El intercambio de hermanas es un tipo de acuerdo matrimonial en el que dos pares de hermanos se casan entre sí. Para casarse, un hombre necesita persuadir a su hermana para que se case con el hermano de la novia. Se practica como método principal de organización de matrimonios en el 3% de las sociedades del mundo: en Australia , Melanesia , Amazonia y África subsahariana ; y puede sustituir a otros métodos en el 1,4% de las sociedades. [1]
Los investigadores no están de acuerdo sobre el razonamiento detrás del intercambio de hermanas, pero la mayoría cree que se trata de algún tipo de reciprocidad. Varios antropólogos y sociólogos expresaron objeciones al término "intercambio de hermanas" creyendo que no describe con precisión el arreglo real.
A pesar de las afirmaciones anteriores de su simplicidad, el intercambio de hermanas es un arreglo complejo que involucra a muchos miembros de la familia y no simplemente a las cuatro personas que se van a casar. [2] [3]
Funciones sociales
Los sociólogos y antropólogos interesados en la reciprocidad estudian el intercambio de hermanas. [4] Establece un vínculo simétrico entre los hombres y los une, lo que puede usarse para resolver conflictos preexistentes. [5] [6] Marcel Mauss enfatizó que, dado que las mujeres no son posesiones alienables, el intercambio no fue el final de la transacción sino simplemente el comienzo. [7]
Muchos antropólogos reflexionaron sobre los beneficios sociales del intercambio de hermanas y las razones por las que este intercambio se lleva a cabo sin ninguna "escasez" evidente de mujeres, contrariamente a la teoría del intercambio establecida por Adam Smith . [8] Claude Lévi-Strauss escribió en Las estructuras elementales del parentesco que las mujeres intercambiadas son "el don supremo"; También afirmó que el intercambio de hermanas encarna el principio de reciprocidad presente en todos los sistemas de matrimonio y parentesco. [9] [10] Al mismo tiempo, la investigación disponible para él no estableció firmemente la existencia del intercambio de hermanas sin el matrimonio entre primos cruzados y Lévi-Strauss expresó dudas sobre si es real. [11] Sin embargo, los datos del censo local en Nigeria y otros países de África Occidental de la década de 1920 ya incluían información sobre personas que practicaban principalmente el intercambio de hermanas sin el matrimonio entre primos cruzados. [11] De manera similar a Lévi-Strauss, Charles Kingsley Meek escribió que el intercambio de hermanas es similar al precio de la novia y el primero también puede considerarse un tipo de matrimonio de intercambio con la mujer sustituido por posesiones materiales. [12]
Jan van Baal [13] Marilyn Strathern también apoyó este punto de vista, y agregó que este intercambio no implica la eliminación de valores, sino que se encuentra en el dominio de las relaciones interpersonales donde los parientes se endeudan entre sí. [14] Ella escribió: "′ un modelo de sujetos activos que intercambian objetos pasivos ′ es claramente inadecuado para el análisis del intercambio de hermanas". [15]
no estaba de acuerdo con la posición de Lévi-Strauss de que las mujeres son meros objetos en este intercambio; Sostuvo que las mujeres cumplen con los deseos de sus hermanos porque les da poder y protección.Al escribir sobre los orígenes de este tipo de matrimonio, el sociólogo Peter Bearman llegó a la conclusión de que el intercambio de hermanas surge del tabú del incesto cuando dos hombres intercambian mujeres con las que no pueden casarse. [8] James Weiner establece un paralelo entre la expansión del intercambio de hermanas en Nueva Guinea y la prevalencia de una cierta actitud hacia la comida y las sustancias vitales: este matrimonio lo practican pueblos que no ven la comida como una fuente de vida para los hombres, utilizando en cambio, transmisión directa de semen . [dieciséis]
Several sociologists including Lévi-Strauss claimed that sister exchange is a "primitive" and "simple" system,[12] however, this arrangement involves reaching consensus with not only the siblings themselves but also their parents and other kin because of other factors at play: how old are the siblings, how are the couples related to each other etc.[9] Another difficulty arises if a man does not have an unmarried sister. He might remain unmarried, the marriage might occur without sister exchange, or some criteria for choosing appropriate marriage partners might become more flexible.[3]
Terminología
