Kinship and Social OrganisationRivers, W. H. R. (William Halse Rivers)
General
Kinship and Social Organisation
Rivers, W. H. R. (William Halse Rivers)
Anthropology; Consanguinity; Ethnology -- Melanesia; Marriage
Morgan himself was evidently deeply impressed by the function of the
classificatory system of relationship as a body of salutations. His
own experience was derived from the North American Indians, and he
notes the exclusive use of terms of relationship in address, a usage
so habitual that an omission to recognise a relative in this manner
would amount almost to an affront. Morgan also points out, as one
motive for the custom, the presence of a reluctance to utter personal
names. McLennan had to rely entirely on the evidence collected by
Morgan, and there can be no doubt that he was greatly influenced by
the stress Morgan himself laid on the function of the classificatory
terms as mutual salutations. That in rude societies certain relatives
have social functions definitely assigned to them by custom was
known in Morgan’s time, and I think it might even then have been
discovered that the relationships which carried these functions were
of the classificatory kind. It is, however, only by more recent work,
beginning with that of Howitt, of Spencer and Gillen, and of Roth
in Australia, and of the Cambridge Expedition to Torres Straits,
that the great importance of the functions of relatives through
the classificatory system has been forced upon the attention of
sociologists. The social and ceremonial proceedings of the Australian
aborigines abound in features in which special functions are performed
by such relatives as the elder brother or the brother of the mother,
while in Torres Straits I was able to record large groups of duties,
privileges and restrictions associated with different classificatory
relationships.
Further work has shown that widely, though not universally, the
nomenclature of the classificatory system carries with it a number of
clearly defined social practices. One who applies a given term of
relationship to another person has to behave towards that person in
certain definite ways. He has to perform certain duties towards him,
and enjoys certain privileges, and is subject to certain restrictions
in his conduct in relation to him. These duties, privileges and
restrictions vary greatly in number among different peoples, but
wherever they exist, I know of no exception to their importance and
to the regard in which they are held by all members of the community.
You doubtless know of many examples of such functions associated with
relationship, and I need give only one example.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account