Family Clan Research Articles

The Individual and 'The Family Clan' Centering about The Emergence of 'Chu-hsi's family rituals'

The Individual and 'The Family Clan' Centering about The Emergence of 'Chu-hsi's family rituals'

Cultural Transmission of Uxorilocal Marriage in Lueyang, China

In this article, the authors report on a study of the cultural transmission of uxorilocal marriage in Lueyang, China. They find that uxorilocal marriage has been commonly accepted and practiced in Lueyang since the beginning of this century, and uxorilocal marriage has been both a contingent and an institutional option for farmers with both preservative and practical purposes. Causes underlying contingent uxorilocal marriage are mostly demographic, and causes underlying institutional uxorilocal marriage are mostly economic, but a weak patriarchal family system, lack of dominant family clans in villages, and relaxed village regulation of uxorilocal marriage in Lueyang also play decisive roles. The occurrence of uxorilocal marriage is transmitted both from parents to children and from nonparental members of communities to couples. Rural economic reform since 1978 has had important influences on the transmission effects of uxorilocal marriage.

The plight of the Agro‐pastoral society of Somalia

Despite advances in modern communication and the proliferation of information, there remain areas of the world about which little is known. One such place is Somalia. The informed public is aware of a political ‘meltdown’ and consequent chaos there, but few comprehend the causes of this tragic crisis. Unless and until there is greater understanding of the basic issues involved, Somalia will continue to suffer mayhem and chronic disorder. This article assesses some of the factors involved in the current civil war in Somalia, especially as they pertain to the inter riverine region of the south. Particular emphasis is placed on the Dighil/Mirifle clan in that region. In contrast to the single cause analysis that attributes all to Siad Barré's dictatorship, which is adopted by nearly every Somali scholar and politician, the article investigates the social causes of the worst civil war in the modern history of this country. The single cause analysis is inadequate because it is not so much scientific as ideological, and represents the desire of nomadic groups to impose cultural and political hegemony on the settled agro‐pastoralist groups in and around the inter‐riverine region in the south. The basic tenet of this hegemonic ambition is an invented homogeneity, which presents Somalia as one of the few culturally homogeneous countries in Africa, if not the world. The Somali people are said to have a single language and to share a mono‐culture. In fact, Somalia has always been divided into southern agro‐pastoral clans and northern nomadic clans which have distinctively different cultural, linguistic, and social structures. The monoculture about which most students of Somalia speak is extrapolated mainly from the study of the northern part of the country, where most of the research into Somali culture was undertaken. The assumptions and extrapolations of these northern‐based studies were later applied to other parts of the country without any scientific basis. The myth of Somali homogeneity played a major role in the rise of nomadic clans to political predominance, and the appropriation of resources from the less warlike and intensely religious agro‐pastoral groups in and around the inter‐riverine region. A major factor in the Somali conflict is the struggle among clans for control of limited and increasingly scarce resources, especially land and water. More specifically, it is a violent competition between the Darood and Hawiye clan families for political and economic dominance of the inter‐riverine region.

Association of polycystic kidney disease and an HLA haplotype within a family clan

Nine members of a Chinese family underwent for HLA-A, -B. and -DR typing using microlymphocytotoxicity technique. The results of genotyping of the family showed that all four individuals who suffered from polycystic kidney disease shared the HLA-A9(Aw24), -Bw22, and -DR5 haplotype. It indicated that polycystic kidney disease was associated with an HLA haplotype in the family. We suggested that the HLA-A9(Aw24), -Bw22, -DR5 chromosome might carry the susceptibility gene of polycystic kidney disease in this family.

On Confucian Filial Piety and Its Modernization: Duties, Rights, and Moral Conduct

After the Qin dynasty, Confucian ethics slowly became rooted in the lives of the general populace. Not only did Confucian ethics become the standard for family, social, and national ethics for the average Chinese, it even influenced the Chinese outlook on life and world view. Zhang Zai's Xi ming and Zhu Zi's Ren shuo are the most explicit explanations of the Confucian outlook on life and world view.1 Modern scholars have found that Confucian ethics interrelate and influence many special characteristics of traditional Chinese society. Since ancient times China has been a family clan society. After the Qin and Han dynasties China was governed under political systems and established on an economy of agriculture. The social, political, and economic systems and the environment were all tightly woven together with Confucian ethics. From either of the three systems or from all of them, one could clearly see the locus of the development of Confucian ethics and the effects of its interrelations. On the other hand,...

