Why study non-human primates?
o It provides a standard to assess human uniqueness
o It helps us make sense of behaviors that are thought to be distinctly human
- many behavioral adaptations are found among non-human primates
- helps us make sense of many behaviors that appear to be di
Did we evolve from contemporary monkey species?
o NO
- we share a common ancestor with many monkey and ape species
How are Homo sapiens sapiens similar or different from monkeys and apes?
- monkeys are not apes; apes are not monkeys
- chimpanzees are apes
- monkeys and apes are primates
---these are taxonomical divisions and are not interchangeable labels
Linnaeu's Regnum Animale (1735)
-Grouped all living things according to similarities & differences
-he was working within the creationist worldview--> he viewed all these similarities and differences as fixed and unchanged from the point of creation
Primate Taxonomy
Taxonomies assign & organize organisms to categories according to their relatedness and resemblance
- one thing Linnaeus wasn't paying attention to was relatedness
-phylogeny
-homologies
-analogies
phylogeny
many similarities b/t organisms reflect this
-their genetic relatedness based on common ancestry
- point is that related organisms share features inherited from the same ancestor
- not only resemblance but also relatedness
homologies
similarities used to assign organisms to the same taxon
- mammals share certain traits that set them apart from other taxa like birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects; one thing that separates them from animal kingdom is mammary glands
- primates share s
Analogies, convergent evolution
- similar traits & features can arise when unrelated species adapt to similar selective forces and or environmental pressures in similar ways
- such similarities are call analogies result of convergent evolution; one unrelated living thing relates to simi
Primate tendencies
means they are trends and are exceptions- these primate tendencies constitute an anthropoid heritage that we as humans share with monkeys and apes; however, most are developed in haplogroups (monkey and apes)
- this evidence shows strepsirrhines are more
Grasping ability (loris)
- primates have 5 digits on our hands and feet that are suited for grasping
- as humans became more bipedal (upright locomotion, walking on two legs) we have eliminated the grasping ability of our feet
Reliance on Sight over Smell (Gibbon)
- primates have stereoscopic vision
- we have binocular vision (forward facing eyes and can see in depth and color)
Reliance on Hand over Nose (Macaque)
- we rely on a sense of touch as conveyed by our tactile organs
- we rely on these things to provide us with information
- cats and dogs have tactile pads on their nose & whiskers to gather sensory data
- we rely on our hands for sensory data
Brain complexity (Bonobo named Kanzi)
- we have complex brains
- the proportion of brain tissue concerned with memory, thought and association has increased in primates
- primates are really smart, and apes are among the smartest of all living things
Parental Investment (Orangutan)
- almost all primates give birth to a single offspring rather than to a liter
- primate babies also take a longer time to develop compared to almost all other mammals; they require constant attention and supervision, and as a result, infant primates have
Sociality (Gorillas and Snow Monkeys)
- as primates, we tend to be social & live with other members of our species
- such sociality is selective value as living and social groups helps provide long term and attentive care to offspring
- *** LOOK AT CHART
Strepsirrhines (Africa, Indonesia, South Asia)
-nostrils tend to be surrounded by moist, naked skin (Ring-Tailed Lemur)
-smaller than Haplorrhines
-relatively smaller brains compared to Haplorrhines
-nocturnal (Lemur)
--- tapetum!
