Anthro 2A Midterm 2

Kinship

-diversity in terms (categories of kin)

-diversity in underlying logic of kinship ties

a central component of social organization

Sharing of characteristics or origins

-family, relatives, economic unit, political unit (households)

-categorizing kin: aunts, uncle... etc.

-meaning of kinship is different in different cultures (Mother does NOT equal madre)

-Many practices, belief, social structure that pertain to family and family relations

Categories of Kin:

-biological-"Blood ties"

-Affinal- through marriage (in-laws)

-Fictive- no blood tie but close enough to be considered family

Kinship ties are diverse based on different cultures

Ex: America-adoption is cemented and normally can not be undone

Trobriand-adoption can occur but it is the child's decision to go back or stay with a family for a while to learn a skill

Enduring Diffuse Solidarity

-Social unity

-Turning to family for many needs

-Giving support and receiving it

-Lasts through time

--Social unity, people with whom we stand together as one. We help each other, we support each other, it lasts for time, it persists

***diffuse means to distribute; solidarity means unity or agreement; so enduring diffuse solidarity means distributing social unity

Kin Terms

The systems used in languages to refer to the persons to whom an individual is related through kinship. Used in particular language; lists of words gathered from natives; organizing how they view the world in that particular way (mother, aunt, cousin, chit nag)-------------------------List of words used in a specific language to determine all relations of kin

Biological Kin Types & All Notation

-Core terms for genealogical relationships

-M=mother

-F=father

-S=son

-D=daughter

-B=brother

-Z=sister

-C=child

-H=husband

-W=wife

Nuclear Family & Extended Family

Nuclear family: married couple with unmarked (not married) children ex; mother father sister brother

Extended family: family that extends past the immediate family; consists of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins

*** Nuclear is similar to nucleus, which is at the center of an atom; so the nuclear family is only the members closest to the person or directly related

Family of Orientation: the family in which one is born and grows up

Family of Procreation: formed when one marries and has children

Industrialism & Family Organization

-general differences by class

-General changes in North America

-Age of Marriage

-size & composition of households

spreads out which leads to the destruction of traditional roles, leading to a change in tradition

nonindustrial societies: central institution; family is the most important

industrial societies: (kinship is) enduring it lasts, ex: in an American society, kinship isn't as central as in nonindustrial societies, but it is still enduring. When you move out of home your friends become your close kin.

- General differences by class

- General changes in North America

- age of marriage

- size & composition of households

Bilateral Descent

Apart of both female and male kin--------Bilateral(two sides) Descent: descent is traced equally through males and females; just as much a part of my gparents on my mother's side as my father's side: I can inherit from either one

Unilineal Descent

-Patrilineal Descent

-Matrilineal Descent

Descent is traced exclusively through females(matrilineal) or males(patrilineal)----Belongs to group of the father as he belonged to the group of his father and upwards. Sons children belong to the sons group)****pat in latin means father--------people join mother's group automatically at birth and stay members throughout life

*** Mat- in Latin means Mother

Kindred

-A collection of relatives

-Is ego-centered network of bilateral affinal and fictive kin

-only thing you get in bilateral descent; ego-centered network of bilateral, affinal, and fictive kin; is not equal to group

An individual's kindred will last until he dies.of bilateral, affinal (relatives by marriage, in laws), & fictive kin(people who are so much like kin - not completely related—they become categorized as kin) *SEE PAPER

IT IS NOT A GROUP*: a group needs to have some type of groupness (must have a common identity, patterned social relationships→ don't all have a common identity; not a social entity but a collectivity of people who have a tie to one person

EACH PERSON'S KINDRED IS SO DIFFERENT, even if they have some of the same friends

There is no common identity, and no patterns of social relations, no two people share the same kindred

Kindred begins when born, and ends when die LINEAGES KEEP GOING ON THROUGH TIMES

Lineage

-Patrilineage

-Matrilineage

* PROOF of biological descent/relation**

Lineage-Group of people who can trace descent in a unilineal manner from a single common ancestor (males and females are in the same matrilineage== Descent is traced exclusively through females)

