Kinship and Marriage

Human organization
Culture and society are tied closely together
People share culture
They are members of societal organizations
But their reasons for organizational practices are often supported
by cultural beliefs and ideologies

Anthropologist Marvin Harris saw economy and

environment as greatly influencing marriage and
other social organization strategies
The lowest level he called the infrastructure this includes a
groups subsistence strategy for making a living from its environment.
(Foraging, horticulture, agriculture, industrialization, etc.)

The middle level he called the social structure this includes the
ways societies organize themselves through kinship, gender roles, politics,
systems of work and systems of collaboration or trade, etc.

The top level he called the superstructure this includes the

ideational concerns of culture, its social values, religion, myth, art, norms
etc.

Infrastructure
Because the infrastructure covers a groups basic survival needs for food,
water, shelter, etc., it is the foundation of any culture/society. The
infrastructure includes the environment that a group is part of that puts
limitations on how a group can make its living. The infrastructure includes
the strategies that people use to gain access to resources. Hunters and
gatherers will have strategies than agriculturalists, for example, but
environmental factors will influence how hunting and gathering is practiced
or how agriculture is accomplished.
Social structure
Harris pointed out that the social systems and the ways that societies
organize themselves springs out of the infrastructure. People will organize
themselves through kinship systems and political systems that support the
ways they make a living. So agriculturalists, for example, are often
concerned with having enough male kinsmen working together to keep the
farm going. Their kinship systems often involve keeping brothers and uncles
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together on a farm. The men marry women who leave their families and go
to live with their husbands family. (This is called patrilocal residence
because the couple lives with the grooms family.) Agricultural systems
around the world are largely patrilocal, patrilineal, and patriarchal because of
the economic advantage of keeping male relatives together to do the heavy
work.
We will be talking more about this next week when we begin to discuss
economic systems. For now, keep in mind that kinship systems likely support
the economic structures that are in place.
Superstructure
Harris also talked about the superstructure that includes the ideologies,
beliefs, religious doctrines etc. of a culture/society. The superstructure
provides people with the reasons for going along with the kinship and
political systems that support the economic systems. People believe that
their kinship systems are important and right because they believe they are
moral. People often believe that a higher power (God) has created the rules
and reasons for following the laws and customs about marriage and family.
It is the superstructure, the ideologies, that provide the reasons for following
social system expectations, which hold together the social systems, which
hold together the economic systems.

When the infrastructure (economy technology)

changes, the social organizations change to support
the changing economy.
The superstructure (ideologies and beliefs) is usually
the last to change in response to economic changes.
Harris and others would likely point out that some
religious and ideological systems, which evolved
from a previous economic foundation, can be
inconsistent or incompatible with emerging economic
systems and the social systems that support them.
We will talk more about this when we discuss the
article about bride burning in India.

Kinship is a primary way that societies

organize themselves

Kinship strategies (social structure) are often closely related

to subsistence strategies (infrastructure).

There are strong patterns but not universal.

Types of descent

Foragers were/are often bilateral

Bilateral descent means that an individual (ego) can inherit property from both her/his
mothers or fathers side of the family. Bonds and other kinds of connections can be with
mothers kin and fathers kin. The United States primarily practices bilateral descent.

Horticulturalists were/are often matrilineal but many were/are

patrilineal
Matrilineal descent is traced through ancestors in the female line. Examples include the
Hopi and the Tlingit.

Pastoralists were/are primarily patrilineal

Patrlineal descent is traced through ancestors in the male line. Examples are most of India
and China.

Agriculturalists have tended to be patrilineal

Awlad Ali Bedouin Tribes

Egypt, Libya and the Western Desert
(From the fieldwork of Lila Abu-Lughod and her book Veiled Sentiments:
Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society. University of California Press. 2000.)
The Bedouins of the Western Desert of Egypt and Libya have long herded
camels, sheep and goats. They are pastoralists. As with most pastoralists in
the world, governments are working hard to contain and assimilate them.
Pastoralists generally move around as nomads to where there is food for
their animals. They mostly do not exhibit much loyalty to a governmental
entity and are highly independent. In that sense, they irritate governmental
leaders.
The Bedouin tribes with whom Abu-Lughod did her studies were forced to be
more sedentary. However, they maintain strong Bedouin identity and
consider themselves distinct from non-Bedouins
The Awlad Ali are patrilineal, patrilocal, and patriarchal. A woman leaves her
family of origin to live with her husbands family. She will maintain her
allegiance to her fathers blood line rather than her husbands blood line. Her
children belong to her husbands family and not her own.