-solitary
Haplorrhines
-nostrils tend to be surrounded by dry, hairy skin (Chimpanzee)
-bigger than Strep & bigger brains
(biggest primate: Gorilla)
-diurnal (Bonobo)
-gregarious (social)
Geographical Distribution of New World Monkeys
found in forests for the most part of Central and South America
New World Monkeys (Platyrrhines)
Prehensile Tail (Capuchin) ; all have tails
- can grasp with their tail
- can do brachiation thru trees
- smaller to help them move through trees and brachiation; quick and agile to help them escape predators
� Arboreal (Tree- Dwelling; Woolly Spider monk
Geographical Distribution of Old-World Monkeys
found in Africa or Asia
Old World Monkeys (Catarrhines)
o More terrestrial; some are arboreal; some have tails & they can't grasp with it
o Greater degree of sexual dimorphism (Baboons)
- this refers to anatomical difference's b/t biological males and females of a given species
- sometimes referred to as tempe
Humans and Apes
redundant b/c we humans are apes
Geographic Distribution of Apes
� African apes: Gorillas, Chimpanzees, and Bonobos; Asiatic apes: gibbons and orangutans (orangutans are only found in Borneo and Sumatra)
Apes
1. Larger bodies compared to monkeys
2. Longer lifespans
3. Longer birth intervals & period of infant dependency
4. A tendency towards upright posture
5. Larger brains
6. Shorter faces
7. No tails
Gibbons
longer arms and legs, which is adaptive brachiation and an arboreal lifestyle
- South Asia - places like China and Indonesia
Orangutans (genus Pongo)
� mostly living in Sumatra but also Borneo
� sexual dimorphism (males weigh more than twice of females)
� eat things like fruit, bark, leaves, insects
� live in jungles and feed in trees- more difficult to study
� more solitary, less social compared to sp
Gorillas
� live in Africa
� show a marked degree of sexual dimorphism with the avg adult female weighing half as much as the avg adult male (400 pounds and 6 ft)
� mostly terrestrial & spend time in social groups usually 10-20 members with very sharp social hierar
Chimpanzees
� closely related to us
� live in Africa
� smaller, more agile than gorillas
� show less sexual dimorphism; females are roughly 88% the size of their male counterparts while is essentially the same ratio of sexually amorphous and found in homo sapiens
- 3
Primates
Many things that we may consider uniquely human exist amongst our primate cousins
1. Learning
2. Tool Use (termite fishing)
-chimps take a branch, remove leaves and put it down in a termite mound to fish out termites and eat them
3. Hunting (some chimps h
The Chosen Primate
this list is fluid and always changing)
* At present, we imagine the following as distinctly human:
1. Share food widely and routinely
2. Cooperate in planning and carrying out complex, multistage tasks- difference of degree! their plans are not as comple
Hominin Evolutionary Trends
1. Body Size
2. Locomotion (i.e. movement towards bipedalism); foreman magnum
3. Cranial Capacity (i.e. big brain)
4. Tool Use
5. Dentition (tooth size, type)
6. Cranial Morphology (brow ridge, sagittal crest, zygomatic arches)
7. Diet
8. these traits cha
Tool Technologies
o Tool-Making traditions (following Oldowan)
o Lower Paleolithic (Acheulian, H. erectus)
o Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian, neanderthals)
o Upper Paleolithic (Blade tools, Homo sapiens sapiens)
- tools got more defined, more developed, more fine-tuned over
Genus Homo
-Where did they live?
- early hominins = East Africa, The Great Rift Valley open savannah grasslands
-Why did they expand?
-Homo erectus was the first to leave
- chart in book
Why did they leave Africa? When? Who?
Homo Habilis
� Homo habilis appears about 2 mya
� Coexisted with P. boisei (hyper robust Australopithecine) for roughly half a million years
� 650-800 cc
- still had many traits more in line with the Australapiths than members of genus Homo
� Long arms, small body
� O
Homo erectus
� H. erectus arrive roughly 100,000 years after H. habilis
- one of the most important species of evolution
� Lived from 1.9 mya to 500,000 B.P.
� Modern body and limbs
- large front teeth, brow ridge, football shaped head
� Bigger brain, b/t 900 and 1250
Homo erectus and Stone tools
had larger brains and better tools (Acheulian)
- Acheulian hand axes
� This led to an increased reliance on hunting (changed diet) and animal protein (shift from fibrous, gritty chewing to animal protein)
� Less robust cranial morphology and dentition
� V
Group Selection
� H. erectus, culture inclusive fitness and group selection; major success in species levels
� Shift from Darwinian to increasingly (spiritually) Lamarckian selection
� Culture became something of an acquired characteristic, passed down directly and indir
Evolutionary Trends
* growing brains were accompanied by related anatomical changes; infant dependency
* Growing Brains, Birth Canals, and Bipedalism
- as the brains of our hominin ancestors got larger, their birth canals got wider to accommodate huge craniums
- however, bir
Immature Birth
* skulls of newborns are not fully formed, are actually elastic, and continue to grow outside womb
- could explain why primate species, especially ape species, have extended period of infant dependency
- compromise b/t competing evolutionary trends (biped
Brains as hard drives
- at birth, they are big and empty--> Darwin and Lamarck working in tandem
- language was evolving at this point; we can conceptualize language capacity as part of the formatting on the empty brain & filled with knowledge
Haplorrhines have branched further into
monkeys and apes after that split many many many mya
ancestral hominids(chimps, gorillas, humans)
appeared abt 8 mya
hominins (ancestors of humans and only humans)
evolved into several species ~last 2.5 million years~
� idea of "missing link" b/t chimps and humans is based on false assumption that humans evolved from chips and maybe gorillas
� human ancestors split off from chimp and gorilla ancestors about 6 mya
Hogopan
� hypothetically (we don't know what species it was) existed between 8 to 6 mya
- split into diff evolutionary lines in diff ecological niches and their diets became specialized (African ape line and human line)
- last common ancestor b/t humans and Afric
Who went where? Who ate what?