-Patrilineage- patrilineal descent

-Matrilinage- matrilineal descent

-- Never marry anyone in the same lineage as yourself

*** Different from clan, because there is proof of common ancestor and can be traced

Clan

-Patriclan

-Matriclan

Clan:

-Group of related lineages

-Group of people who believe themselves to be descended from a common ancestor

-Can not demonstrate the links (very far in the past) of that common ancestor

-Patriclan-Belonging to the male or father side of clan

-Matriclan- Belonging to the female or mother side of clan

-* NO PROOF of relation*

-stipulated descent, meaning members say they are descended from ancestors but cannot prove it through tracing genealogical links

sometimes a clan's apical ancestor (the person who stands at the apex, or top) is not a human at all but an animal or plant (called a totem)

a collection of unilineally related lineages

Corporate Groups (Corporate Functions)

-Collectively controls same resources

-Lineage have set groups (some people make the decisions)

-Any group that has corporate functions (corporation); collective controlling resources

Descent groups can be corporate groups and have corporate functions

EX: land. I don't individually own my land, but my entire lineage owns it.

If someone wanted to buy my desk in my office, I can't sell it because it belongs to the company

o *Kindreds do not have corporate functions

Just a network of people, not a group*

There is corporate behavior

EX: Nuclear family house. It's your parents' house, but you have your own room. You eat the food your parents buy

Collectively holds, manages, controls resources such as land. Lineages are often corporate groups, not kindreds since they don't persist through time (ends with Ego's death)

Genitor & Pater

Genitor-A person's biological father

Pater-A person's socially accepted father

Functions of Marriage -

Descent & Alliance

Descent-created socially legitimate descendants

-Children born has the rights to that group

Alliance-Claude Levi - Straus (theorists)

-when you marry you get a new set of relatives

Descent: socially legitimate descendants, produced socially legitimate heirs

Produces descendants

-Socially legitimate heirs that are eligible for all the groups' rights

***EX: King and Queen's child becomes the prince. The child born from the King's mistress is not prince.

-Establishes next generation of peeps

Alliance: affines (in-laws) relatives by marriage

Establishes alliances

-When you get married, you get a whole new set of relatives

-Strangers now become allies

Affines (Affinal relatives)

Relatives through marriage

Incest Taboo

Prohibition as sex to a close relative

-Divided people into 2 groups

Can marry and Can't marry

--People you are forbidden to have sex with; Claude Levi-Strauss coined the term and believed incest taboo divided the world into two types (people you can have sex with, and people you can't); can't be in bloodline; helps people meet strangers to build more alliances

Monogamy

Practice of being married to one spouse at a time

Polygamy

-Polygyny

-Polyandry

Practice of being married to 2 or more spouses at one time

Polygyny-Multiple wives at one time

Polyandry- Multiple husbands at one time

-There is going to be an imbalance in the sexes.

This means is men have many wives, there are gonna be men who are not going to have any wives.

A general pattern is that men marry later in life and woman marry earlier in life.

Men may marry in the thirties

Women may be married as children or teenage

Having many wives can mean many things

• Prestige

• Heirs

• Larger labor force

Social Organization and Material Conditions

Social organization: Creation of systems to solve a problem

Material Condition: Resources available in an environment

-demographic (particular section of a population) is a material condition: Resources available in an environment

Social organization: Creation of systems to solve a problem

Ex: not enough land in Himalayan South so there is practiced fraternal polyandry

-Social Organization: how society is organized to get things done; includes institutions and social structure

-Social Structure: descriptions of groups that make up society and relationships between them; is part of social organization

-Institutions: social relations organized around a particular theme/task; part of social organization

Himalayan Agriculturists & Polyandry

The land is limited in the himalayas to farm on and to keep populations in check they practice polyandry and a single women will marry a set of brothers to keep the land within the family -corporate

Land Tenure

The rights to land through society invented rules----inheritance of land between generations

Primogeniture

The first born child---

The younger sons would not get anything, and they may not get married or have children

o 1,200 years ago, this was the solution to the lack of land in Scandinavia.

o The younger sons got glory by being Vikings

o In Ireland, the 19th century, there was a scarcity of land

Solution was primogeniture

The younger sons made a life by coming to the United States.

