Social and Cultural Anthropology: Kinship, Marriage and Family
Kinship, marriage and family are the core of social anthropology. The exam asks you to define descent, residence and marriage rules, identify family types, and analyse Kerala examples such as the Nair taravad.
Core rules
- Descent: patrilineal (through father), matrilineal (through mother), bilateral (both). Descent governs inheritance, name and group membership.
- Residence: patrilocal, matrilocal, uxorilocal, avunculocal, neolocal.
- Marriage rules: exogamy (outside one's group), endogamy (inside), cross-cousin marriage (MBD/FZS), levirate, sororate.
- Forms: monogamy, polygyny, polyandry; bride price versus dowry.
- Family: nuclear, joint/extended; household is a residence unit, not necessarily a kin unit. Kerala's Nair communities practised marumakkathayam, matrilineal descent with matrilocal residence in the taravad, though reform and legislation changed inheritance. Many Kerala tribal groups, such as the Kurichiya, are patrilineal, showing that no single 'tribal' pattern exists.
Worked example
In a community a man's land passes to his sister's son, and a newly married couple lives in the wife's mother's house. Descent is matrilineal because inheritance follows the mother's line; residence is matrilocal/uxorilocal. This does not make the society matriarchal-women may hold property without holding political dominance.
Traps
Matrilineal is not matriarchal; matrilocal is not matrilineal; dowry (groom's side receives) is not bride price (bride's side receives); joint family is not household; cross-cousin marriage is not the same as clan exogamy.