Kinship is the way that any society organizes group
membership through descent and marriage.
Kinship is an important area of study for anthropologists because it
helps define large scale societies and is one of the foundations that directs
and guides interactions among individuals.
Case in point, you act differently among individuals who are considered
family vs. those who are not considered family.
Typically, one will do more for family versus someone who is not family,
so kinship is incredibly important to social interactions. It is these differences in behavior that
anthropologists focus on, and this is an area of discussion in today’s blog
post, which will specifically address how people who are not related by blood
become kin. Yep, we are going to discuss
marriage arrangements as they affect and place women within society by
exploring bride wealth and dowry.
Marriages are key to society and culture as it solidifies
specific types of social relations among individuals who are not already
considered kin by blood of any cultural group.
Marriages vary by culture. In our
American culture individuals have a lot of say and freedom in choosing their
spouse, but this is not the norm in every culture. In many cultures marriages involve a great
deal of political and social negotiations, particularly in regards to the value
of women in a particular culture.
Depending on whether a woman and her work is considered worthwhile or a
burden one of two means of securing a marriage for the woman will be used. These means are bride wealth (aka bride
price) or dowry, which represent opposing representations of women and differing
negotiations in marriage contracts.
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| Figure 1:The Zulu of Africa are a culture that practices bride wealth. This picture shows one of those negotiations in action.
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Bride wealth (aka bride price) involves the payment of goods
or money paid by the groom to the bride’s family in exchange for the bride and
her work (Figure 1). This is done
because the bride/woman is seen as an asset and her loss to her family must
therefore be compensated. Also, it is
not just the bride/woman who is valued in this sort of exchange. Her future children are also paid for through
what is known as a child price, which is compensation paid to the bride’s/woman’s
family to ensure her children belong to the husband and his family. This ensures that the husband, particularly
in the event of a separation or dissolution of the marriage, will also take
care of his children (regardless of if they are biologically or not because the
contract supersedes that).
What exactly is a bride/woman worth? Well, that ultimately depends on several
factors, including her age, her previous relationship status (e.g. unmarried
versus widowed), potentially her work output and skill sets, and her social
status within the community (typically related to her entire family). These factors are important as they continue
to facilitate social relations within the culture that currently exist (meaning
there is less likelihood of a “Cinderella” story occurring, meaning a poor man
marrying a rich woman, although that can happen in some cultures). Men who are interested in taking a bride must
make their intentions known to the potential bride’s family, who then consult
the bride on whether or not she believes he’s a good match for her. If she agrees then the negotiations begin. The goods and/or money that is paid is
typically culturally dictated, and these can include food, livestock, goods, labor
(by the future son-in-law), land, etc. The
negotiations are typically peaceful and not grandiose, meaning a man is not
going to go broke trying to pay for his bride.
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| Figure 2: Citizens of India continue to practice the dowry despite it being illegal. Pictured here is a dowry negotiation in action. |
The dowry, on the other hand, is a large payment (monetary
or goods) provided to the groom’s family to ensure the bride’s safety and
inclusion within her new family unit (Figure 2). This is done because women are seen as a
burden within any family unit, and therefore a marriage is a contractual obligation
where one family is taking on a loss (through the bride) from another family. Dowry and marriage negotiations can be very
contentious and often continue even after the marriage since the woman is
considered a burden. Due to this risk
many young girls are taken out of school early (if they are allowed to attend
at all) and begin working so they can collect a sizeable dowry to ensure a favorable
marriage into a family that will not abuse her.
Where dowry systems exist women typically do not have much choice in who
they marry, and they will typically marry whomever will accept their dowry, meaning
men have massive amount of power within these societies.
Dowries are common throughout India despite being made
illegal in the 1960s. In part because of
the illegal nature of the dowry system and the cultural values placed on
dowries there are several different types of dowry abuses. Groom’s families who abuse their potential
brides or the brides out of rejection of a dowry or to get a larger dowry, and/or
the bride’s family have taken to killing the bride to avoid payment of dowries
that they cannot afford to pay.
Kinship is a key element of social relations within any
society, and marriage is one of those means of creating new social relations. Marriage is also crucial to the construction
of gender values within any society, particularly for the woman. This blog post addressed the contractual
negotiations that directly affect women in marriage. Bride wealth (aka bride price) is used when a
woman is valued, whereas the dowry is used when women are devalued. Both further perpetuates social status and
gender ideals within the society, further demonstrating the power of family
within culture.
Works Cited
Gezon, L., & Kottak, C.
(2014). Cultural Anthropology
McGraw-Hill.
Welsch, R.L. & L.A.
Vivanco. (2015). Cultural Anthropology: Asking Questions About
Humanity. Oxford University Press.