Alfred Gell who studied Umeda believed that "sister exchange" is not an appropriate term for this type of marriage referring to the fact that the "exchanged" women do not cease being sisters to their brothers;[17] he also argued that sister exchange is not a proper exchange either.[18]
Another objection to this term comes from Robin Fox and Donald Tuzin who pointed out that the exchange is usually organised by senior men (fathers, uncles) and not by the grooms themselves.[19]
África
This type of marriage system was described in the "middle belt" of the West Africa ravaged by the slave traders, on the plateau region of Benin (Mbelime), Nigeria and Cameroon (Tiv, Mambila); it is also used in DRC and Uganda (Amba, Mbuti); and on the border between Ethiopia and Sudan (Koman peoples).[20]
Mbuti consider exchange marriages the only permanent type.[21]
Koman
Koman-speaking peoples from the savannas on the Ethiopia–Sudan border historically exchanged sisters but by 1970s Uduk people abandoned this method completely, Kwama people partially substituted it with bridewealth payments while Gumuz people still practised it.[22]
The Gumuz marriage is arranged by the elders who hold all the power over their children; the exchange must occur between members of different patrilineal clans.[23] This is the only socially acceptable way of marriage; marrying a woman without providing a sister or daughter in exchange often results in violence and must be "settled" by giving a daughter to the wife's clan later.[23] Elders have considerable authority and often marry their children when the sister is very young—in this case, she moves to her future husband's place and is raised there.[23]
The elders hold less power in Kwama society, women are seen as honourable and important members of the society.[24] They can refuse the arrangement and their family complies with their wishes, but usually the sister agrees in order to not upset her brother.[25] Men see the exchange as an act of losing a sister who is missed.[26] If money is used instead of providing a sister, the brother can ask for a big sum justifying it by the strength of love between his sister and her husband.[25]
Uduk, unlike Gumuz and Kwama, are matrilineal; they abandoned sister exchange but do not use bridewealth because they see it akin to slavery.[21]
Mambila
Exchange marriage was the standard way of acquiring a marriage partner for Mambila, although other options existed too. If a Mambila man who had married without the exchange found someone who could exchange sisters, he returned his wife to her brother and married with exchange instead.[27] Children from the exchanged woman belonged to their father, but if bride price was paid instead, the children born in this union were returned to the mother's brother.[27]
Tiv
The most detailed accounts about sister exchange in Africa came from descriptions of Tiv people.[27] British colonial officials made reports about the Tiv system before abolishing it in 1927; however, that did not solve the problems that the British attributed to this type of marriage.[21] Unlike many other peoples, marrying cross-cousins was forbidden for Tiv.[27] After the marriage if one of the exchanged women had more children than the other, she gave them away to her to make the numbers equal.[27]
Amazonia
Macuna people from the eastern part of the Amazon basin exchange sisters between patrilineal descent groups.[28] Sister exchange is considered the most appropriate type of marriage, emphasising the ideal symmetric relationship between descent groups unlike bride kidnapping and gift marriage that imply debt relation.[29]
Asia
Mongolia
High-ranking Mongol Borjigin clan members exchanged sisters and daughters with Khongirad and Oirat clans which is mentioned in History of Yuan and Jami' al-tawarikh.[30] This marriage exchange was used to strengthen political unions.[31]
Pakistan
In Pakistan, sister exchange marriage is called watta satta, and about a third of all marriages in rural Pakistan are arranged on this basis.[32]
Australia
Warnindhilyagwa
Warnindhilyagwa people who inhabit Groote Eylandt, Woodah Island and Bickerton Island in the Northern Territory of Australia also exchange classificatory cross-cousins between moieties.[33] Warnindhilyagwa prefer sister-exchange marriages to other types, yet they are rare due to the low population numbers.[34]
Melanesia
Sister exchange marriage is practised by all inhabitants of the South Central Lowlands of New Guinea.[19]
Bun