*** primo- is like prime (number one) and ends in -o, which has a male connotation, like in the spanish language; so primogeniture associates with the number one son

Sororate and Levirate

Sororate- If the wife is infertile, her husband will procreate with the sister in order to have a child

Levirate-Brother of a deceased man is required to marry his widowed wife

Exogamy and Endogamy

Exogamy-Practice of marrying outside ones own group or category

--clans and lineages are exogamus

---exogamus are the groups

----This is a prohibition on marriage

---Incest is a prohibition on sex

Endogamy-Marrying insides ones own group

-doesn't mean someone in your family

--can mean someone in your class or position

----like the Rockefellers marry someone of the same status

--Racial endogamy

---You don't marry your brother or sister, but someone of the same race

Caste System of India

-----ENDOGAMY)= preserves the overall hierarchy, when you start marrying between casts it messes up the rigidity

The more rigid the caste, the more endogamy is enforced

Who: Developed by the Aryans

What: social structure with 4 groups:

1. Priests(brahmins)

2. Warriors(Kshatriyas)

3. Merchants(vaishyas)

4. Workers(shudras)

5. Outcasts (not even considered a Caste)

Where: India

When: 1500 - 321 BCE

Why: Determined occupation, family, jobs, etc

Caste of Hindu India

4 castes with subcastes

• you are born a member of a caste and die in that caste

• it determines your occupation

• you are expected to marry within your own caste

Post-Marital Residence

-Matrilocal Residence

-Patrilocal Residence

-Neolocal Residence

Rules and practices that a bride and groom marry that determine where they go to live

- Matrilocal Residence living with wife's people

- Patrilocal Residence live with spouse's/husband's people

- Neolocal Residence establishing new place of residence after marriage

Bridewealth

Institution that shows a perspective husband's offering to the bride's familyo

Not the purchase of a bride

-May be called "bride price" in older times

-May using very special forms of wealth

-More distinct than other forms of wealth in mundane everyday things

-Signifies new relationship between her people and his people

-Can also because it compensates for the loss of her labor

-In Southern Africa, u suto

-Cattle used to pay

-So big, require installments

Dowry

Bride's wealth to the groom

o Quite common in Europe, even today

o In America, bulk of the payment come from the bride's family

o Think of Dowry as a form of inheritance for the daughter

In most systems the assets of the father who died is usually split amongst the sons

Though daughter may not have control of it

Bride Service

Husband works for bride's kin group

-transfer of labor from husband to wife's people for a set period of time

-In Sahara a bride's man will hunt for the bride's people

Marriage Exchange

-Simultaneous exchange of wealth: dowry and bride wealth

-Both families of bride and groom will give the other family some sort of wealth in gifts

-o Very common in pacific island and native Americans of Northwest

o Simultaneous exchange of wealth from Bride's people to groom's people and Groom to Brides

o The forms of wealth are gender

There are wealths particular to each gender

They each give something specific to their wealth

Grooms provide male wealth to the bride's people

Brides provided female wealth to the Groom's people

This is rather competitive

Each side wants to give more to the other side

• This is how you win

• Competitive gifting

"Nature" and Kinship

-Cultural construction or ties of "blood"?)

"Nature" and Kinship

- cultural construction or ties of "blood"?

What is the genetic tie between the man and the child? None.

Genetic tie between woman who payed the bridewealth and the wife? None

Cattle wealthy men has a lot of power

-Natural blood ties don't exist because often the woman has children with another man who isn't her husband aka father gives cattle to the wife and is the father of ALL her children, even if biologically they arent his

-Blood is a symbol

Case of the Nuer: people who live in the country of South Sudan (Africa). Cattle—special because cattle can stand for people. Blood of people and cattle are one. Patrilineal (belong to the group of your father, not your mother). Paliginous (Man can have multiple wives). Pay Bride wealth (man's side produce cattle to give to the bride's group). Immortality. Nuer Men: want children because it will give you immortality, give you descendants. Men not given descendants will die a true death. Must honor you in the shrines.

