Kinship Project due Monday
quizzes returned, grades have improved
Comms project will be counted twice and I'll almost certainly have to drop this course now. Whee.
Marriage:
- Functions/Purpose:
- Reduce sexual competetion:
- humans have no estrus cycle
- humans use covert signals to inducate receptiveness
- long term relationships allow males to study a female and learn her signals
- male must be present to prevent other males from impregnating the female
- Reduce sexual competetion:
- Infant Care
- Create labour and economic unit
- Legitimizes children, link with family group/caste
- unilineal societies in particular
- caste systems ensure purity by marrying in caste
- Alliances: on many scales
- Exchange of wealth
- Companionship and social unit
Western expectations of marriage:
- companionship
- social unit creation
- emotional support
- financial support
- co-parent, role model
Marriage Rules:
- endogamy
- exogamy
- Cousin preference
- Biblical model
- Western model
- Exchange of Wealth:
- bride price: paid by groom's family to brides
- Nuer Bride Price Payments (cattle, calves, oxen) from CP
- Senegalese bride-price money (Iron barbs)
- dowry: brides family paid to groom's family
- Hope Chest
- bridal shower, gift registries
- traditionally dowry is returned in divorce, unless there is cause demonstrated against the man
- in some poverty stricken parts of the world, women are now selling their organs to pay their own dowry
- causes gender selection in childbirth
- dowry murder: wife is murdered to keep dowry from returning to bride's family
- > specific marriage practices of certain communities
- > essay questions for next exam, which is in one week