Bun village located in the dense rainforest in Angoram District of the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea, near the Yuat River.[35] Locals usually practise sister exchange and rarely marry outside of the village.[36] If a Bun man marries a woman from a different village via sister exchange, she moves to Bun and sends a daughter to her home village later.[37] It is rare and undesirable for Bun men to marry without providing a sister as a reciprocity; in this case, he usually leaves the village and resides with his wife's kin.[37] Other types of marriage are undesirable because Bun people consider reciprocity a priority in marriage arrangements, the only exception is marrying a widow.[37]
The ideal candidate for the sister exchange is the groom's full sister but this is not compulsory: Bun people use Iroquois kinship system where many women from the same generation are called "sister"; it is also not important if the exchanged woman belongs to the same clan as him.[37] There is also a strong preference to marry classificatory cross-cousins.[38] Bun people, however, are not rigid in following these rules if it means that a man would stay unmarried.[38]
Discussions about marriage must conclude in agreements not only between the men and women themselves but also their parents and other close relatives.[39] It is, however, customary for a woman's brother (and other male relatives) to have a right to use her in exchange (if she agrees).[40]
Unlike Mundugumor people, Bun men did not use their classificatory daughters (for example, their brother's daughter) to make an exchange.[40]
Umeda
Umeda people, hunter-gatherers from Sandaun Province in Papua New Guinea, practise sister exchange marriage.[41] Umeda believe that exchanging sisters is worse than if a man seduces or steals a woman to marry, and put the blame for this type of marriage on the Dutch colonisation.[41] Newlywed Umeda men also perform bride service for their in-laws.[42]
Wamek and other Boazi
All Boazi-speaking tribes have a strong preference for sister exchange over other types of marriage considering them unacceptable.[43] Boazi-speaking Wamek tribe who live on marshy plains of the Lake Murray in Papua New Guinea call sister exchange seki towam which literally means "to give women".[44] This marriage type is also used by Pa-speaking people just North-East from the Lake Murray.[45] After marriage the groom provided labour to his father-in-law for an extended period of time, sometimes 10 years and more[43]
Seki towam occurs between opposing moieties and concludes with a period of bride service which, by extension, implies uxorilocal residence.[46] Close matrilateral relatives are not allowed to become marriage partners; a marriage between second cousins is considered improper although might happen in practice, and third cousins are acceptable partners.[47]
Wamek men are close with their sisters; they give each other food (women provide sago while men give them game),[48] maternal uncles help rearing children and make marriage arrangements for their sister's sons.[49] The bonds between maternal uncles and daughters are weaker but exist nonetheless.[50] Men see their sisters as nurturers while complaining about their wives who order them around.[50]
It is fathers and maternal uncles who arrange a seki towam: after a consultation between the prospective groom's father and maternal uncle (who exchanged his sister for the groom's paternal aunt) the uncle talks to the prospective bride's maternal uncles first, then to her father.[51] If the bride or the groom were adopted, both their adoptive and biological parents participate in the arrangement.[52] Traditionally, the decision was made without consulting the siblings themselves, but in 1970s they could reject the proposed partner.[53]
If a prospective groom does not have a maternal sister of appropriate age or if she does not want to marry the brother of the prospective bride, he might exchange his classificatory sister instead (daughter of the father's brother).[54] This option complicates things as more people need to agree for the marriage to take place.[55] There also is a requirement to return a woman back to the lineage where the man took a sister from (he might return his first-born daughter) as well as giving that lineage a sago swamp.[56]
Ver también
- Exchange of women
Notas
- ^ Busse 1987, p. 4.
- ^ Busse 1987, p. 12.
- ^ a b McDowell 1978, p. 207.
- ^ Busse 1987, p. 5.
- ^ Århem 1981, p. 50.
- ^ Gell 1992, p. 157.
- ^ Busse 1987, p. 8.
- ^ a b Bearman 1997, p. 1388.
- ^ a b James 1975, p. 84.
- ^ Busse 1987, pp. 9, 11.
- ^ a b Muller 1980, p. 518.
- ^ a b Muller 1980, p. 523.
- ^ Busse 1987, p. 23.
- ^ Busse 1987, p. 24.
- ^ Strathern 1984, p. 42.
- ^ Busse 1987, pp. 30–31.
- ^ Gell 1992, pp. 156–157.
- ^ Gell 1992, p. 158.
