Paul Valentine, Stephen Beckerman, and Catherine Alès (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780813054315
- eISBN:
- 9780813053066
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813054315.001.0001
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
Traditional treatments of marriage among indigenous people focus on what people say about whom one should marry and on rules that anthropologists induce from those statements. This volume is a ...
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Traditional treatments of marriage among indigenous people focus on what people say about whom one should marry and on rules that anthropologists induce from those statements. This volume is a cultural and social anthropological examination of the ways the indigenous peoples of lowland South America/Amazonia actually choose whom they marry. Detailed ethnography shows that they select spouses to meet their economic and political goals, their emotional desires, and their social aspirations, as well as to honor their commitments to exogamic prescriptions and the exchange of women. These decisions often require playing fast and loose with what the anthropologist and the peoples themselves declare to be the regulations they obey. Inevitably then, this volume is about agency and individual choice in the context of social institutions and cultural rules. There is another theme running through this book—the way in which globalization is subverting traditional hierarchies, altering identities, and eroding ancestral marital norms and values—how the forces of modernization alter both structure and practice. The main body of the book is given over to eleven chapters based on previously unpublished ethnographic material collected by the contributors. It is divided into three sections. The first collects essays that describe the motives behind breaking the marriage rules, the second describes how the marriage rules are bent or broken, and the third gathers chapters on the effects of globalization and recent changes on the marriage rules.Less
Traditional treatments of marriage among indigenous people focus on what people say about whom one should marry and on rules that anthropologists induce from those statements. This volume is a cultural and social anthropological examination of the ways the indigenous peoples of lowland South America/Amazonia actually choose whom they marry. Detailed ethnography shows that they select spouses to meet their economic and political goals, their emotional desires, and their social aspirations, as well as to honor their commitments to exogamic prescriptions and the exchange of women. These decisions often require playing fast and loose with what the anthropologist and the peoples themselves declare to be the regulations they obey. Inevitably then, this volume is about agency and individual choice in the context of social institutions and cultural rules. There is another theme running through this book—the way in which globalization is subverting traditional hierarchies, altering identities, and eroding ancestral marital norms and values—how the forces of modernization alter both structure and practice. The main body of the book is given over to eleven chapters based on previously unpublished ethnographic material collected by the contributors. It is divided into three sections. The first collects essays that describe the motives behind breaking the marriage rules, the second describes how the marriage rules are bent or broken, and the third gathers chapters on the effects of globalization and recent changes on the marriage rules.
Janet Chernela
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780813054315
- eISBN:
- 9780813053066
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813054315.003.0009
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
Chernela’s analysis describes the consequences of globalization on Kotiria (also known as Wanano) kinship and marriage. Drawing on the insights of Robert Murphy (1971), she examines a number of the ...
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Chernela’s analysis describes the consequences of globalization on Kotiria (also known as Wanano) kinship and marriage. Drawing on the insights of Robert Murphy (1971), she examines a number of the major themes that reoccur throughout this book, such as the dialectic between rules and practice, the relationship between structural intransigence and agency fuelled by needs and desires, and the emergence of innovation and practical considerations. If one looks at the formal model of Kotiria kinship and marriage, one might predict that they are constrained by a narrow range of alternatives when they choose a spouse. However, drawing on recent history, Chernela selects case studies that illustrate the range of possibilities actually open to the Kotiria. She presents cases in which marriage rules were disregarded or changed, as well as a case in which a descent group simply passed out of existence because of its members’ unwillingness to violate their own marriage rules.Less
Chernela’s analysis describes the consequences of globalization on Kotiria (also known as Wanano) kinship and marriage. Drawing on the insights of Robert Murphy (1971), she examines a number of the major themes that reoccur throughout this book, such as the dialectic between rules and practice, the relationship between structural intransigence and agency fuelled by needs and desires, and the emergence of innovation and practical considerations. If one looks at the formal model of Kotiria kinship and marriage, one might predict that they are constrained by a narrow range of alternatives when they choose a spouse. However, drawing on recent history, Chernela selects case studies that illustrate the range of possibilities actually open to the Kotiria. She presents cases in which marriage rules were disregarded or changed, as well as a case in which a descent group simply passed out of existence because of its members’ unwillingness to violate their own marriage rules.
Brian H. Bix
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- April 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199989591
- eISBN:
- 9780190260200
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199989591.003.0009
- Subject:
- Law, Family Law
This chapter examines the rules relating to divorce in relation to the rules of marriage and to family law more generally. It begins with an historical overview of grounds for divorce, including the ...
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This chapter examines the rules relating to divorce in relation to the rules of marriage and to family law more generally. It begins with an historical overview of grounds for divorce, including the time when divorce was not allowed (or only rarely), before turning to a discussion of fault approaches to divorce, no-fault divorce, and current movements to try to again make divorce more difficult, for example, through the so-called covenant marriage. It also considers the jurisdiction to grant a divorce and concludes by focusing on conflicting social science data regarding the effects of divorce rules.Less
This chapter examines the rules relating to divorce in relation to the rules of marriage and to family law more generally. It begins with an historical overview of grounds for divorce, including the time when divorce was not allowed (or only rarely), before turning to a discussion of fault approaches to divorce, no-fault divorce, and current movements to try to again make divorce more difficult, for example, through the so-called covenant marriage. It also considers the jurisdiction to grant a divorce and concludes by focusing on conflicting social science data regarding the effects of divorce rules.
R. M. W. Dixon
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198702900
- eISBN:
- 9780191772405
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198702900.003.0004
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics, Language Families
Speakers of Dyirbal have an unusual (and possibly unique) kinship system. Marriage takes place with someone not from ego’s own generation but a generation above or below. A cross-cousin through an ...
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Speakers of Dyirbal have an unusual (and possibly unique) kinship system. Marriage takes place with someone not from ego’s own generation but a generation above or below. A cross-cousin through an elder-sibling link at the parents’ generation (i.e. mother’s elder brother’s child, father’s elder sister’s child) is a potential mother-in-law or father-in-law; ego may marry the child of such a relation. It follows from this that ego may also marry the child of a younger opposite-sex sibling of a grandparent (e.g. mother’s mother’s younger brother’s child). The system is quite symmetrical with regard to sex; similar results are obtained whether one starts with a male or female ego, and whether one traces relationships through father or through mother.Less
Speakers of Dyirbal have an unusual (and possibly unique) kinship system. Marriage takes place with someone not from ego’s own generation but a generation above or below. A cross-cousin through an elder-sibling link at the parents’ generation (i.e. mother’s elder brother’s child, father’s elder sister’s child) is a potential mother-in-law or father-in-law; ego may marry the child of such a relation. It follows from this that ego may also marry the child of a younger opposite-sex sibling of a grandparent (e.g. mother’s mother’s younger brother’s child). The system is quite symmetrical with regard to sex; similar results are obtained whether one starts with a male or female ego, and whether one traces relationships through father or through mother.
