Marriage
ANTH 321: Kinship and Social Organization
Kimberly Porter Martin, PH.D.
What Is a Family?
A family is a group of people
who are connected to one
another by consanguineal,
affinal or fictive kin ties.
Types of Kin Ties
 Consanguineal ties = ties
established by birth/descent
from a common ancestor
 Affinal
ties = ties established
by marriage
 Fictive
kin ties = ties that
mimic consanguineal or affinal
ties where no such tie exists
Aspects of Marriage
 Who
chooses marriage partners?
 What is the basis for selecting
partners?
 What kind of contract exists between
families?
 How many spouses are involved in
given family?
 Where does a couple usually go to
live after marriage?
 What kind of household form is the
norm?
Who Chooses Marriage Partners?
 Fathers
 Males
in the family
 Parents
 Family members including siblings
 Personal choice
Sometimes with rights of refusal for bride and/or groom
Marriage Contract
Bride Price/Wealth – groom’s family gives
goods/animals to bride’s family to show his ability to
provide and to compensate them for the loss of their
daughter’s labor
 Suitor Service – groom works for the brides family
(usually hunting in a foraging society) to demonstrate
his ability to provide and to compensate for the loss of
the daughter’s labor
 Dowry – bride’s family offers goods that come with
the bride into the marriage to make her more desirable
as a marriage partner. Sometimes bride controls the
goods, sometimes they become the property of the
groom.

Types of Marriage Contracts

Female Husbands http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0DIL6DkZE

Masai Tribal Customs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq_cptHufTQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqGA0xjOms4

Brideprice in Uganda (What Price Brideprice?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gmp4ogS1UH8

Dowry in Greece

Dowry in India
Numbers of Spouses in a
Family

Monogamy = the marriage of one woman to one man
 Polygamy = the marriage of multiple wives OR
husbands to a member of the opposite sex (a general
term). There are three (3) types:
Polygyny = the marriage of one man to
multiple wives
Polyandry = the marriage of one woman
to multiple husbands
Group Marriage = the marriage of
multiple women to multiple men
Example of Polygynous
Marriage
This is “Sororal Polygyny”
Example of Polyandrous
Marriage
Household Form




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Nuclear Family = a monogamously married couple and
their offspring living together in a household.
Centralized Polygynous Family = a man and his
multiple wives living together in a family.
Satellite Polygynous Family = Multiple wives of a
single man who maintain separate houses for
themselves and their children, but work together in
domestic tasks
Extended Family = a domestic group consisting of
three or more generations of consanguineally and
affinally related people.
Group Marriage Family = a domestic unit composed
of all of the spouses and offspring of a group marriage.
Nuclear Families in a Standard
Kinship Diagram?
In the diagram below, all the different nuclear families are
shown indifferent colors. Notice that the adults in EGO’s
parent’s generation are members of two different nuclear
families.
Patrilocal Extended
Family
Matrilocal Extended
Family
OR