The Study of Kinship

The Study of Kinship

*Works Cited Missing*

When studying kinship, it is needless to say that just one type of

society can justify for kinship patterns; rather, to be able to

identify and understand the differences of kinship systems, one needs

to do a cross-cultural comparison. I’ve decided to compare the system

of the Trobriand Islanders of the South Pacific, to the very loose

kinship arrangement of the Ju’wasi San of the Kalahari. These two

societies have been chosen as they represent different levels of

social, cultural, and technological complexities. The Ju’wasi were

gatherers and hunters, living in small, mobile groups; the

Trobrianders were horticulturists living in villages of up to 400

people.

The Trobrianders (Malinowski: early 20th century and Powell: mid 20th

century) live in some 80 villages whose populations range from 40 –

400. These villages are further divided into hamlets, and each hamlet

consists of a matrilineage, or a dala (a group of men related to each

other through the female line, along with their wives and children). A

dala is a corporation that controls land. Each dala had its origin in

a brother/sister pair who claim a plot of land. The dala marriage is

traced through the female line and individuals must marry someone from

outside their own dala. Their households are composed of wives,

husbands, and children. Males 12-151 years of age go to live with

their father (patrilocal residence). If the male will inherit land

from the dala of his mother’s brother, he lives with his uncle

(avanculocal residence); the father, in this case, is considered as an

affine, or an in-law.

The Ju’wasi (Marjorie Shostak:? And Richard Lee:?), for most of the

year, live in groups of 10-40 people, bilaterally related (through