- gorillas lived in mountain forests and become vegetation eaters
- chimps and bonobos lived in forests/woodlands (still do) and eat fruit
- hominins: savannah grassland and ate seeds, nuts, berries, chewing intensive food
How do we decide whether a fossil discovery is a hominin or a hominid?
- these terms refer to the degree of relatedness b/t humans and closely related ape species, hominids with the D or humans, African apes and their immediate ancestors
- hominiN: specific label referring to ancestral human species that existed after our ev
Genus homo types
- Homo habilis (1.9-1.44 mya)
- Homo erectus (2.9-500,000 B.P)
- Homo heidelbergensis (800,000-200,000 B.P)
Homo sapiens 300,000BP to present
Competition
� Genus Homo came on the scene roughly 2 mya
� Many species coexisted for extended periods of time and competed for resources
� Some evolutionary lines were dead ends while others ultimately resulted in Homo sapien sapien (i.e. The Chosen Primate); some o
Robust Australopiths
- Genus Paranthropus
- Large post canine teeth (hyper robust- P. boisei)
- Smaller incisors and canines
- Flatter faces
- Large chewing muscles
- Gracile (A. africanus) vs Robust (P. robustus) Forms; bipedal
- gracile forms are slighter less rugged, small
foreman magnum
- hole in base of skull where the spinal cord connects to brain; more anterior for humans and posterior for species like chimps (early trait that distinguishes early hominids from hominins)
- australopiths start at around 430 but never past 600 cc
tool use (especially stone tools)
- fire (led to dietary changes); able to hunt and create tools to hunt
brow ridge
related to work done by front teeth ripping and tearing
zygomatic arches
flaring cheekbones, but usually made room for large chewing muscles related to chewing intensive diet
sagittal crest
- aka bone mohawk; calcification outcropping that goes front to back, back to front & related to a lot of work done by chewing muscles
- developed at diff rates
interrelated
diet, dentition, and cranial morphology
Phylogenetic Tree
- We will briefly touch on some species ("Toumai" and Ardipithecus species) whose status is up for debate; early hominids
- Our focus is on the species that are commonly understood to be the first hominins (Genus Australopithecus)
- Some of these species
Sahelanthropus Tchadensis (6-7 MYA)
o "Toumai"
- Discovered in Chad in 2001 (central Africa);
- Hagopain ish; lived in mixed forest grassland lake river eco-system; 6-7 mya
o Blends apelike and human characteristics
- chimp sized brain (320-380 cc) & has a brow ridge
- had flat human like f
Rift Valley
* East Africa's Rift Valley where the majority of early hominin evolution occurred
- bit of an outlier because majority of early hominid evolution occurred in east africa's rift valley region, which is an open savannah grassland ecology
* "Toumai" as outl
Genus Ardipithecus
- Ardipithecus kadabba (5.5-5.8 mya)
- Ardipithecus ramidus (4.4 mya)
- Bipedal, but apelike in size, anatomy and habitat
- Earlier hominin?
- had teeth
- arboreal
- chimp like in terms of dentition, cranium morphology, etc. relatively small brain
- not d
Ardi
- 4.4 mya
- Most complete early hominid (potentially hominin) specimen (110 diff pieces of fossilized bone found)
- earliest most complete skeleton of an individual
- Weighed about 120 pounds, 4 feet tall; gripping toes to help them with arboreal lifestyl
The Australopiths
� Two genera: Australopithecus, Paranthropus
� Australopithecus anamensis (4.2-3.9 mya)
� Australopithecus afarensis (3.8-3.0)
� Australopithecus africanus (3.5-2.5) (South Africa)
� Paranthropus robustus (1.9-1.0) (South Africa)
� Paranthropus boisei (2.