Kinship and Power

Kinship structure is a power (political) structure; the cattle are not individually owned; the cattle are corporate (sister gets married gets cattle for bridewealth, belong to the corporate wealth- father and his sons collectively hold the cattle, even the father's brother might have individual claims to the cattle)

The Wife's father owns (CEO) of cattle

Fathers have leverage over sons cattle

Nuer Marriage & "Descent"

Basics:

--In order for a man to be the husband of a bride, he must pay bridewealth through cattle. By doing this, the woman's children will also become the man's, and when the man dies he will become an immortal ancestor.

--A woman can also be considered a "husband" if she pays another women in cattle. This would happen in the situation of an infertile lady. The woman paying the bridewealth would be considered the "husband", and the one having the children would be the "wife". DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE LESBIANS.

--There is such thing as a "ghost marriage", where a man dies younger without getting married, but their kin still pays a woman bridewealth so the dead man becomes a father and the man won't live a bad death.

--In order to get a divorce, one must give back the bridewealth. This is difficult, because the kin group might want the exact same cattle back that was initially given.

--Once the woman has fulfilled her obligation of having the man's children, she may talk back and have other affairs with no consequences. But the children she has had before is still considered that man's children. This would happen in the situation of an infertile lady

Nuer Kinship and Sociopolitical Relations

-Elders and sons

If bride wealth is paid for in a marriage then if the wife gives birth to a child that may not be biologically related to the husband but it his child

Sociopolitcal Relations: Cattle corporation- the elders controlled the cattle

- elders and sons

-father holds something over sons.

-fathers have authority over sons

-be good to father, or else he won't give you cattle to get married.

- economic exchange

Matrilateral and Patrilateral Biological Kin Types

Each person on the mother's side, start with the letter M

Parallel Cousins and Cross Cousins

Parallel Cousins: children of same sex siblings

-ex: father's brother's children are ego's parallel cousins

Cross Cousins: children of opposite sex siblings

-ex: father's sister's children are ego's cross cousins

Ascending Generation (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.)

Above ego's generation such as parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents, etc.--

-One generation up (parents, aunts, uncles)

-Your ancestors and their siblings

-1st ascending generation: Parents, aunts, uncle

-2nd ascending generation: grandparents, great-aunts, great-uncles

-3rd ascending generation: great grandparents

Descending Generation (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.)

-one generation down (your children)

-1st descending generation: children, nephews, niece

-2nd descending generation: grandchildren

-3rd descending generation: great grandchildren and such

Ego's Own Generation

A central person, siblings, and cousins' generation(0)

—egos=brothers and sisters

-Ego is designated so there is a point of reference (subject that you are talking about)

*** Egocentric = there is a designated point of reference and you are only talking about them

Sociopolitical Organization

-Band

Band: small kin based group

small kin-based groups (50-100 people)

Ex: San of Kalahari

-Dry Season:spread out

-Rainy Season- split up

-Dyadic ties: ties between persons a share

There are permanent water holes in various places in the Kalahari desert that are miles apart

There are groups of people that have hereditary ties to a water hole

Each group at a water hole is a band

• There are personal ties between people of different bands

• However, there is no formal relationship between the entity of one band with another band

o There are only personal relationships amongst the people

o This is called band level society.

*** Musical bands are often small and everyone in the band has a close relationship with each other (personal level relationship)

- Chiefdom

Centralized point of authority (Chief)

o Large

o Kinship based structures

Tribes and bands don't have chiefs

o Trobrianders

there are four clans

matrilineal

has many different lineages

Each clan has lineages that is ranked differently

• There is a chief lineage

o The chief will come from this lineage

o The chief has control of the people in his clan only

o He is the oldest son of the eldest sister

There is a clan that is higher than the other four

• There is a paramount chief from this clan

o But he can only command people from his own clan

o But has more duties and responsibilities than other chiefs

State

-has a centralized authority

-operates on principle of territory

-doesn't matter if you're related or not

-coercive apparatus

-all societies are incorporated into states

*** States have mayors (centralized authority)

tribe

larger than bands (1000 people)

o Is organized around principle of kinship.