The role of kinship in helping decisions among white-fronted bee-eaters

White-fronted bee-eaters (Merops bullockoides) are cooperative breeders in which half of all nesting attempts are assisted by non-breeding adults in addition to the breeding pair. These “helpers” assist in all aspects of nesting and their aid significantly increases fledging success. The social unit in these bee-eaters is an extended family clan in which multiple pairs may breed simultaneously (plural breeding). As a result, helpers often have to choose how to allocate their aid among several potential recipients to whom they are unequally related. Using five years of data from a color-marked and genealogically known population of white-fronted bee-eaters in Kenya, we examined the role of kinship in three helping “decisions”: 1) whether or not to become a helper, 2) whom to help, and 3) how much help to provide. 1) Kinship between potential donor and recipient was a significant predictor of the likelihood of helping. Fully 44% of the individuals that could have become helpers did not do so. Many of these non-helpers were unrelated mates (“in-laws”) that had paired into their partner's clan and had no genetic link to the available recipients. Others were natal clan members with only distant genealogical ties to the breeders. The conditional probability of helping (see text for definition) decreased significantly with decreasing rh(coefficient of relatedness) between the potential helper and nestling recipients. The presumed cost of helping was a second significant predictor of whether or not a bird became a helper. We considered the expending of effort in providing aid and the delaying of personal reproduction to be costs of helping. Potential helpers that had engaged in high effort activities in the few weeks prior to the helping opportunity showed a decreased likelihood of becoming helpers. Similarly, paired birds (which by virtue of having a mating partner had a greater potential of breeding) were less likely to become helpers than were single individuals. 2) Bee-eater helpers preferentially chose to aid their closest genetic relatives. The average relatedness between helpers and the nestlings receiving their aid was 0.33. This degree of kinship was significantly greater than that expected if helpers had selected recipient nests randomly from among those available within their clans. Further evidence of kin discrimination came from analysis of 115 instances in which a helper had two or more nests of differing relatedness simultaneously available as potential recipients. In 108 cases (94%), the helper aided the most closely related one. 3) The magnitude of the helping contribution (as measured by provisioning rate) showed no pattern with relatedness between donor and recipient. These data allow testing of various theoretical models for the allocation of aid among kin. Since bee-eaters helped at only one nest at a time, and selected the nest with the most closely related young available, their behavior conforms to an allor-none case of a diminishing returns model and is inconsistent with alternative models based upon the distribution of aid in proportion to relatedness. We conclude that kinship is a major determinant in the decisions both of whether to become a helper, and of whom to help, in white-fronted bee-eaters.

A Reanalysis of Murdock's Model for Social Structure Based On Optimal Scaling

A REANALYSIS OF MURDOCK’S MODEL FOR SOCIAL STRUCTURE BASED ON OPTIMAL SCALING John W. M. Whiting, * M. L. Burton, A. K. C. C. Moore, and D. R. White** Romney, Murdock’s Social Structure (1949) is widely regarded as his most important work, the masterpiece exemplifying his approach to cross- cultural research. Often considered to be a modern classic-chosen by Barnes (1971), for example, as one of three important approaches to the study of kinship-Social Structure summarized much of what was known at the time about kinship, marriage, and community organization and added many new research findings. Murdock’s use of the cross-cultural method was a significant methodological advance, and his book contained a great deal of original theoretical thinking, based on an interdisciplinary approach that synthesized concepts from psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Murdock’s book is organized in three parts-four chapters on family form, clan, and community; athree-chaptertreatment of kinship; and a final three chapters on sex and incest taboos. The center of the treatment of kinship, Chapter Seven, dDeterminants of Kinship Terminology,d is in many ways the book’s apex. There Murdock formulates and tests a large number of hypotheses about relationships between social structure and kinship terminology. Now, forty years later, it remains one of the very few examples in anthropology of formulating and testing a complex deductive system. Given the significance of this achievement, we are struck by the extent to which *John W. M. Whiting, Harvard University, Massachusetts. ‘*M. L. Burton, A. K. Department of Social Relations, Cambridge, Romney, C. C. Moore, and D. R. White, University of California, Irvine, California.