Australopith locomotion
� most popular locomotion or the environment pressures that may have led to such adaptation to bipedal locomotion
- there are no trees in the savannah so they tend to be more upright; can carry things and see distances
- can use their energy more efficien
Australopith sexual dimorphism
anatomical differences b/t males and females; females are about 66% size of males
Australopith cranial capacity
� small; chimp like (430cc and got bigger towards 600cc)
- pay attention to brain size & birth canal! Birth canal was relatively smaller compared to homo species
- Austropiths= more narrow birth canal
� While physically smaller than later species, they ha
Australopith dentition and cranial morphology
� (molar size LARGE)
- features include adaptations related to diets & phenotypes; coarse, gritty, fibrous vegetation for their diet in grasslands and semi desert env.; their head, jaw, and teeth = designed for heavy chewing
Cranial Morphology (sagittal c
Social Organization, Diet, and Fire
o Terra Amata, 300,000-year-old campsite in France
- major maybe a homo heidelbergensis campsite discovered
- remains of lots of diff animals which shows diet of people here; included: deer, elephant, mountain goat, rhino, wild ox, turtle, bird, oyster, m
Homo Erectus and Leaving Africa
� controlled fire enabled Homo erectus to spread into temperate climates and ultimately leave Africa
- fire combined with more refined tools allowed our ancestors to exploit a new adaptive strategy gathering and hunting; small groups broke off from larger
Homo Neandertalensis
� The Neandertals (Homo neandertalensis) lived in EU; first one found in Neander Valley in Germany
- was significantly colder compared to Africa; not cold adapted compared to Homo sapiens
� Large torso/ short limb configuration: adaptation to conserve hea
Homo Neadertalensis DNA Evidence
� 1-4% of Neandertal genome incorporated within the DNA of living Europeans and Asians (but not Africans)
- evidence of some interbreeding; if there is more DNA, the percent would be a lot higher if they interbred a lot
� DNA suggests that neandertal ance
Genus Homo + Neandertal
- Homo erectus on upper left; rapid increase in brain size after Homo habilis, but still a smaller brain than all subsequent species seen here
- homo erectus: larger front teeth, brow ridge
- Neandertal: largest cranial capacity of any species; larger fro
Denisovans (outlier)
� Southern Siberia
- discovered a finger fragment and a wisdom tooth in a cave (Denisova)
- scientists were able to extract entire DNA genome linked to these materials
� Split from ancestral neandertals around 400,000 years ago
- went east when neandertal
Homo Floresiensis
� On Flores near Indonesia
� Lived from 700,000 to 60,000 B.P.
� Human-like but with very small brains (400cc); had to do with their environment and the adaptation to warm island environment
� known as hobbits, very short and stout
� Pygmy H. erectus?
� S
Behavioral Modernity
� relying on symbolic thought, elaborating cultural creativity, and as a result becoming fully human in behavior as well as in anatomy
- developed roughly 45,000 years ago and quickly spread (creative explosion theory)
- idea in parts of Africa dating bac
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
- Chauvet Cave, France
- up to 32,000 years old
- evidence of behavioral modernity
Next Time
1. Hunting and gathering were the primary subsistence practices for most of human history
2. Plant and animal domestication emerge out of such lifestyles
3. The Neolithic Revolution began in the Middle East 10,000 years ago and spread throughout Old World
Cosmologies
(view anthropology as a new and improved cosmology)
� A system of thought through to make sense of the world around us as well as our place within the world
� Theories of evolution attempt to make sense of human origins, just as accounts of divine creatio
� What makes a life of domestication worthwhile?
� Why would humans choose a way of life that brings with it so many maladaptive, dangerous, and evil things?
