Moso Matrilineal System

The family shows both continuity and changes which can be seen by looking at nuclear families and single parent families respectively. Before 1940s, marriage was considered an important part of society and thought to be a social institution essential for order. Divorce and single parent families were considered dreadful, sex outside marriage was not acceptable, it was a moral offense. The tempo of divorces was very low, but this social behavior soon ended in the post war era. By 1960s, this was no longer the case, as women started to work. They became much more independent, laws were changed and increase in divorces and cohabitation rates had shown that marriage was not compulsory in one’s life.

In the tribal villages of eastern Africa the Maasai marriages are arranged by the elders without ever first consulting the bride or the mother of the bride to be. Unlike, that of my own culture in the United States of America, where I am free as a citizen to choose whomever I may choose to marry and when and if I may marry. Polygyny is that of which is practiced in the Maasai culture, as an ideal that is achieved only by that of the elder men of the tribe. Unfortunately, as a result ofthemen being much older at the time of marriage, most women become widows, knowing that it is understood that they should never remarry again.

Marriage is a fundamental practice that influences village dynamics and political processes in many societies in past and present human cultures. Not only is marriage a process that supports human kinship systems, it allows for alliances and reciprocity systems between groups that create variation in human social organization (Walker et al. 2011). This paper explores the sources of variation in marriage and mating systems in two very different societies, the !Kung San and the Yanomamo, in terms of the vastly different environments each of them inhabit. The !Kung San, a traditional nomadic hunter-gatherer society, reside in the Dobe area on the edge of the Kalahari desert of Botswana (Shostak 1981, p.7). Due to the demanding environment of

Hmong followed a patrilineal kinship system. Only men can inherit properties and belongings; the father holds title to family property. When couples are married, “residence after marriage is either patrilocal or neolocal, but in the vicinity of paternal house” (LeBar, 75). When daughters marry, they move out of the house. Hmong marriage is regarded as a bond between two clans, so they have strict exogamy practices. Hmong men remain members of their birth clan for life (Hein, 68). Each of the family clans have a leader, who is the eldest male of the line. Their society was male-centered (Lecture, 01/26/17). On the other hand, Lao followed the Southeast Asian pattern, which was a bilateral kinship system. Kinship ties are felt to be equally strong on both sides, the mother and the father (LeBar, 217). Lao kinship is more laid back compared to Hmong. They pay little attention to genealogies, since tracing more than three generations is difficult for them (LeBar, 217). Both men and women can inherit in the family as well, so Lao women are less subordinate to Lao men. Unlike Hmong, Lao couples have freedom in choosing whether to live on their own or with either spouses’ family (Lecture, 01/26/17). Lao marriage does not ensue strict exogamy practices, and Lao, traditionally, have no “family” names. Lao are known by their given names, not family names. Overall, Hmong and Lao have the exact opposite types of

Approximately 2000 years ago Tibeto-Burman ancestors of existing Mosuo culture devised a family and kinship system that is not based on marriage. They have no husbands and wives. Instead of marrying and sharing family life with spouses, adult Musuo children remain in their extended, multigenerational household with their mother and their blood relatives. The elder female("Ah mi") is the head of the house. "Ah mi" makes all the household and economic decisions

These are knows as parallel cousins. They are allowed to marry their cross cousins but are prohibited from marrying their parallel cousins. Women had their children born into their own clan. They gained status through this. Women controlled the property and “hereditary leadership” passed through the matrilineal

With China’s one-child policy in play for so many years, it has had a big impact on the overall population. As it’s found typical that married couples in urban areas

One of the family-related reforms during the late 19th/ early 20th century is the shifting toward monogamy and away from polygamy. Because there was a movement where the Jiating yanjiu promoted xiao jiating, independent family, instead of the traditional da jiting, joint family, during the New Culture Movement, there seems to be no need for concubine or female servant since marriage was supposed to be love based and not on the family’s arrangements. The husband and wife come together with their own free will, there is more emotional satisfaction, which lead the married couple “more productive, and their increased productivity, in turn, made China stronger” ( Glosser 120). Liao Shu’An, a member of jiating yanjiu, offered eight rules as the

