The Musuo Of Chin Matrilineal Kinship

In Ancient China the father of the woman decided who that his daughter would marry. There was no agreement between the two fathers. The father would talk with an astrologer who had a birth chart on every child. By looking at the time and date of their births he would then decide whether or not they would be compatible for one another. The father when then make the decision whether they would marry, the daughter’s thoughts and opinion’s did not count.(9) The woman was required to be completely devoted to her husband. After the marriage a Chinese women was expected to bow to her new in-laws and offer them tea. This showed them that she now belonged to her husband’s family. It was required of her to obey her new

Stephanie Coontz in “The Way We Weren’t: The Myth and Reality of the Traditional Family” emphasizes that the traditional and ideal nuclear family widespread in media and textbooks are false and far from reality. In fact, it is common to see more similarities to the traditional family consistent of “male breadwinner and nurturing mother” (1) today than in the past.

As of 2015 the U.S Census Bureau revealed that approximately 116 million families are living in the United States. These families possess their own unique style, culture and set of beliefs. My family, consisting of my married parents and my older sister, are no different in the aspect that we too hold our own set of beliefs. The socially constructed term ‘family’ traditionally is defined as a unit that is related by marriage or blood, share financial responsibilities and care for any children/dependents (Lofquist et al., 2012). Growing up as a Haitian American, my ideas of what it means to be a family have been greatly influenced by my cultures and my religion. The Haitian culture greatly emphasizes family relationships and familial

Marriage practices vary across cultures. Every culture has its own way of conducting marriage according to their traditions and customs. Most cultures share common customs and practices, while some cultures have unique practices. Marriage refers to a social union agreed upon by the couples to unit as spouses. The union of couples implies sexual relations, permanence in union, and procreation. This research paper focuses on comparing marriage practices in American and Indian culture. There is significant difference between the two cultures in marriage practices.

The essay starts with a very simple definition of a family, accompanied by an explanation of the relationship between family structure and the strength of the link between different people forming the family in question. The introduction has been put in a simple language to provide a fluid understanding of what the reader should expect throughout the text. Literal tools like proverbs and similes have been applied. There is a clear language connection of cultural legacy and a family unit where the authors explain that legacy in the society does not determine how different ethnicities connect with the family unit. Gertsel and Sarkasian believe that deliberations made on family responsibilities tend to pay more attention to nuclear family as opposed to the general family unit. The language used here implies that the general meaning of extended family unit is ignored or in some cases misrepresented.

Firstly, the relationship expectations in Chinese customs and traditions were strongly held onto. The daughters of the Chinese

Choosing an in-law in !Kung San society is primarily arranged by the parents of the woman based on marital status, hunting ability, age, and willingness to accept the responsibilities of family life (Shostak 1981, p.116). The lack of violence and conflict between villages allows !Kung San parents to travel large distances to find an acceptable partner who is not of close relatedness to the girl being married (Shostak 1981, p.115). The almost universal taboo in modern day industrial societies prohibiting marriages between closely related kin is also followed in !Kung San society and the easiest way to avoid marrying your cousin is by marrying someone from a distant group (Shostak 1981, p.115; Allen et al. 2011). Close kinship systems tend to keep families close together so they can all benefit off the same resources. However, in harsh and unpredictable environments, like that faced by the !Kung, flexibility of movement created by non-consanguineous unions and bilateral kinship systems is essential in creating reciprocity systems that allow access to resources that are limiting and seasonal (Allen et al. 2011). Non-consanguineous

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

Medieval China, as seen in the Stories from a Ming Collection, was characterized by distinct separations between men and women’s abilities, typical old fashioned family structure, and a desire to advance their social status. Throughout all the stories in this book, it dives deep into different aspects of how men and women are treated, how families were structured and how that affects their lives, as well as the values these people held. A very common trend in the stories was how different men and women were treated and the limitations they may or may not had.

Women in Ancient China during the Han Dynasty and Tang Dynasty lived in oppressed lives. Society perceived them as inferior to their husbands and parents-in-law. Their role in the family were to be housewives taking care of their family and maintaining the household chores. They were always under the instructions of their husbands and parents-in-law in they were treated like servants. They also had no control in their personal decisions because they were not allowed to decide who they were going to marry and what they wanted to do in their careers. Parents of daughters would also force their daughters to foot-binding because it would attract potential wealthy husbands. This paper argues that although the Han Dynasty and Tang Dynasty were known as the golden periods for China, nevertheless, it was overlooked by historians that women during the time were victims of gender inequality because they lived with no control over their personal lives and were expected to be submissive to their husbands.

Since the family’s origins are in Africa they came from a society with different norms and values. A society composed of many different tribes, each with their own language, customs and traditions. They placed a strong emphasis on the family and kinship ties. Their communities depended on cooperation, assistances and well maintained social order. When a woman was married, she was considered the wife of the family not just the husband (Franklin, 1967-28-31).

The example is followed by some simple statistics and facts comparing marriage in Japan to the rest of the world. Japan’s divorce rate is less than half the divorce rate of the United States’ even though it is at a record high. It is shared that the traditional family structure is crumbling in the US and Europe while Japan’s is still going strong. Kristof also supports the strength of the family structure by offering the evidence of a study that was published by the Population Council declaring that the rate of two family traditional household is falling significantly worldwide with one

The family structure has traditionally been the basic unit of Chinese society, where women have long been given the task of the continuation of the society 's core values, in their roles as wives and mothers. While the expected values have evolved with time, from the imperial period to the Communist revolution to the modern day, this responsibility for women has

there is a great amount of variability in kinship rules and patterns around the world (O 'neil,2015).

The unique guanxi culture in Chinese society sets its societal framework distinctively apart from the West. Although guanxi is often portrayed as one’s social network, it is much different from the so-called “connections” in Western society. Guanxi is a special social phenomenon in the Chinese societal context. It has survived throughout history and continues to be a prevalent trend because it has its Chinese characteristics and attributes that are not found in other societies. The existence of guanxi in Chinese society originated from the core Chinese value of collectivism. Since centuries ago, Chinese society’s group life and social organization has been based on collective interests. “Familial sentiments and obligations, [which were regarded as ethical relations], extended from the family into society [later on]”. The unofficial, informal networks of familial and kinship obligations provided the social support mechanisms through which peasant families survived in the economy of transition and hardships” (Bian, 2001, p.276). The twin themes of guanxi and the sense of hierarchy mutually enhance each other because private networks thrive through the existence of the principle of giving and reciprocating, which highlights that there is a dependent on a more resourceful party in the relationship. The future of the twin themes in China will continue to be built upon mutual reliance and the looked upon generous favour giver in bridging the connections between multiple parties.