human ancestors were forced into a life of domestication as a result of global warming and our deep and recent history
Broad Spectrum Revolution
1. Global Warming
2. Receding Glaciers
- end of last Ice Age, glaciers are treated, and climates became drier
3. Expansion of Human Range
- many species of big game, those megafauna that were hunted by Neanderthals, wooly mammoths, wooly rhinos all went e
Hilly Flanks (new Garden of Eden)
- The Fertile Crescent in the Middle East
-Vertical Economy consisting of 4 geographically close, but very different, environmental zones (differ in climate, vegetation and altitude)
1. high plateau
2. hilly flanks: below high plateau & is a subtropical w
high plateau
highest region (5000 ft)
piedmont steppes
next to hilly flanks; treeless plain
alluvial plain
below & next to piedmont steppes; area watered by Tigris and Euphrates rivers rich fertile soil
- archeologists agree that the story of food production begins in the hilly flanks where wild wheat and wild barley grew in abundance and can be compared to th
The Natufians
o first worked out the initial adaptation to this array of climates
- harvested wild cereals, hunted gazelles, wild sheep and goats
o Built permanent villages in the Hilly Flanks near densest supply of wild wheat; couldn't continue nomadic lifestyle b/c t
Surplus Production
- Surplus production led to greater organization and oversight of food stores
1. Greater organization of harvest
2. Greater limitation of access
3. Increased routinization of distribution
4. New limits on consumption
Expansion and Domestication
- These changes were mostly related to population size; populations were growing in these new sedentary permanent settlements
- Once they reached carrying capacity, the population spilled out into new ecological niches and marginal zones
- Domestication w
Domestication
* involved the alteration of both plants & animals
* was more specialized and focused on a smaller # of food sources compared to broad spectrum foraging
Plant Domestication
� Wild Wheat/Barley brittle axis, hard husks
- humans selected these traits in wheat
- as seeds were taken to new environments, new phenotypes were favored by a combination of natural and human selection
- chose them b/c they could be more effectively pr
Animal Domestication
sheep and goats were bred to be smaller, more docile, and to be more efficient producers of wool, hair, milk, fat and meat
Irrigation
- Between 6,000 and 7,000 BP people learned how to bring water into areas that did not have enough water for agriculture
- Irrigation enabled people to live in large towns and cities on the alluvial plain, which had rich soils
- It also allowed for even l
The State
- these larger surpluses required greater administration and oversight
- This led to the emergence of the State: a form of social and political organization that has a formal, central government and a division of society into social classes
- Surplus Take
Early States
o first states developed in the alluvial plains (Tigris and Euphrates/ Mesopotamia) of what is now Iraq (then Sumer) and Iran (then Elam) b/t 6,000 and 5,500 BP
o Uruk, capital city of Sumer, had a population of about 50,000 people by 4,800 BP
o Middle Ea
Key Attributes of early cities/states
1. Larger and more densely populated than previous settlements
2. Productive farming economies supporting dense populations, often including cities
3. Taxation used to accumulate resources needed to support a growing number of specialists (rulers, a milit
New Problems
1. Decline in public health
- state societies saw less varied diet that was less nutritious or healthy compared to a foragers diet that was rich in protein and low in fats and carbs
2. diseases and epidemics
- diseases like smallpox didn't start impacting
Economy
a system of production, distribution, and consumption of resources
Economics
study of economy systems
Economic Anthropology
- study of economics in cross cultural comparative perspective
- it is the part of the discipline that debates issues of human nature that relate directly to the decisions of daily life and making a living
- How are production, distribution, and consumpti
Subsistence
Making a Living" = Satisfaction of the most basic material survival needs (food, clothing, and shelter)
- Adaptive Strategies are the methods for meeting these needs
Making a Living
� Making a Living and Foraging for Food
� Until 10,000 years ago, there was no difference b/t these two things
� This began to change with the advent of domestication and new forms of food production based on farming
� Today, fewer than 30,000 people make
Adaptive Strategies
� Before the Industrial Revolution, the vast majority of the world's population lived in economies based on four "adaptive strategies" all but one of which developed in the last 10,000 years
1. Foraging (hunting and gathering): make a living based on avai
Adaptive Strategies are based on
correlations (associations or co-variations b/t 2 or more variables/ there are certain trends you see across different cultures that would place them in certain adaptive strategies)
- factors that are linked and interrelated
- typically found together
- w
Correlations b/t subsistence strategies &
a. Social/Political Organization
