Marriage Exchange Research Articles

Formation of human kinship structures depending on population size and cultural mutation rate

How does social complexity depend on population size and cultural transmission? Kinship structures in traditional societies provide a fundamental illustration, where cultural rules between clans determine people's marriage possibilities. Here, we propose a simple model of kinship interactions that considers kin and in-law cooperation and sexual rivalry. In this model, multiple societies compete. Societies consist of multiple families with different cultural traits and mating preferences. These values determine interactions and hence the growth rate of families and are transmitted to offspring with mutations. Through a multilevel evolutionary simulation, family traits and preferences are grouped into multiple clans with interclan mating preferences. It illustrates the emergence of kinship structures as the spontaneous formation of interdependent cultural associations. Emergent kinship structures are characterized by the cycle length of marriage exchange and the number of cycles in society. We numerically and analytically clarify their parameter dependence. The relative importance of cooperation versus rivalry determines whether attraction or repulsion exists between families. Different structures evolve as locally stable attractors. The probabilities of formation and collapse of complex structures depend on the number of families and the mutation rate, showing characteristic scaling relationships. It is now possible to explore macroscopic kinship structures based on microscopic interactions, together with their environmental dependence and the historical causality of their evolution. We propose the basic causal mechanism of the formation of typical human social structures by referring to ethnographic observations and concepts from statistical physics and multilevel evolution. Such interdisciplinary collaboration will unveil universal features in human societies.

Conflict Resolution through Indigenous Knowledge Systems

Abstract Indigenous knowledge is the local knowledge that is unique to a given culture or society. It is the basis for local decision-making in agriculture, medicine, food education, environmental management, craft skills, linguistics and conflict management. The study explored mengehacha, an indigenous system of conflict resolution among the Gumuz people in northwest Ethiopia, which aims to restore peace and harmony within the community when conflicts result from natural resource competition, exchange marriage, clan-based conflict and theft. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, non-participatory observation and document analysis, and analysed qualitatively. The indigenous mechanisms of conflict resolution were found to be relatively participatory and supplementary to the state justice system. It is recommended that indigenous systems of conflict management be supported and given equal treatment with the modern court system and that exchange marriage be curbed, since it is becoming a trigger for conflict eruption among the Gumuz.

Consanguinity in northwest Pakistan: evidence of temporal decline.

Pakistan has a high burden of hereditary and congenital anomalies and their incidence rate almost doubles against the background of parental consanguinity. Consanguineous unions (CU) are customary in Pakistan and deeply rooted socio-cultural norms favour CU. This study aimed to elucidate the determinants and temporal change in CU in four northwestern populations of Pakistan. In a cross-sectional study, data on marital union types, bio-demographic factors, and paternal consanguinity were collected from 6,323 ever-married individuals in four districts of northwest Pakistan: Haripur, Muzaffarabad, Mansehra, and Shangla. We used descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression analysis. The CU were calculated to be 55%, and inbreeding coefficient F (ICF) was estimated to be 0.029. Eight factors, including district, rural origin, age of husband, occupational group of husband, literacy of husband, parental consanguinity, exchange marriage, and extended family type, were found to be significant predictors of consanguinity in the multivariable logistic regression analysis. The rate of consanguinity decreased significantly in the younger age categories of individuals. The rate of CU was seen to be declining over time and in marriages that started 'before 1980' and 'after 2010', respectively, and there was a decline in ICF from 0.030 to 0.027. These analyses also showed that the literacy rate improved, the average age at marriage increased, and the frequency of exchange marriages decreased over time. This study employs a sizable first-hand dataset to demonstrate a lowering CU rate in northwest Pakistan. It is anticipated that the burden of inherited and congenital anomalies may likely to diminish in the study populations along with the fall in ICF.