o They have pan-tribal organization principle

There is something that relates people of different groups

NO CHIEF

4th World People

--Have different organization from a state level society

--Keeping their own ethnic group alive

--had some sort of another form of organization and have been forcefully pulled into a state and now must somehow maintain an identity

Ex: the Nuer

The Turks in Sudan forced them into slaves for Ottoman Empire

Then the British invaded and the Nuer became part of the British colony

There was a civil war, but after it ended they discovered that the Nuer were on oil so they violated the peace treaty

• Second revolt

• SPLA

• Some nuers were moved to Minnesota as political refugees

Nuer Segmentary Lineage System

Bases of all the organization was through kin

• number some 200,000 in East Africa: 20 clans;

• each clan is Patrilineal, segmented into maximal lineages, then major, minor, minimal;

• minimal lineage is descended from one great-grandfather or great-great grandfather;

• lineage segments are all equal;

• no leadership exists above autonomous minimal or primary segments;

• can form armies quickly

• can lead to blood feuds (one person from a lineage kills someone from another lineage; lineages fight amongst each other or band together and fight other lineages)

Pantribal Sodalities

Non-kin group organized for a specific purpose

--sodalities are non-kin groups, often based on common age or gender that link local groups in tribal societies

-extend across the whole tribe, spanning several villages

-likely to develop in the presence of intertribal warfare

-18th and 19th centuries: formation of pantribal sodalities among NA societies of the North American Great Plains

Masai: Age Grades and Age Sets

Age grades: formal stage in the life cycle

-Going through initiation to get into these things based on their age

Age sets: groups of similarly aged individuals that together go through the age grade-

AGE GRADE: stage in the life cycle; individual passes through all different stages (elem school, jr high, highschool) = initiation ceremony: grab all boys from all tribe areas and have a ceremony to initiate age sets and would effectively be a military unit in the army; no government, king

AGE SET: a cohort; group of similarly aged people who go THROUGH age grades together, as a group (class of 2013, class of 2014)

men born during the same 4-year period belonged to the same age set through their lives

the sets move through age grades-warrior most important

-women move through age grades: married initiate, elder

Stratification

-process of dividing society into ranked groupings

-institutionalized inequality

-Different statuses and groups of people in a society. Ranked in terms of prestige, privilege, power. Systemized institutionalized inequality

Egalitarianism

little stratification causing equality

-Absence of these forms of ranked groupings idea that people are equal

Status- Ascribed and Achieved

Ascribed status: inherited

Achieved status: earned

Role

obligations and privileges given

Status Set

status and role overlapping and many-multiple status and multiple roles simultaneously

--

collection of all status you hold simultaneously (you hold multiple roles simultaneously: husband to wife, father to children, son to parents, lecturer to students)

role conflict: a mother's son is sick, but she has a presentation at work

*** a set is like a grouping of similar things

Strata

level to which people are assigned based on their status

-In Hindu Indian the strata are the Castes and Jatis

In the U.S. the strata are the classes

In South Africa the strata are the Apartheid

Whites, colors, blacks

Whites = Europeans, colors = asian, Indian, etc.

Strata is a general term

Many ways it can be categorized

No one specific form

Class

the system of ordering a society in which people are divided into sets based on perceived social or economic status

Mode of Production and Means of Production

Modes of Production: a way of organizing production-- " a set of social relations through which labor is depoloyed to wrest energy from nature by means of tools, skills, organization and knowledge". ex: (capitalist society) money buys labor, you hire someone to clean your home

ex: (kin based society) labor is given, mutual aid is given to serve a larger web of social relations

Means of Production: land (territory), labor, technology// among food producers, rights to means of production come through marriage and kinship

*(among food producers: aka the type of people who don't forage for food, but plant it, eat livestock etc) rights to means of production also came through kinship and marriage

so, as a member of that lineage (you are a descendent of a family that are food producers) you have access to animals to start your own herd, grazing land, gardening land etc (THESE ARE MEANS OF PRODUCTION)*