b. Environment/ Geography: diff adaptive strategies are long term adaptations to diff environmental pressures
c. Population Density: you may have a larger/more dense population or smaller/less dense population based on ava
Cohen's Typology
Disclaimers:
- Not perfect: groups may possess some correlated features but not all
- Not an evolutionary schema
- Not mutually exclusive; many co-exist within the same society
Foraging
1. Depends on naturally available food
- tend to travel based on season
2. Small populations
- usually less than 100 people but foraging an adaptive strategy is reliable and allows for large amounts of leisure time
3. Mobile and flexible
4. Relatively ega
Horticulture
1. Swiddens (burned clearings made for temporary cultivation); Slash and Burn
- burning stuff at the surface releases nutrients into the soil & kills bugs
- travel to diff places to let the soil fallow (let it return to nature)
- short term, non-intensive
Agriculture
larger scale, more permanent, more widespread
1. More Complex Tools (plows, draft animals, irrigation systems, conservation)
- animals for transportation and cultivation
- animal manure for fertilization
2. Permanent Plots and Fields
- terracing (more eff
Industrialism
o based on machines and chemical processes(fuel) which make the development of manufacturing, mass production and mechanization possible
o produces large, mobile, skilled, specialized and (differently) educated labor forces
o These labor forces are contro
Mode of Production
- ways of organizing production; "a set of social relations through which labor is deployed to wrest energy from nature by means of tools, skills, organization and knowledge" (Eric Wolf, anthropologist)
Means of Production
major productive resources, such as land, labor, technology
- factory machinery
- human labor
Karl Marx
� focused on the importance of human labor in transforming raw materials into desired products
� Labor links humans to the material world around us and is a fundamentally social activity
� Capitalism is now the dominant form of industrial economy and capi
Economics and the Market Principle
* developed as part of industrial society, as a way of understanding how goods and services are produced, distributed, and consumed in modern, cash-based market economies
* The Market Principle (an assumption): Infinite Wants, Scarce Means, Profit Maximiz
Neoclassical Economics
� "Free market" = "free" b/c no traditional restrictions determine distribution (not linked to social status)
� The market (via supply and demand) determines levels of production and consumption
- if supply is high, demand is low; supply= high, demand = l
Formalists
applied neoclassical economics to non-Western societies and portrayed them as "closet capitalists" (they're still trying to maximize their profit and minimize their expenditure built around this marker)
Substantivists
� (more in line w economic anthropologists) rejected this arguing that:
1. There is more than one economic rationality above and beyond capitalism
2. Not everything has a price and is for sale
3. Self-interested materialism not universal
4. Capitalist mar
Diff modes of production
- Capitalist and industrial modes of production are not the only one humans have created
- if there's more than one mode of production, then there's going to be more than one economic rationality
- Diff modes of production are structured in ways that alte
Alternative Ends
spend our scarce money:
- Subsistence (food), Replacement, Social (spending time with people), Ceremonial (various important events), Rent Funds
Exchange
Economist Karl Polyani (1968) identified 3 principles of exchange:
1. Reciprocity
2. Redistribution
3. Markets
** Not always about the money!
Reciprocitty
exchange relationships b/t individuals and groups
- most common among foragers, cultivators and pastoralists, more egalitarian societies
- exist in highly modern industrialized Western nation states
1. Generalized
2. Balanced
3. Negative
generalized reciprocity
exchange with no expectation of immediate return (e.g. parent-child giving, most common amongst foragers); social closeness; most common in foraging
balanced reciprocity
exchange w/ anticipation of equal return (e.g. Christmas gifts, bartering, cooperative work- Amish); close but not as close
negative reciprocity
attempt to get something for nothing (e.g. cattle raiders)
-Continuum Questions:
1. How closely related are the parties to exchange? Is there social distance or social closeness?
2. How quickly and unselfishly are gifts reciprocated?
Bronislaw Malinowski
Trobriand Islands
-kula ring-reciprocity
Kula Ring
� Mwali armband- travel counterclockwise
� Soulava necklaces- travel clockwise
� Trobriand Islands
- these objects are PRICELESS
- their value is derived from their participation in this exchange network
� "once in the Kula, always in the Kula"- referring
Redistribution
* When goods, services, or their equivalent move from the local level to a center
* Taxation, Pooling, Tribute, food surplus etc.
* Eventually flows in the reverse, from the center back to the people
* Think about the food surplus that drives state format
Potlaches
most common redistribution
� Northwest Coast of North America
� Salish, Kwakiutl, etc.
