The investigations of Morgan bring, moreover, other interesting facts to
light. Although the "pairing family" of the Iroquois starts in
insolvable contradiction with the terms of consanguinity in use among
them, it turns out that, as late as the first half of the 19th Century,
there existed on the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) a family-form that
actually tallied with that which, among the Iroquois, existed in name
only. But the system of consanguinity, in force in Hawaii, failed, in
turn, to tally with the family-form actually in existence there. It
referred to an older family-form, one still more primitive, but no
longer extant. There, all the children of brothers and sisters, without
exception, were "brothers" and "sisters." Accordingly, they were not
considered the common children of their mothers and of the sisters of
these, or of their fathers and of the brothers of these, but of all the
brothers and sisters of their parents, without distinction. The Hawaiian
system of consanguinity corresponded, accordingly, with a stage of
development that was lower than the family-form still actually in
existence. Hence transpires the curious fact that, in Hawaii, as with
the Indians of North America, two distinct systems of consanguinity are,
or rather, at a time, were in vogue, which no longer tallied with actual
conditions, but were both overtaken by a higher state. On this head
Morgan says: "The family represents an active principle. It is never
stationary, but advances from a lower to a higher form as society
advances from a lower to a higher condition, and finally passes out of
one form into another of higher grade. Systems of consanguinity, on the
contrary, are passive; recording the progress made by the family at long
intervals apart, and only changing radically when the family has
radically changed."
The theory,--even to-day generally considered conclusive, and which is
stubbornly upheld as irrefutable by the representatives of the _status
quo_--to the effect that the existing family-form has existed since time
immemorial, and, lest the whole social fabric be put in jeopardy, must
continue to exist forever, turned out, accordingly, after these
discoveries of the investigators, to be wholly false and untenable. The
form, under which the relations of the sexes appear and the situation of
the family is raised, depends rather upon the social conditions, upon
the manner in which man controls his subsistence. The form changes with
the changed degree of culture at each given period.
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