ANT 101: Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology
Spring 2009, M,W,F 10:30 — 11:20, Chambers 1027
Prof. Eriberto P. Lozada Jr. Office Hours: M, W 9:30– 10:30 am
Office: Chambers B12 T, Th 9:00– 10:00 am or by appointment
Telephone: 704-894-2035 Email: erlozada@davidson.edu
Web: http://www.davidson.edu/personal/erlozada
Lecture Notes, 2 February 2009
Kinship
Why kinship?
• like an opinion, everyone has one; most basic social structure: “all human societies face
certain problems for which marriage, the creation of families, and kinship systems offer
solutions. Every society must regulate sexual access between males and females, find
satisfactory ways to organize labor, assign responsibility for child care, provide a clear
framework for the transfer of property and social position between generations” (Nanda
and Warms :143)
• kinship ties many different elements of society and culture
• nature/culture transition
• variety in family and household structure was one of the first things noticed by
Westerners
• original impetus behind anthropology; Morgan was a lawyer; inheritance and land
ownership – Engel’s Origin of the Family; focus of early anthropologists (such as British
social anthropologists discussed by Monaghan and Just in chapter 3)
Why Taiwan?
• filial piety, “da jiating,” modernity
• slide show
Some kinship terms (see also Nanda and Warms, Chapter 7)
Descent
• Descent group: social unit whose members claim common ancestry; unilineal bilineal;
• Matrilineal descent: descent traced along mother’s line (not connected to matriarchy)
• Patrilineal descent: descent traced along father’s line
• Lineage: members of a descent group that have a demonstrated descent from a common
ancestor; may or may not be a “corporate group” (shared property)
• Clan: members of a group that have stipulated descent from a common ancestor
Marriage
• know it when you see it; while the institution is seen in all cultures, it is difficult to pin
down an exact definitiont; hink of current debates over marriage;
• preference rules; establishing households (see Miller)