Multidimensional Approach to Hierarchy as Practice - Economic, Social, and Cultural Capital

Economic: financial instruments

Social: who do you know? Connections made

Cultural: taste and style

-knowledge governing consumption (what to consume and how to)

Authority

Relationship between 2 or more people and one of them has a legitimate right to tell others what to do

Headman

-Achieved status **authority only over one village***

-person attributes: reputation and having skills-

-achieved status not an ascribed status, you influence, you convince people, the group wants your voice. No authority, can't order people to do things but can convince people

Bigman

-Achieved status

*has authority/allies in several villages**

-personal attributes: ability to persuade people, influential

-Achieved status, influence on personal qualities, attributes. No authority to order people, can convince and argue with people but can't order

Moka in New Guinea Highlands

Competitive feasting and gifting

-shows superiority with gifts

-big man organizes this

-Oversees alliances with other villages

-the practice of over payment, Egan's explanation: I pay someone with 200 pigs, (their debt to me is 200 pigs) they pay me back 300 pigs (my debt is now 100 pigs because they payed me extra)

This is the overpayment.

Chief

-ascribed status

-influence is independent of personal attributes

-authority invested in the office of the chief

-authority over fellow kinsmen

Political Leaders in States

Diversity: can be either ascribed (UK) or achieved (US) groups

-Authority

-Territory

-- Authority over everyone in a territory

· Mobilization of labor and authority

Great diversity of different kinds of leaders (ascribed statuses→ king, sovereign, Achieved statuses→ prime minister.) (could be a group→ old roman senate, or a person)→ STATE LEVEL LEADERS HAS POWER OVER A TERRITORY NOT a KINSHIP

how effective they are to get a group of people together???

**States can mobilize the most amount of people*

Authority and Mobilization of Labor

-Contrast Bigman, Chief, State Leaders

Bigman: constantly gives to create personal relationships

-Creates small mobilization groups because of the effort it takes

Chief: kinship links

-Mobilize more people because of given authority

State: extends over territory

Holism

Any practice has to be understood in its whole context

--Holism: think "whole"

idea that sociocultural practices need to be understood in their ENTIRE sociocultural context

the idea that individual sociocultural practices must be understood in relation to their broader sociocultural context.

-culture is to some degree integrated

-nuer: cattle >>$, bridewealth, marriage

- looking at things from every perspective bc they are all integrated

Ethnographic Fieldwork

-qualitative research

-going through the same thing you are researching such as living with the trobriand islanders

Survey Research

Shows distribution-

A research study that uses the survey observational technique to measure behavior

• Often conducted to measure mood, attitudes about a topic, or frequency of certain behaviors through self-reports from the participants

• Typically contain a number of questions that ask the research participant to rate the presence or frequency of her/his own thoughts or behaviors

• Often asked to use response scale (1-5), response category (frequently-never) that matches how they feel about a behavior

Matriliny vs Patriliny

Matriliny: women are considered powerful/superior: birth of a female=great joy

Patriliny: men are considered powerful/superior: birth of male= great joy

Patriarchy/Matriarchy

Patriarchy: society ruled by men / family

-Associated toward violence

-Women are inferior

Matriarchy: society ruled by women / family

-Not the mirror image of patriarchy

-Do not rule like dictators

-There is still a voting process

Gender & Sex

Gender: cultural meanings

-Binary opposition: What men are, women aren't

Sex: biological differences-

stereotypes

-public realm= male (war, society, politics)

-domestic realm= female (family)

---- process of marrying a woman is shown as taming a wild beast.

Gender Roles

Through different cultures and societies there are perceived notions of what female's and male's roles are

---women are isolated from the workplace, isolated from other women

women's duties inside the home, not allowed to work outside the home

men are considered the "bread winners" think about the time in class where Egan said cat and dog and we all associated dog with male

Gender Stratification

Inequality between genders-Unequal distribution of social resources between men and women.

