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1002:2024:4.2 [2024/08/20 01:08] – [Many societies also have this kind of bias when they describe their own kinship] Ryan Schram (admin)1002:2024:4.2 [2024/08/20 21:39] (current) – [Classical anthropological theories of kinship are just Western cultural assumptions] Ryan Schram (admin)
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 ===== Sexual symbolism is not the only way people talk about kinship ===== ===== Sexual symbolism is not the only way people talk about kinship =====
  
-In fact, many societies have forms of kinship that have nothing to do with heterosexual conjugality.+In fact, many other societies have forms of kinship that have nothing to do with heterosexual conjugality, even if they use metaphor of "blood."
  
   * Nuer “ghost marriages” (or “woman marriage”) allow women to be treated as husbands, and as fathers for purposes of patrilineal descent (Evans-Pritchard 1951, 108–9; see also O’Brien 1977; Krige 1974).   * Nuer “ghost marriages” (or “woman marriage”) allow women to be treated as husbands, and as fathers for purposes of patrilineal descent (Evans-Pritchard 1951, 108–9; see also O’Brien 1977; Krige 1974).
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 In many societies people speak of kinship as a natural fact in their “blood,” but that doesn’t only mean their birth to parents. In many societies people speak of kinship as a natural fact in their “blood,” but that doesn’t only mean their birth to parents.
 +
 +Other societies think of kinship in terms of something else altogether. They don't assume kinship is essential or fixed. 
  
 ===== Why did early anthropologists ignore all these exceptions? ===== ===== Why did early anthropologists ignore all these exceptions? =====
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 He questioned the assumptions that underlie the classical conception of kinship in anthropology. He questioned the assumptions that underlie the classical conception of kinship in anthropology.
  
-To reveal the biases in older model of kinship, he wrote an “ethnography” of his own society:+To reveal the biases in older model of kinship, he wrote an “ethnography” of his own society:
  
-  * //American Kinship: A Cultural Account// ([1968] 1980) is a study of how white, middle people in the US categorize their relatives.+  * //American Kinship: A Cultural Account// ([1968] 1980) is a study of how white, middle-class people in the US categorize their relatives.
   * Schneider and his colleagues were mostly products of this culture, and applied its assumptions to other societies they studied.   * Schneider and his colleagues were mostly products of this culture, and applied its assumptions to other societies they studied.
  
1002/2024/4.2.1724141326.txt.gz · Last modified: 2024/08/20 01:08 by Ryan Schram (admin)