� disputes about status were often resolved at these ceremonies, at which rivals competed for honor, prestige of giving away the greatest amounts of property
� Communit
Market Based Exchanges
� All-purpose money on currency (as a "relation" substitute)
� Supply and Demand
� Leads to greater fluidity, diversity, and diversity of exchange much faster than through generalized or balance reciprocity or redistribution
Exchange (not mutually exclusive)
- all exist within our society
1. Reciprocity
2. Redistribution
3. Markets
- these principles of exchange are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they all operate within our society
Kinship
� The way we think of relatives in the U.S. is not simply based on shared blood or genetic relatedness
- we naturalize in a centralized kinship
� � vs � Shared Genetic Material
� If not genetic relatedness, is kinship based on love? Do you love all your k
Nuclear Family
- Typical members are parents and their (not exclusively) biological children
- The typical American family is small and impermanent
American kinship
- Our American nuclear families also tend to be matrilaterally skewed
- Women seem to be doing more of the work of kinship in the nuclear family in contemporary Western societies; very gendered
- Why no Grooms? (never seen groom's magazine)
- it's a consu
Non-kinship based Institutions
* Our nuclear families rely on non-kinship based institutions to survive
* Hospitals, day cares, kindergarten, nurseries, nursing homes, etc.
* Are these institutions kin substitutes?
* Are we really married to our jobs?
Nuclear Families (extended households)
� The nuclear family is not the only one possible in our society
- different forms can be found among lower socio-economic classes
� Class Differences
� Nuclear, Expanded, and Extended Family Households
- lower classes in society are more likely to live i
Changes in Family and Household Organization in US
- patterns of American kinship have changed over time and the reality fails to match w/ the cultural ideal of the nuclear family
- nuclear family is a small minority (more ideal culture rather than real culture)
- as our population has gotten larger in th
Changes in North American kinship
o Nuclear families accounted for 19% of American households in 2018
o More women joining workforce, especially after WW2
o Later age of 1st marriage
o Higher divorce rate
o Increase in single-parent families (tripled b/t 1970 and 2015)
o Percentage of mar
Families
� In many human societies the nuclear family was, and continues to be, submerged within larger, more important groups of kin, or it is virtually non-existent
� Extended families are primary unit of social organization in many societies around the world
�
Descent
� In most human societies the nuclear family is present but is submerged within larger, more permanent groups
� Descent Groups: permanent social units whose members claim common ancestry
Patrilineal
Membership based on relatedness through male ancestors
- we have the same surname as our father (mother takes surname from husband)
Matrilineal
Membership based on relatedness through female ancestors
Unilineal
Descent rule only uses one line (so either patrilineal OR matrilineal) - exists in a lot of Pacific Islander cultures
Ambilineal
Descent rule that recognizes either female or male line, which a person can choose
Bilateral
Kinship systems that don't have descent groups (i.e. relatives on mother's and father's side are considered to be the same kind of relatives) - US
Descent Groups
� more common in horticultural, agricultural, pastoral, and other non-industrial economies
� they are rare in foraging and modern, industrial, capitalist economies
� decent groups are not constituted with flexibility, high mobility, and easy access to kin
Families and Residence Rules
� Relationship b/t kinship and marital formations
� where we live often correlates with whom we live
� Family of Orientation (the family in which one is born and grows up)
� Family of Procreation (formed when one marries and has children)
� Brazil vs US
-
virilocality
(living with relatives of the groom)
- more common among Iraqi or Jordanian villagers who practice virilocality in a very patrilineal descent group system
uxorilocality
living with relatives of the bride
neolocality
living apart from relatives of bride and groom
patrilocality
moving to the husband's community; children grow up in their father's village
matrilocality
moving to bride's community; children grow up in their mother's village
Kinship Calculation
- system through which people in a society conceptualize kin relationships
- involves distinguishing b/t diff varieties of relatedness & accounts for diff forms of connection (like blood, marriage, and descent)
- Kin Type (biological & refer to the actual
Kin Types
descent: Collateral (siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews) vs Lineal (parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren; direct line) relatives
1. blood and marriage
2. parallel vs cross cousins
3. fictive kin
blood and marriage
* Affine/Affinal (through marriage) vs Consanguine/ Consanguineal (through blood)
- all collateral and lineal kin are consanguine
parallel vs cross cousins
- the sex/gender of linking relative of the parent's generation is the same (father's brother/ mother's sister) any children they have to you are parallel cousins
- if the sex/gender is different (father's sister's children or mother's brother's children)