Beauty–status exchange in mate selection in China

The status exchange hypothesis of union formation has been extensively examined in different societies. In this study, we explore beauty–status exchange in mate selection in China. Based on the 2010–2018 waves of the China Family Panel Studies, we apply a new method that directly estimates the magnitude of exchange by considering beauty–status intermarriage as a treatment. Our results show that in China women exchange attractive appearance for men’s higher socioeconomic status, but men’s physical attractiveness does not exchange for women’s higher socioeconomic status. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the traditional marriage exchange pattern of “wife’s beauty matching with husband’s talent” mainly persists among women with lower levels of education and from families of lower socioeconomic status.

Beauty and status: Matching and exchange within Chinese marriages

Status exchange in marriage refers to a marriage pattern in which one spouse compensates for his or her disadvantage in one status area relative to the other spouse with an advantage in another. Two prominent examples of marriage exchange discussed in the existing literature are race–status exchange and beauty–status exchange. Although the marriage exchange theory is well supported by early studies, in recent years, its applicability has been questioned by some scholars. Protracted debates on the topic in question were launched in two top sociological journals, the American Sociological Review and the American Journal of Sociology. This study reviews these debates and offers an in-depth theoretical investigation into the relationship between matching and exchange, and the premise of marriage exchange theory. In addition, we collect and analyze the data from the five waves of the China Family Panel Studies (2010–2018) on beauty–status exchanges and other forms of marriage exchanges in China. We found little evidence of beauty–status exchanges in Chinese marriages and even the well-assumed exchange of “woman's beauty for man's talent” lacks sound empirical support. However, there are ample evidences of exchanges among the four status factors of education, occupation, income, and family background. As indicators of socioeconomic status, these four variables are homogeneous in nature, and therefore can more easily substitute for one another. We argue that the validity of marriage exchange theory depends on the similarity or substitutability between the elements in exchange. Thus, we can neither completely accept nor reject the marriage exchange theory.

Rawa-Nore gifting

This article comprises a rethinking of Mauss’s The gift, reciprocity, and exchange theory in anthropology, using theories of chaos and complexity to make sense of the author’s ethnographic data from Papua New Guinea. The article begins with an explanation of chaos and complexity, proceeds with an ethnographic demonstration focusing on pig feasts, marriage exchange, and exchanges within households, and concludes with a consideration of the implications of this analysis for Mauss’s legacy.

Socioeconomic determinants of primary school children dropout: a case study of Pakistan

PurposeThe main purpose of this study is to identify the socioeconomic determinants of dropout from primary schools and to give policy suggestions to address the issue.Design/methodology/approachA total of 600 dropout and enrolled respondents were selected from 60 government primary schools of district Chiniot. School heads and parents of dropout children were taken as samples. The results were obtained by employing the Probit regression model.FindingsNumbers of family members, age of the family head, exchange marriage and poverty status have positive relationship with dropout from primary schools. The findings revealed a higher rate of dropout among girls, which is a major cause of concern.Practical implicationsEducation is regarded as a basic human right and a valuable human capital. It is included in Millennium Development Goals to achieve universal primary education and in Sustainable Development Goals as quality education. Underdeveloped countries are facing the problems of high dropout and lack of quality education, especially in Pakistan. These problems need to be addressed to keep pace with developed nations and to meet development goals.Originality/valueIt is recommended that government should create employment opportunities, family planning programs, legislature measures on exchange marriage and child labor. The involvement in co-curricular activities in learning and usage of audio-visual aids in the teaching process can improve the enrollment in the primary schools.

Diplomatic Gifts as Ordering Devices

Summary This conclusion to the forum on diplomatic gifts goes on to note two historical types of such gifts. They are, first, fostering of a royal child at another royal court and, second, royal and noble marriage exchanges. Using these examples as a stepping stone, this essay goes on to formulate a co-ordination system of giver and receiver assessments of gift value, ranging from low to high. This yields four types of gifts: personalised gifts (low value to giver, high value to receiver); unique gifts (high value to both parties); culturally irrelevant gifts (high value to giver, low value to receiver) and fluff (low value to both parties). The essay hypothesises that polities that approach one another in a situation of contacts with low density will tend to aim for unique gifts, while polities whose relations are dense will aim for gifts that are of equal value to both parties.