Blood is the basis of Awlad Ali identity

Nobility of origin (blood)

Honor
Sincerity
Generosity (especially honoring guests)

They value:

Fearlessness and courage are valued even though tribal warfare is

gone

Values of the warrior

For pastoralists, male upper body strength is important. Groups who rely on
large animals as their resource base often need men to work together.
Loyalty is necessary for this economic strategy to be successful. This means
that sons, brothers, uncles, fathers, etc. must believe that they are
connected strongly to each other and that their loyalty to their male relatives
is of utmost importance. Anything that might distract them from their
responsibilities to the male family group could be dangerous to the survival
of the group.
For Bedouins, their religious and moral ideologies are deeply connected to
upholding a social system that makes survival possible in their ecological
and economic environment. It is, perhaps, not the only system that would
work in their environment, but it is a system that has evolved over many
centuries.
The Awlad Ali believe that morality is what most distinguishes them from
and makes them superior to other peoples.
At the heart of their moral system are the values of honor and modesty.
Code of honor
(ancestry/origin/nobility)
- moral character is believed to be passed through a blood line
- that means if you do something to shame your family, you have
tainted the entire blood line and the moral integrity of your whole
family, not just your own reputation.

They value generosity, honesty, sincerity, loyalty to friends, keeping ones

word
Even more important is the complex of values connected with
independence.
- being free implies strength to stand alone and freedom from
domination
- this freedom is won through tough assertiveness, fearlessness, and
pride
- it is won through self control
Weaknesses in any of these areas disqualifies someone for positions of
responsibility and respect. If you cannot show your ability to be autonomous
and fearless, you are put in a position of dependency or vulnerability to
domination by others
A real man stands alone and fears nothing
Like a falcon
Courage of the warrior ethic
The real man is not afraid of being alone at night despite the risk of
confrontation with wild animals and spirits in the open desert.
Fear of anyone or anything implies that it has control over you.
As such, men who are driven by sexual desire are considered fools. A woman
and an emotion have control over the man. A man who is in love weakens
his allegiance to his male leaders and his male cohorts.
Greater contempt is reserved for the man who admits dependence on a
particular woman. This is a sign of weakness that permits the proper power
relations between the sexes to be reversed.
When a man is really something, he pays no heed to women
A man forfeits control and loses honor either through a general lack of
assertiveness vis a vis women almost a personality defect or through
excessive attachment to one woman that leads to fear of losing or alienating
her.
If a man becomes overly attached to a woman he is dishonored.
It shows that one is controlled by another person.
The most supreme value is autonomy in the code of honor.
Those who cannot realize autonomy and self mastery can
achieve some respect and honor through the modesty code

In Bedouin society it is the elder men who make the decisions and have
ultimate control over resources. Eventually their sons will have achieved
independence and self mastery and will be the leaders. The elder mens
authority and the primary concern of men to honor their bloodline
responsibilities means that men will be bound together to defend the group
and the animals when necessary. Anything that could weaken that loyalty is
a threat to the entire group, including attachments to women.

Independence and self mastery are the way to honor.

Women can never achieve autonomy or self
mastery. Their choice for respect and honor is
through the modesty code.
Why women cannot achieve autonomy and self mastery:

Women have little control over sexuality and reproduction

Men want to control them because of their value as reproducers

So through sexuality and pregnancy, women lose control over their

own bodies

A womans children make her more dependent on her husband and

increasingly under his control

Her choice is to attain some measure of honor through modesty

1930s Bedouin bride in Egypt

Blood relations are given priority

Even if a man very much loves his wife, it is shameful to value marital
ties over blood ties

He cannot let anyone know that he loves his wife

Love ties between a man and a woman are connected with loss of self
mastery and autonomy

Modesty requires that men and women express lack of interest in

sexuality

A woman retains her tribal affiliation throughout her life and should
side with her own kin in disputes with her husbands kin

Sexuality is a threat to the social order in

almost any society

Bedouin love matches are traditionally opposed on principal

They violate the ideal of familial control over marriage

They represent individual initiatives and defiance of the system

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The paternal first cousin of a girl is ultimately responsible for

preventing a love match

Custom gives him the right to claim her in marriage

His kinsmen pressure him to preserve the kin groups honor

She has behaved immodestly and threatens the honor of the kin group

Hopefully this example helps you better understand the connections

between economic strategies, social systems, and moral systems as
part of group survival.