Minangkabau "Matriarchy" (Sumatra)

In Indonesia, males and females relate more like partners for the greater good rather than one gender above another

Matriarchy: Women has control over the land (inherits it)

-Men move into his wife's house

-women play a central role in social, economic, and ceremonial life and key symbols (matrilineal descent = way to rank villages

Gender Beyond Male & Female

-Transgender Identity

-Hijra, Berdache

fear and ignorance related to diversity in gender fuels discrimination

- Transgender Identity

Individuals whose gender identity contradicts their biological sex at birth and the gender identity that society assigned to them in infancy

Hijra (Transgender): India's third sex/gender. many get their income performing at ceremonies, begging, prositution. In Indian society certain societal requirements neccissated the castration of some men who then filled the special roles=Hijra

Berdache (Male homosexuals): "Zuni man-woman"Men assume women's roles, Native Americans, Biological men who assumed many mannerisms, behaviors, tasks, that women did. Some Bedache married men, (those men would hunt, gather etc perform the male role while the Berdache fufilled women's roles) OR the berdache "manly hearted woman" would marry a women. Berdache would fufill the male roles. wife would fufill her roles.

Geography

-Trobriand Islands

-Papua New Guinea

-Massim

- Trobriand Islands: group of Islands in the Papua new Guinea

- Papua New Guinea: Country

- Massim: Region

Trobiand of Wealth & Political Relations

Giving away wealth, leaders accumulate power

ex:moka-gift and this creates alliances

-causes debt by giving gift in excess

--Patterns of consumption help us see social structure and differential access to food

• Protein rich diet of upper classes

• Distinct from lower class

• Different diets of upper and lower classes resulted in different life expectancies and health

• Today, poor people eat more fast food with added sugar and fat

Trobriand Wealth

-Men's Wealth and Women's Wealth

Mens wealth: -yams

-stone axe blades

-pigs

-clay pots

-kula valuables: shell necklaces and arm shells

Women's wealth: skirts and banana leaf bundles

Public & Domestic Domains

Domains viewed as natural and hence universal

Domestic domain: the household

-(gender construction) typically females

Public domain: relations between and beyond households

-(gender constructions) typically males

Trobriand Matrilineage & Matriclan

Matrilineage: belonging to your mother's lineage rather than fathers

Matriclan: belonging to your mother's clan

--*Father, not a member of his children's lineage, a stranger to his own children. Father belongs to his OWN matrilineage.

Trobriand Sexuality

At a young age the trobrianders engage in sex.

In finding partners they wear coconut oil and other things that make them "beautiful" such as flower and shell arm bands that have "love spells" in them

Lovers are not allowed to be seen together in public so a girl or guy can go to their lovers house in the night but must return before morning

Trobriand Marriage

-Sex before marriage is a common thing for the trobrianders

-Once marriage occurs that ceases because adultery is a serious crime to commit.

-A marriage is acknowledge when the woman goes to her lovers house and her mother brings cooked yams so they can eat together because lovers (before marriage) do not eat in front of each other

Trobriand Views of Conception

A spirit from Tuma enters a woman's body and then she becomes pregnant

They belief in magic influences a woman's chances of getting pregnant also

Although in modern times the trobrianders understand the biological view of conception they still use magic in certain ways of explanation

Fathers, Parenting, and Child Development

Although a child born belongs to their mother's lineage and clan. The raising of a child is done by the father so that later in life the favor is returned-

--*Father must provide food and wealth to children publicly

*Once a child is weaned, it sleeps w/ father

*Kula necklaces to make the child "beautiful"= show father's wealth/political power/presence

*shell earrings=father, political power

Brother-Sister Avoidance

The incest taboo also adheres to the idea of a brother can not interfere with his sisters choice of husband

-Very little informal meeting between siblings

-No emotional connection

- Does not spend a lot of time together

--no contact or interaction from onset of puberty until one is married

The incest taboo also adheres to the idea of a brother can not interfere with his sisters choice of husband. No emotional connection . Does not spend a lot of time together

Yam Gardens

-Who makes them and for whom

The men makes the yams but for others (gardener's married sister)

Men makes yams for their own sisters or daughters

--*Men grow yams and give them away to women (sisters and daughters).