Consanguinity, inbreeding coefficient, fertility and birth-outcome in population of Okara district, Pakistan.

Objectives:This study was aimed to illustrate the determents of consanguinity and inbreeding coefficient-F (ICF) in the population of Okara district of Pakistan and to elucidate the impact of consanguinity on fertility and birth outcome.Methods:Through a cross-sectional sampling design, 1,521 married women were recruited from Okara district during 2016-2017. Data on demographic variables, marital union types, subject’s fertility, and reproductive outcome, were gathered in face-to-face interviews. Descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression were employed.Results:The prevalence of consanguineous unions (CU) was calculated to be 61% yielding ICF=0.0356. Multivariable regression analyses revealed that six variables including younger age at marriage, joint family structure, caste-system of spouse, exchange marriage, matrimonial distance, and parental consanguinity, were significant predictors of consanguinity. The women having CU had significantly higher mean fertility, mean live-births and mean live-born sons compared with subjects having non-consanguineous unions (NCU). However, there were no significant differences in the average mortalities, i.e., prenatal, postnatal and <5 years, between the mothers with CU and NCU.Conclusion:The prevalence of consanguineous unions (CU) in Okara district is quite high like other inbred populations of Pakistan. The striking findings of this study are the higher mean fertility and mean live-births in women with CU. The likely reasons underlying this phenomenon have been discussed.

‘On a nos mots à dire’: Kanak Women's Experience of Bridewealth in Lifou

ABSTRACTBridewealth in Lifou cannot be discussed on its own; rather it should be considered within the plurality of ceremonial acts which are needed to legitimize a marriage as customary. What do these transactions mean? Where does women's agency lie? Through a longitudinal analysis of ethnographic materials from my fieldwork in Lifou, Loyalty Islands, I consider how Kanak women are engaged in and perceive these ceremonial and cultural processes through a declared women's perspective that highlights their ability to make autonomous choices in an open ended historical context. I argue that it is a case of ‘positive agency’. I emphasize that local categories (june hmala and wenehleng) which define specific moments in this process can be subsumed under the anthropological term ‘bridewealth’. Further, I examine the meaning of money in bridewealth and the fact that the monetary contribution keeps increasing, raising local concerns about the need to regulate the amount circulating in marriage exchanges and its dispersion. Furthermore in Lifou there is no indication that the assembling of the bridewealth by the grooms implies a commoditization and (later) exploitation of women.

Maryam's story: An ethnographic memoir

In the early 1970s we made more than 100 hours of tape recordings, as part of our ethnographic fieldwork among the Piruzai, Pashtun farmers and semi-nomadic pastoralists in northern Afghanistan. These village voices create a remarkable community self-portrait of a social world now lost and irretrievable. Maryam's story is the perfect exemplar of an unconventional form of auto-ethnography. Maryam was married some thirty years before, as part of a series of marriage exchanges intended to settle a feud between the two main Piruzai families. Her husband, Tuman, became village headman, a Haji, and in 1971 our host. Later, Pakiza, Tuman's second wife and Maryam's co-wife, became the bane of her life. Her account captures something of the depth and colour of people's lives. It gives voice to the ensuing silence over the past nearly fifty years and offers a radical challenge to the gendered stereotypes which have dominated the global and Afghan media during the past forty years of war and occupation.

Customary Practices and the Issues of Women Property Rights: Case Study of South Punjab (2007-2014)