Territorial Organization of the White Fronted Bee‐eater in Kenya

AbstractWhite fronted bee‐eaters (Merops bullockoides) live in extended family clans that aggregate to roost and nest in large colonies. Members of a given clan also share a common foraging territory, spatially segregated from the colony, to which they commute daily. The size of this foraging territory is positively related to clan size.Clan foraging territories are divided into a number of loosely overlapping foraging home ranges (FHRs), each occupied by an individual or mated pair of birds. Bee‐eaters feed solitarily, flycatching to snap up large insects from widely dispersed perches. Each bird tolerates intrusion on its FHR by various members of its own clan, but aggressively excludes individuals belonging to other clans. Birds defend only their own FHR; however, because of the high amount of FHR overlap, the result is a loose form of group defense of the larger clan feeding area. For this reason we refer to the system as one of clan foraging territories.Birds occupying clan foraging territories located more than 1.5 to 2 km from a colony temporarily abandoned them while feeding nestlings. At such times, these birds provisioned their young by foraging near the colony. Birds that abandoned territories foraged less efficiently, provisioned nestlings at a lower rate, and had lower breeding success than did birds that continued use of their foraging territories. A model is developed relating territory abandonment to the energetics of central place foraging.Bee‐eaters typically shift colony locations between successive breeding seasons. Foraging territory locations, in contrast, remain largely stable, resulting in large and unpredictable changes in the quality of any given foraging territory across years (quality being defined as distance from the currently active nesting colony).When a pair bond forms in bee‐eaters, one member typically remains in its natal clan while the other moves into the clan of its partner. At this time, the new pair also establishes its own FHR, generally located within or on the periphery of the clan foraging territory of the natal member. The result of this settlement pattern is that white fronted bee‐eaters live their lives spatially surrounded by members of their natal or their matrimonial clan. This, in turn, increases the likelihood of both mutualistic and nepotistic interactions among clan members. Such benefits include shared territory defense, enhanced security against predation, and maintenance of close social bonds with potential helpers.We hypothesize that the adaptive value of clan foraging territories lies in long‐term familiarity with a foraging area. Such familiarity was demonstrated to lead to improved foraging efficiency and hypothesized to provide both increased security from predation and a more accurate means of monitoring temporal changes in environmental quality.The system of clan foraging territories found in white fronted bee‐eaters differs from the all‐purpose group territories of most other cooperative breeders studied to date in two important ways. First, foraging territories were not limiting in the sense of restricting dispersal and “forcing” offspring to remain with their natal clans. Unoccupied areas of seemingly suitable habitat were present throughout the study area at all times. Birds also showed no tendency to expand their boundaries or move into areas vacated when neighboring clans decreased in size or died off. Second, breeding status and foraging territory ownership are not linked in Merops bullockoides. All pairs defended foraging areas, yet only about 3/4 of them bred in any given year. This percentage did not differ significantly between pairs occupying high quality foraging territories (located near the active nesting colony) and pairs forced to abandon low quality foraging territories located more distantly. We conclude that foraging territories are not a critical ecological constraining factor for white fronted bee‐eaters in Kenya.

Odalan of Hindu Bali: A Religious Festival, a Social Occasion, and a Theatrical Event

The Balinese call their island Pulau Dewata, the Island of the Gods. Throughout Bali there are thousands of temples (pura), large and small, dedicated to the Hindu-Balinese religion, the religion of most of Bali's 4.5 million people. Each village has at least three temples: the temple of death (pura dalem), the temple of origin (pura puseh), and the temple for the gods' council (pura desa or pura bale agung). Also, every family has its own temple within the house yard (sanggah or mrajan), and a family-origin temple for the family clan (pura dadia). There are also great temples at Besakih, Batur, Uluwatu, Rambutsiwi, and other places, honored by all Hindu-Balinese. An odalan is the anniversary or birthday of a Hindu-Balinese temple. It is a festival that signifies the day the temple was initially completed and the day the gods, the sanghyang widhi wasa, were first invited to attend. An odalan celebration is held every 210 days, which is a year in the Balinese calendar. As there are so many temples in Bali, several odalan are celebrated on almost any day. There are different kinds of odalan that last different lengths of time. The usual odalan celebration, called odalan madudus agung (large odalan), lasts four days. A small odalan (odalan alit) lasts only one day. A very few special odalan continue longer than a week. Two of these are the odalan madana and the odalan ngusaba, celebrated in village temples. The odalan eka dasa rudra, at Bekasih, the biggest temple in Hindu Bali, is so important it is held only once every 100 years. The Balinese regard the odalan as a very special festival, not only a religious celebration but also a social occasion and a major theatrical event.

The Growth and Decline of Chinese Family Clans

En Chine, de la dynastie Sung au milieu du XIX siecle. Reunissant les descendants d'un ancetre mâle commun, la dynamique centrale du clan chinois est un processus de regeneration base sur les mâles, s'etendant sur des siecles, et impliquant des changements de la matrice hierarchique. Il est regi par des regles d'expansion demographique durant sa phase d'expansion.

Bands and clans: political functions of voluntary associations in the Swiss Alps1

Many of the voluntary associations and kinship groups of the Swiss Alps express underlying factionalism within the political system. They serve to control and defuse conflict and opposition. This paper examines in detail the political significance of brass bands and “family clans” in the Canton of Valais.