*When a woman marries, her father and brothers grow a garden for her and her husband will use the yam garden.

*Adult sons grow yams for their mothers (and fathers)

*No man can use the yam for himself.

Trobriand Chief

-Chiefly Lineages

-RedistrIbution vs Accumulation

-Polygyny

Chiefly Lineages were established long ago and continued to today or died off when ones matrilineage died.

A chiefs role is to be generous and distribute his wealth (yams) through this he accumulates political power

In order to be generous he requires a lot of yams and the only way he gains yams is through his wife.

Chiefs are the only ones that practice polygyny because he gains yams through his wife

Overturning the Yam House

Chief gives yams away that he received by his wives brothers

This is to show his generosity

Kayasa

Competition giving of yams between different clans

-A competitive yam harvest organized by the strong hamlet leader or chief

they play a cricket game and then give a bunch of yams away, the next time, those who received yams will give MORE back, and so on. (similar to Moka)

Death, Funerals, and Trobriand Social Reproduction

-Death: When someone passes the trobriand believes it was because of sorcery

-The lineage itself is under attack by an enemy when one person dies

-To die a natural death is to die of old age in their sleep

-The lineage must show it is still strong

Does this by repaying the debt of the dead

Pays back with women's wealth

Banana leaf bundles, grass skirts

The elder women compete about who can give away the most

-Social Reproduction: To be innocent of the sorcery the trobriands that knew the dead person will either be a worker or owner and have tasks to perform

Sagali (Mortuary Exchanges)

-Workers and Owners

-Owners Presentation of Women's Wealth to Workers

Sagali: Mortruary distrubution

-Paying off debts

-Reasserts strength of their lineage

Owners: members of the deceased's lineage

Workers: all others who do the work of the mourners

Valova Exchanges

Exchanges of women's wealth (banana leaf bundles and skirts)

-The husband uses his actual wages (real money) to buy things so that the wife can trade these things for banana leaf bundles and grass skirts. Husband must help his wife

-bartering

1. She can trade for additional bundles

a. tobacco for bundles

b. Tobacco has to be purchased from a store

i. Woman's husband provides money for tobacco

Relationship between

-yam gardens for sister and her husband

-Sagali

-Valolova

In context of a married women:

She will receive a yam house after marriage when the marriage seems solidified

Her brother and father will have a yam garden for her and this will be given to her husband

Yams are used in sagali as one form of payment for those who helped in the rituals for the dead person

Kula Exchange

Exchange of goods to create alliances between men such as stone axe blades and shell necklaces and arm bands

Why have many anthropologists today concluded that the different ways of interacting with an environment to gain subsistence (foraging, extensive and intensive agriculture, pastoralism, industrialism) be thought of as “subsistence strategies” or “techniques of production” and NOT as types of societies?

Anthropologists view subsistence methods as "subsistence strategies" or "techniques of production" because they focus on the methods used to obtain resources rather than defining the entire society. These strategies can coexist within a society, and societies can change their strategies over time, showing that subsistence methods are not fixed societal types but adaptable practices.

Foraging

Extensive Agri.

Intensive Agri.

Pastoralism

Industrialism

Contrast horticulture (extensive agriculture) with agriculture (intensive agriculture). How do they represent opposite ends of a continuum?  What kinds of factors would encourage a society to shift the position of its cultivation practices along this continuum?

Horticulture (extensive agriculture) involves low-input, large-area farming with minimal use of technology, relying on natural processes like crop rotation and fallowing. Agriculture (intensive agriculture) uses high-input, small-area farming, employing technology such as fertilizers and irrigation to maximize yield. They represent opposite ends of a continuum based on input levels, land use, and technological reliance.

Factors encouraging a shift include population pressure, which may necessitate higher yields; technological advancements, enabling more intensive practices; environmental changes, requiring adaptation; and economic incentives, such as market demand for specific crops. Societies may move towards intensive agriculture to increase efficiency and productivity, or revert to horticulture for sustainability and reduced environmental impact.