The world is facing gender related problems in which women’s are discriminated against in almost all walks of life. The present research is focusing on the issues of women. i.e, exchange marriages, women property rights and their maintenance after divorce in South Punjab. The objective of this study is to unveil the structural constraints in the society which have hamperedthe freedom and the autonomy of women. These constraints are operational in the domain of legal-judicial and administration-policing social system of the state that has made the access of women difficult to get the redress and relief against the violation of their rights. In this research, an interpretative mode of research is being used to unfold the relationship of different variables. Some of the variables have their connections on the bases of their influence on the nature of the women’s right in the social setup of South Punjab. Among these variables, independent ones are customary practices prevailing religious doctrines and the sources of materials means. The particular nature of the study and scientific approach of the research, it seemed appropriate to apply quota sampling technique for the selection of court cases. The especially court cases has been segregated to project women image of this region. In this study categories of the cases on the basis of different variables collected from targeted three districts as judgments pronounced and established under family and session court under districts Multan, Muzaffargarh and Dera Ghazi Khan during the period from (2007 to 2014).This study includes ten cases, all related to the rights of women and customary practises. This study had also tried to show the how far judicial decisions were in favor of women to make them capable to empower in the emerging challenges of the time. The study in its analysis tried to show the effectiveness of prevailing family laws to enhance status of women.

Procuring Virgins, Performing Peace: Reconciliation through the Exchange of Women in Judges 21

Abstract Rather than the commonly understood chaotic ending to Judges which illustrates the need for a king, the exchange of women in Judg 21 mediates the conflict between the Israelite tribes, creating a peaceful resolution to their civil war through the reestablishment of kinship loyalties. By applying anthropological concepts of gift exchange and alternative marriage practices to the final story of Judges (chs. 19-21), especially to the resolution of that story in ch. 21, we can see the rapprochement achieved through the gift of virgin brides which strengthens relations between the tribes. In light of this assessment, the monarchic refrain (Judg 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; and 21:25) was likely added during the latest stages of development to frame the final two stories to emphasize the need for a strong central government—kingship. Only with this refrain does the reconciliation of the warring tribes realized through the traffic of women appear insufficient.

Educational Status in the Marriage Exchange in Contemporary China

In the late 1970s, Our country restored the college entrance examination system, emphasizing the important role of educational background, and also made it an important resource advantage affecting marriage exchange. However, the enrollment expansion reform of colleges and universities implemented in 2000 has led diploma to a sharp decline in the “glory” and the exchange value in the marriage market. This paper aims to make a brief analysis of the changes in the value of educational status (academic qualifications and diplomas) in marriage exchange during China’s past 40 years, and I will also briefly introduces the exchange characteristics of different genders in the marriage market. Due to the specific social and historical background, many Chinese’s specific social status and identity have played different roles in the marriage exchange relation since the establishment of new China. This has undergone more tortuous changes, reflecting the complex changes of contemporary Chinese society and its impacts on people’s marriage and family life. The paper aims to analyze the corresponding changes of educational status (academic qualification and diploma) in the marriage exchange, which has changed typically before and after the reform and opening up. Through comparative analysis, we can see that the social status and identity changes of the parties and their families in the marriage exchange have a close relationship with a series of formal and informal systems of the state and society in a particular historical period.

고구려의 노동교환혼(勞動交換婚)적 특징 연구 - 동북지역 고대민족과 비교를 중심으로 -

고구려의 노동교환혼(勞動交換婚)적 특징 연구 - 동북지역 고대민족과 비교를 중심으로 -

Child Marriage, A Culturally Accepted Privilege of Orthodoxies: The Case of Pakistan

Child marriage is universally believed to be the marriage under the age of eighteen. In other words, an immature or irresponsible person that has no ability to act independently. Child marriage practice is rampant in several countries. Poverty, illiteracy and gender inequality are the main causes of child marriages which affect the victims physically, socially, psychologically and economically. Apart from these reasons, a traditional assembly of leaders (Jirgas) in Pakistan endorses the practice of wedding off a minor girl to a boy, young or elderly man of the grieved party as a compensation for heinous crimes. These crimes include murder, kidnapping, befriending women, adultery and debt payments; exchange marriages at times take place without age consideration. The unholy nexus of religious conservatives and cultural orthodoxies is studied in the paper. This research employed qualitative method in which five persons from three districts of Sindh were interviewed who were married off as a child; secondary sources of data are also taken. It seeks to explore values, norms and social attitudes concerning child marriage practices in Pakistan.