The Rural-Urban Migration in Hong Kong and Its New Territories

Population migration from rural areas to urban districts is no new phenomenon peculiar t the twentieth century. Indeed, thr ughout histo ic imes ther is ample evidence in all civilized countries of such movements. In its 120 years as a British dependency Hong Kong has been particularly concerned with such population surges and fluctuations. Until its occupation by the Japanese during the Second World War an intimate free-population ebb and flow between Hong Kong and South China de? cided the pattern of movement which was essentially transient in character. Periods of prosperity and depression in China decided the direction of flow. The Chinese civil war that brought to power the Peoples' Government in 1949 also changed this pattern. The transient flow with a minimum of frontier control finished. To the magnet of a higher standard of living in Hong Kong was now added the attraction of political free? dom. The way of life in the communes and on the collective farms has become an anathema to the ordinary Chinese. For centuries he has become used to working for himself. He has become conditioned by extreme economic stresses and population pressures. As a farmer he has been forced to engage in intensive cultivation. The small-scale agricultural landscape all over China is evidence of this energy developed through hand labour. In Hong Kong he contrasts the free arrangements of private tenancies and ownership with the public labour in the communes of China. The attempt to loose family ties and clan relations is also unpopular. Thus those that are now in Hong Kong do not leave, while those outside are making desperate efforts to get in. There is a problem of refugees and people. Once againx entry to Hong Kong, legal or illegal, has brought about the complications of refugee status and definitions. Still more important has become the urgent need to support and contain the violent pressure of population. There are vast urgent social problems caused by the pressure of population. Overcrowding in the urban dis? tricts is acceptable as commonplace and inevitable. Densities of 2000 people to the acre are common and even 3000 not unusual in the Saiyingpoon, Central and Wanchai districts. In 1954 Dr. Hambro, in his report to the United Nations, conservatively estimated there were 700,000 refugees,2 mainly in the urban districts. This number is now well over one million and still increasing. And all this in a small total land area of 398 square miles. At the end of 1947 the estimated population of Hong Kong was 1,800,000. The full census of 1961 showed it to be 3,128,000. Thus the population density for the whole colony is about 8000 to the square mile, the highest in the world. The natural annual increase of population is now about 120,000. By far the largest number of people (about 80 per cent) lives around the coastal fringes of the harbour, where the abundance of human beings strikes the visitor forcibly. Heavy immigration has superimposed new features on the physical basis of Hong Kong. The refugee problem has finally been accepted as having only one solution, namely, integration. Apart from returning to China it seems impossible for any large numbers to pass on to other neighbouring countries. Political and economic difficulties are too great at present. While the refugees have created larger problems of housing, education, hospitals and employment, they have also assisted in the change-over to

The Influence of the Literary Examination System on the Development of Chinese Civilization

This historic stability of Chinese civilization is due to many contributing factors: geographical isolation, the family clan organization, the conservative aspects of Confucianism. The civil service examination system was also an important factor. For twenty centuries it held a central place in Chinese life: constituting the gateway to political appointment, social prestige, educational honor, and economic success. The institution was characterized by its democratic character, its highly competitive operation, its preservation of the traditions of Confucianism and of the literati, and its absolute prohibition of any change. The influence of the system was twofold. (1) It aided in preserving the cultural unity and political stability of China. (2) Its chief defect lay in its rigid prohibition of all originality and experimentation. Thus cultural progress was rendered impossible and cultural stagnation has resulted.

The Churches and the Prevailing Social Sentiment

Churches in the great religions have been allies of all ancient governments and most modern ones. The Emperor of Japan was believed to have, and in the popular mind still has, intimate relations with the heavenly powers. He used to be held in a seclusion suitable for this peculiar relationship to Deity. The Emperor of China for thousands of years under various dynasties was a high priest, whose offerings and prayers were peculiarly acceptable to Deity, and frequently procured for his people good seedtimes and good harvests, although he sometimes failed to avert pestilences, droughts, floods, and famines. The Indian castes are family clans and trades-unions with strong religious sanctions. The Koran contains the foundations of civil law as well as of ecclesiastical, and the Sultan claims succession to the religious as well as to the civil authority of the Caliphs. Under the feudal system there was a chaplain in every great noble's house, and the king ruled “by the grace of God,” and by the same grace transmitted his office to his son. Both Napoleon the Great and Napoleon the Little claimed as Emperor the support of the Church; but Napoleon the Third never seemed to see the extraordinary pathos in the formula he used so much, “By the grace of God and the national will Emperor of the French.” The French Revolution tried to divorce civil government from religion, but failed to do so. National established churches supported by the state exist all over Europe, although their tenure is frail in several European countries. The American Republic has carried into practice complete religious toleration and complete separation of church and state; but every now and then some one proposes to bridge the gap between church and state by a phrase such as “Vox populi, vox Dei,” or to “recognize” the Divine Immanence by inserting the word God in the Constitution.