Not one of the theories here summarised, except the Dieri and Woeworung
myth, explains why members of the various totem kins are exogamous,
may not marry other members of the name. Suppose you do get your totem
name from that of a distinguished male ancestor, why may you not marry
another descendant? If because the common name, say Emu, is taken to
indicate some sort of blood-relationship, why may you not marry a
blood relation, even if there be no traceable kinship between you and
her? A Douglas may marry a Douglas, a Smith may marry a Smith; but an
Emu is often capitally punished if he marries an Emu. Suppose you get
your totem name from the beast for which you do magic. Why may you not
marry a person who bears the name of the same beast, and whose male
kindred do magic for it? Because it is sacrosanct to you and her? But
you are actually breeding it for the food-market. The answer must be
that you may not marry a person who bears your own totem name, and is
in the same branch of the Co-operative Magical Stores, because her
beast and yours are in the same phratry, and phratry mates may not
intermarry. But why may they not marry? The reply will probably be,
because the legislator divided the previously undivided commune into
two intermarrying exogamous phratries. But that theory we have shown
to be untenable. Thus not one of the extant hypotheses of the origin
of Totemism explains why totem kins are exogamous, unless Mr. Haddon
supposes that the totem names, once given from without, came to be
explained by myths asserting the sacred character and tribal kindred of
the totem. Mr. Haddon has not said anything about a previous exogamous
tendency in each of the groups which, by his scheme, received totem
names from without. By my hypothesis, these groups had already a
strongly exogamous tendency, which later was hall-marked and sanctioned
by the totem, with its myths and tabus. This advantage of explaining
the exogamous attribute of the totem, my scheme possesses, and its
rivals lack.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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