English

The Gumuz are indigenous peoples in Northwest Ethiopia having their own unique cultural values and traditions among which marriage practices and gender role socialization are just two of them and this study aimed to explore these practices. The study was conducted in Dibate District, Benishangul Gumuz Region, using inductive qualitative ethnographic design. Participants were adolescent school girls, mothers, elderly women, experts from culture and tourism, and Women, Youth and Children’s Affairs offices and experts from non-governmental organizations. Participants were selected using snow ball sampling techniques. Data were collected from twenty-five participants through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and participant observation. Data collected through these methods were analyzed thematically. Parental beliefs, gender role expectations, menstrual and delivery practices, food taboos, sister exchange marriage, polygyny and females considered as male ‘properties’ were the major themes emerged from data analysis. The findings of this study imply that there is a need for awareness creation education on gender equality and about the negative consequences of avoiding some types of food items by Gumuz females. Key words: Gumuz, food taboos, sister exchange marriage, menstrual taboos.

How Pre-modern State Rulers Used Marriage to Reduce the Risk of Losing at War: A Comparison of Eight States

Approaching warfare in pre-modern states from the perspective of risk reduction, we see that royal marriage was one strategy rulers used to reduce the probability that they would lose a war. Judicious marriage exchanges intensified and prolonged patron-client relations between rulers or between rulers and societal elites. Clientelism could affect the size and composition of their armies. The more warriors and troops one could field, the greater the chance of not losing a war (Otterbein 2004; LeBlanc 2006). Examination of eight pre-modern states suggests that their rulers used the same patterns of wife exchange even though most states developed independently. Marriage secured long-term patron-client relationships, which they used to support their military efforts. When rulers married their kin or married them to rulers outside the system (“foreigners”), they did not gain military support. Analysis of these marriage-military patterns reveals several characteristics of pre-modern states. First, marriage alliances helped rulers form networks of support that helped them win wars. Therefore, marriage—and by extension, royal women—is a key component to the study of warfare and a critical mechanism of network formation, as Blanton et al. (1996) write. Second, alliances were based on a different organizing principle from Levi-Strauss’ tribal societies, for rulers selected main wives (for themselves or their kin) based on relative rank rather than particular kinship ties. Third, marriage alliance reveals an important difference between alliance and patron-client relationships, a distinction that is often blurred in the archaeological literature.

Breaking Ground: Hoes in Precolonial South Africa—Typology, Medium of Exchange and Symbolic Value

In sub-Saharan Africa, every cultivator of the soil in a precolonial, agriculturist society needed a digging implement, and this normally took the form of a hoe with an iron blade hafted on a wooden handle. This paper marks the first attempt to document the surprising variety of hoe blade styles and map their regional distributions within South Africa. While the primary function of the hoe—this key item of material culture in African farming communities—was to cultivate the soil, the large quantity of metal and therefore labour required to make a hoe blade accorded it great value in the years before European industrial copies flooded the market. The hoe was an important item in trade networks, in marriage transactions and in a number of symbolic contexts associated with individual and collective ancestry. This biographical approach to hoe exchange, use and recycling reveals the complex significance of this tool in the lives of precolonial farmers. In particular, we are able to show that hoes could in some circumstances be accorded the same values as cattle in marriage exchange.

State of Inheritance Rights: Women in a Rural District in Pakistan

ABSTRACTInheritance is an extremely significant factor in wealth distribution and gender relations. This article provides an area-specific insight on inheritance distribution with respect to women. A total of 144 daughters were interviewed in a feudal society in Pakistan to assess their inheritance. A descriptive analysis was employed to investigate the inheritance shares they received in provision of agricultural land and its annual income for the women that inherited it. The data demonstrated that lack of education, patriarchal practices, and the occurrences of a swap marriage system (where forced exchange marriages are promoted to defer inheritance) limit the ability of these women to get their share of their entitled inheritance. To change this system at a grassroots level, the results indicate the need for a clear understanding of the religious lessons, laws, and social repercussions that lead to these daughters being deprived of their inheritance. Overall, future research supports culturally sensitive strategies that can counterbalance these adverse practices for discrimination in inheritance.