- ^ a b Busse 1987, p. 3.
- ^ James 1975, pp. 86, 94.
- ^ a b c James 1975, p. 94.
- ^ James 1975, pp. 84–85.
- ^ a b c James 1975, p. 86.
- ^ James 1975, pp. 86–88.
- ^ a b James 1975, p. 92.
- ^ James 1975, pp. 87, 89.
- ^ a b c d e Muller 1980, p. 519.
- ^ Århem 1981, p. 48.
- ^ Århem 1981, pp. 53–54.
- ^ Uno 2009, p. 5.
- ^ Uno 2009, pp. 7–8.
- ^ "Marriage by exchange". The New Humanitarian. March 8, 2007.
- ^ Bearman 1997, pp. 1393, 1398.
- ^ Bearman 1997, p. 1399.
- ^ McDowell 1978, p. 208.
- ^ McDowell 1978, pp. 208–209.
- ^ a b c d McDowell 1978, p. 209.
- ^ a b McDowell 1978, p. 210.
- ^ McDowell 1978, p. 227.
- ^ a b McDowell 1978, p. 228.
- ^ a b Gell 1992, p. 156.
- ^ Gell 1992, p. 154.
- ^ a b Busse 2005, p. 82.
- ^ Busse 1987, p. xiv.
- ^ Busse 1987, p. 70.
- ^ Busse 1987, p. xv.
- ^ Busse 1987, pp. 343–345.
- ^ Busse 2005, pp. 82–83.
- ^ Busse 1987, pp. 328–329.
- ^ a b Busse 1987, p. 330.
- ^ Busse 1987, pp. 345–346.
- ^ Busse 1987, p. 346.
- ^ Busse 1987, pp. 354, 353.
- ^ Busse 1987, pp. 347–348.
- ^ Busse 1987, p. 348.
- ^ Busse 1987, pp. 348, 350.
Referencias
- Århem, Kaj (January 1981). "Bride capture, sister exchange and gift marriage among the makuna: A model of marriage exchange". Ethnos. 46 (1–2): 47–63. doi:10.1080/00141844.1981.9981209. ISSN 0014-1844. Retrieved 2020-08-26. CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- Bearman, Peter (March 1997). "Generalized Exchange". American Journal of Sociology. 102 (5): 1383–1415.
- Busse, Mark (1987). Sister exchange among the Wamek of the Middle Fly (PhD). University of California, San Diego.
- Busse, Mark (2005). ""We Will Exchange Sisters Until the World Ends": Inequality, Marriage and Gender Relations in the Lake Murray Middle Fly Area, Papua New Guinea". A polymath anthropologist: essays in honour of Ann Chowning. Research in anthropology and linguistics. University of Auckland.
- Gell, Alfred (1992). "Barter and gift-exchange in old Melanesia". Barter, exchange, and value: an anthropological approach. Caroline Humphrey, Stephen Hugh-Jones (eds.). Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-40493-8.
- James, Wendy (December 1975). "Sister-Exchange Marriage". Scientific American. 233 (6): 84–94. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1275-84. ISSN 0036-8733. Retrieved 2020-08-26. CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- McDowell, Nancy (March 1978). "Flexibility Of Sister Exchange In Bun". Oceania. 48 (3): 207–231. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1978.tb01341.x. ISSN 0029-8077. Retrieved 2020-08-26. CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- Muller, Jean-Claude (August 1980). "Straight sister-exchange and the transition from elementary to complex structures". American Ethnologist. 7 (3): 518–529. doi:10.1525/ae.1980.7.3.02a00090. ISSN 0094-0496. Retrieved 2020-08-26. CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- Strathern, Marilyn (October 1984). "Marriage Exchanges: A Melanesian Comment". Annual Review of Anthropology. 13 (1): 41–73. doi:10.1146/annurev.an.13.100184.000353. ISSN 0084-6570. Retrieved 2020-08-30. CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- Uno, Nobuhiro (2009). "Exchange-marriage in The Royal Families of Nomadic States". In Rybatzki, Volker; et al. (eds.). The Early Mongols: Language, Culture and History. Studies in honor of Igor de Rachewiltz on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Indiana University. pp. 179–180.