California An­ the latter was at Santa Ynez (even assisting thropology 2:120-123. him in the excavation of the cemetery at Kunkel, P. H. soxtonokmu"^), and was most probably de 1974 The Pomo Kin Group and the Political Cessac's primary Ineseiio informant. In addi­ Unit in Aboriginal California. The Journal tion, Rafael is known to have been a dancer; of California Anthropology 1:7-18. in the 1860s, for example, he accompanied Murdock, G. P. Marcelino to Saticoy to take part in Pom- 1947 Bifurcate Merging; A Test of Five Theories. posa's fiesta (Blackbum 1974). It is therefore American Anthropologist 49:56-63. most likely that the photograph (which shows Spoehr, A. a man dressed in the typical attire of a 1947 Changing Kinship Systems. Chicago: Field Chumash dancer) is of Rafael Solares. Museum of Natural History Publication Whether Rafael could legitimately be de­ 583, Anthropological Series 33:151-235. scribed as a shaman is a moot question. Although as a dancer he was almost certain to have been initiated as an '^antap, he is unlikely to have ever engaged in the kinds of practices usually associated with the term shamanism. However, it should be noted that there is one brief reference in Harrington's notes to picto­ graphs painted in a cave by Rafael and Joaquin Ayala at the time of the winter Further Information on the solstice, so the problem must remain open for the time being. de Cessac Photograph Relatively little is presently known about Rafael Solares' life. His date of birth is un­ THOMAS BLACKBURN known, although he apparently assisted in the construction of Mission Santa Ynez. He died in In the Winter, 1974 issue of the Journal 1896, and is buried in the mission cemetery in (p. 186), there appeared a photograph, origi­ an unmarked grave (along with 1700 other nally taken by Leon de Cessac in 1878, of an Chumash Indians). His son, Manuel, became Inesefio Chumash man dressed in ceremonial the third husband of Maria Solares, Harring­ regalia. Since the individual shown is some­ ton's primary Ineseiio informant (Blackbum what misleadingly identified in the Journal as 1975).