fictive kin
there are kin not through marriage or blood that we have very close relationships with; kin we choose
Distinctions in Kin Terms
� Sex (e.g. "uncle" vs "aunt")
� Generation (e.g. cousin = same generation)
� Affinity (e.g. "mother" vs "mother-in-law")
� Bifurcation (when terms for mother's relatives differ from those used for father's relatives (e.g. mjomba vs baba ndogo in Swahili)
Kinship symbols
ego= whose diagram we are looking at (shade yourself)
For most Americans marriage is supposed to be based on
1. Love: based on the decision to marry to have sex
2. Sex
- love and sex combine in the person of our spouse early in the game
- people who love each other and have sex exclusively do not necessarily get married
3. Choice: people choose to marry & in way
For most Americans marriage is NOT supposed to be based on
1. Explicitly about economics
2. Made by parents
3. Against the will of espoused
4. For reasons other than love or for impersonal reasons
� Marriages based on these factors are often (negatively) viewed as arranged marriages
- the more cultural distance w
Homogamy
Marrying people who are similar to you
- only groups Americans consistently marry out of are gender and our close kin
- same sex marriage is far less common in terms of overall numbers than marrying outside of your own sex or gender
Marriage
refers to the customs, rules, and obligations that establish a special relationship b/t sexually cohabitating adults, typically (but not exclusively) male and female, b/t them and any children they produce (together or singly), and b/t the kin of the spou
Same-sex Unions (Neur)
"Living Together
- patrilineal society in Sudan; property is passed down thru male offspring
- if father had only daughters, he'd ask one daughter to assume the son position and marry a wife (not sexual but social and symbolic one)
- this social allows the patrilineal to
Incest
� Marriage is often conceptualized as a way of avoiding incest (sexual relations with a close relative)
� Having a taboo against incest (incest taboo) is a human universal
� How cultures define their relatives, and thus incest, is variable and culturally
Royal Incest
* very common for European royalty to marry within its extended family
* it's a way of maintaining status, alliances, and power & why some medical conditions are in royalty (increased genetic malady within limited royal incest gene pool)
* ex) hemophilia-
Incest Taboo
While the specific forms of incest are culturally specific, a taboo against incest is a human universal. There are many theories that attempt to explain why:
1. Inbreeding avoidance, instinctive or otherwise; disgust at the thought of mating with our clos
Marriage and Groups
Marriage is often a system of alliances b/t families and descent groups
- through this lens, incest taboo can be understood as a way of extending alliances b/t kin groups and diff familial units
-exogamy
-endogamy
Exogamy
seeking a mate outside one's own group
- links people to a wider social network that nurtures, helps and protects them in times of need
- marries outside in order to preserve a resource, a state of purity or a sense of difference or a sense of superiority
Endogamy
seeking a mate within one's own group (e.g. Caste System)
- people have to marry within their inter caste b/c they're thought to lead to ritual impurity for the higher caste partner
- arranged marriages
Marital Exchange
� Outside industrial societies, marriage is often more a relationship b/t groups than one b/t individuals
� People don't just take a spouse; they assume obligations to a group of in-laws
� Marriage is always a relationship based on exchange or refusal to
Bride wealth (lobola)
Gifts given by groom's family to bride's family upon marriage
- it is more common in patrilineal descent systems
- compensation for the loss of the bride's companionship, but also the loss of her labor
- compensation for the fact that her children are bec
Dowry
Gifts given by bride's family to groom's family upon marriage; less common than bride wealth
- compensation for taking on being responsible for the bride
- bride can be viewed as a burden, as something to be taking care of
Marital Alliances
o Some customs preserve the relationship b/t 2 groups of a kin in the case of spousal death
o Sororate: widower marries on of his deceased wife's sisters (or another woman from her group if a sister is not available)
o Levirate: widow marries one of her d
Plural Marriage
- Polygamy: having more than one spouse
- Polygyny: one man, several wives
- Polyandry: One woman, several husbands
Polygyny
� Even when polygyny is encouraged, most people tend to be monogamous; there's a human tendency towards monogamy
� Polygyny is more prevalent when there is a gender disparity within a given society
� Reasons for polygyny:
- men marrying later than women
-
Polyandry
� Very rare, almost exclusively in South Asia (Tibet, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka)
� Cultural adaptation to mobility associated with customary male travel for trade, commerce, and military operations
� Ensures at least one man at home to accomplish male activ
Plural Marriage & serial monogamy
* What about the US?
* Serial Monogamy individuals may have more than one spouse, but never more than one at the same time
* Why aren't more Americans advocating, along with some-sex unions, the legalization of polygamy? there's something about monogamy a