Marriage plays an essential part in lives of !Kung women. Marjorie Shostack in depth describes each step of Nisa’s life in her book “The Life and Words of a ! Kung Woman”. Nisa, a fifty year old !Kung San woman, tells about her numerous marriages, husbands and lovers. Nisa vividly described the relationships between men and women. Furthermore, she states that children become aware of sex at a young age because the children share a single hut with their parents. In the !Kung society, first marriages are arranged by the parents. Girls at this point are rather young, whereas males are twenty to thirty. In order for a boy to get marred it’s necessary for him to gain a hunting skill. These marriages are called “trial marriages.” The outcome of the first marriages is usually a divorce, initiated by the girls due to pressure from their husbands to have a sexual intercourse.

There are many forms of families around the world. The structure of these families are influenced by the culture around them. Family is defined as "two or more people related by blood, marriage or adoption. The family may take many forms, ranging from a single parent with one or more children, to a married couple or polygamist spouses with or without offspring, to several generations of parents and their children” (226). There are many functions of the family unit around the world.

Girls all over the world are forced into marriages due to financial necessity, tradition and to ensure their future. Most of these girls married are at a young age: “One third of the world’s girls are married before the age of 18 and 1 in 9 are married before the age of 15”( “Child Marriage Facts and Figures”). The young ages of those being married reveal how crucial it is to resolve this problem. When child marriage occurs the parents of the bride usually chose the groom for their daughters; and these grooms can be three times older than the young brides. Some children are brought into the world of marriage at the of 8 or sometimes less depending on their cultural views. The following can be used to help reduce the impact of early

This joint family, like any social organization, must face problems such as acceptable division of work, relationships and specific family roles. These familial relationships are managed on the basis of a secular hierarchical principle. In fact, all Indians owe respect and obedience to the head of the family, who usually is the father or the oldest man of the family community. In The Gift of a Bride: A Tale of Anthropology, Matrimony and Murder by Nanda and Gregg, it is explained that, “females [are] placed under the perpetual guardianship of first their fathers and elder brothers, then their husbands.” (Nanda & Gregg 22) Thus, all the spending decisions, studies and profession, or marriage, are exclusively the responsibility of the father after the possible discussions with the other men of the family. Age and sex are the basic principles of this hierarchical system. The eldest sons enjoy greater unchallenged authority than their cadets. Of course men have more authority than women, but older married women have an important role within the family. In fact, the authority of a woman depends on the rank of her husband inside the group. Traditionally, the wife of the patriarch rules over domestic affairs and has considerable power over the other women in the community, especially her daughters- in-law.

Instead, marriage was arranged by go-betweens or decided by their parents, who always emphasized on family importance. This was largely due to the marital relations, which as a vital part in children’s filial piety to their parents. With the influence of Confucianism, when parents considered to choose a wife for their son, the primary concern was to ensure that the selected women were qualified to continue the family line successfully, rather than focusing on choose the potential soulmate for their sons. In their opinions, the couple could still live together, produce their descendants and continue the family without romantic love. Unlike the free choice marriage based on love and beauty, the traditional arranged marriage could largely ensure that the family could be continued. Additionally, for many males in Song dynasty, the loving wife simply meant she was a good inner help who could let her husband focused on other man’s

Joint family is a common practice among populations. Paternal side is considered higher compared to the maternal. Moreover, couples often desires to have boy over girl due to the agricultural background. Girls are considered someone else’s property since she marries and goes to other house. Most money is spent on son’s marriage compared to girls since it is taken as expenses of same house. Advancement of China and the increased literacy has huge impact on these normal rituals.

The first indications of pairing are found in families where the husband has one primary wife. Inbreeding is practically eradicated by the prevention of a marriage between two family members who were even just remotely related, while relationships also start to approach monogamy