Marriage ANTH 321: Kinship and Social Organization Kimberly Porter Martin, PH.D.

What Is a Family? A family is a group of people who are connected to one another by consanguineal, affinal or fictive kin ties.

Types of Kin Ties  Consanguineal ties = ties established by birth/descent from a common ancestor  Affinal ties = ties established by marriage  Fictive kin ties = ties that mimic consanguineal or affinal ties where no such tie exists

Aspects of Marriage  Who chooses marriage partners?  What is the basis for selecting partners?  What kind of contract exists between families?  How many spouses are involved in given family?  Where does a couple usually go to live after marriage?  What kind of household form is the norm?

Who Chooses Marriage Partners?  Fathers  Males in the family  Parents  Family members including siblings  Personal choice Sometimes with rights of refusal for bride and/or groom

Marriage Contract  Bride Price/Wealth – groom’s family gives goods/animals to bride’s family to show his ability to provide and to compensate them for the loss of their daughter’s labor  Suitor Service – groom works for the brides family (usually hunting in a foraging society) to demonstrate his ability to provide and to compensate for the loss of the daughter’s labor  Dowry – bride’s family offers goods that come with the bride into the marriage to make her more desirable as a marriage partner. Sometimes bride controls the goods, sometimes they become the property of the groom.

Types of Marriage Contracts  Female Husbands A0DIL6DkZEhttp:// A0DIL6DkZE  Masai Tribal Customs  Brideprice in Uganda (What Price Brideprice?)  Dowry in Greece  Dowry in India

Numbers of Spouses in a Family  Monogamy = the marriage of one woman to one man  Polygamy = the marriage of multiple wives OR husbands to a member of the opposite sex (a general term). There are three (3) types: Polygyny = the marriage of one man to multiple wives Polyandry = the marriage of one woman to multiple husbands Group Marriage = the marriage of multiple women to multiple men

Example of Polygynous Marriage This is “Sororal Polygyny”

Example of Polyandrous Marriage

Household Form  Nuclear Family = a monogamously married couple and their offspring living together in a household.  Centralized Polygynous Family = a man and his multiple wives living together in a family.  Satellite Polygynous Family = Multiple wives of a single man who maintain separate houses for themselves and their children, but work together in domestic tasks  Extended Family = a domestic group consisting of three or more generations of consanguineally and affinally related people.  Group Marriage Family = a domestic unit composed of all of the spouses and offspring of a group marriage.

Nuclear Families in a Standard Kinship Diagram? In the diagram below, all the different nuclear families are shown indifferent colors. Notice that the adults in EGO’s parent’s generation are members of two different nuclear families.

Patrilocal Extended Family

Matrilocal Extended Family OR