Kinship and Descent System of Malbedey Community: A Case Study of Gopalpur Village in Munshiganj District.

Abstract

The paper analyzes the kinship and descent system of Malbedey Community at Gopalpur village in Munshigonj District. An attempt has been made to explore the role of kin and descent in the traditional and changing life systems of the Malbedey community, in particular. Here Malbedey is a sub- branch of Bedey community. in Bangladesh who had lived on boats travelling along the rivers for their livelihood since past. They are also a marginal group who customarily catches and sells snakes. Additionally, they are a folk healer, selling beads, amulets and a few more items. At present, the Malbedey community has come out the boat life to live permanently settling on land, and many of them have abandoned their traditional occupations to make a living through various informal economic activities in rural areas. The Malbedey community has the same kinship and descent system having extended as part of larger population. Research shows that blood, marriage, fictitious kinship and descriptive kinship terminologies do exist among the Malbedey community. In their kinship system everyone is addressed specifically in descriptive kinship terminologies like, Mother, Father, Grandfather, Grandmother, Aunt, Uncle, Cousin, Nephew, Niece and so on. Apart from this, patrilineal descent is common among them. In this section inheritance, descent, property, titles and status are passed from father to son. It should be noted that in writing the article, data have been collected through intensive fieldwork in an anthropological method which is additionally supplemented by secondary data.