KINSHIP & MARRIAGE LECTURES

I Introduction

Part 1 Why is the study of kinship and marriage so important?

Part 2 Explains a few simple terms and then analysed one kind, hunter-gatherer society.

II Descent

Part 1 What does descent mean? What is the distinction between social and biological descent?

Part 2 Looks at one of the three kinds of descent system, that is agnatic systems which trace descent through males.

III Descent and Inheritance

Part 1 Discusses uterine or matrilineal descent systems and the 'matrilineal puzzle'.

Part 2 Looks at bilineal or non-unilineal descent systems.

Part 3 What is inheritance and how do inheritance systems work?

IV Rules of Marriage

Part 1 What is marriage? Can we have a universal definition of marriage?

Part 2 How in fact are marriages constructed and arranged.

V Patterns of Marriage

Part 1 Looks at the economics of marriage. What are bridewealth and dowry?

Part 2 Discusses the sociology and demography of marriage. Who marries, when and to whom?

Part 3 How many marriage partners can one have? What are monogamy and polygyny?

VI Domestic Groups

Part 1 What are domestic groups?

Part 2 How are domestic groups formed? What are the four major types of marriage residence? How are marriages dissolved?

VII Sex

Part 1 Introduces sexual behaviour. What is sex?

Part 2 Discusses sexual relations between a human and an animal; and those between a man and a man, and between a woman and a woman.

VIII Incest and Adultery

Part 1 What is incest and why is its study important?

Part 2 What are the theories which account for the incest taboo? What is adultery?

IX Kinship Systems

Part 1 Looks at kinship systems in general and the theories to account for their differences.

Part 2 What are the major findings of anthropologists in relation to variations in kinship system?

X Theories of Kinship

Part 1 The first two major schools of interpretation of kinship systems: Evolutionism and Diffusionism.

Part 2 The other two major schools of interpretation of kinship: Functionalism and Structuralism.