Unit 2 Study Guide

Topic: Kinship/Horticultural and Pastoral Modes of Production

Sources:

Lenkeit Chapt 6, 7, 8 and 9
All Lessons, including "When Brothers Share a Wife"; "The Nuer"

Terms

affinal relatives	consanguineal relatives	bridewealth/brideprice	nuclear family	extended family
exogamy	endogamy	age grade/age set	bilateral descent	unilineal descent
bifurcation	matrilineal descent	patrilineal descent	lineages	clan
matrilocal	patrilocal	avunculocal	neolocal	levirate
sororate	lineal relatives	collateral relatives	kindred	polygyny
polyandry	monogamy	cross cousins	parallel cousins	dowry
intensification	egalitarian redistributive exchange	stratified redistributive exchange	status/role	Ego (in kin charts)
Tibet/Nepal	Sudan	Ethiopia	Nile River	horticulture
pastoralism	gender roles	social stratification	rites of passage	gender hierarchy
gender	sex	sexual dimorphism	patriarchy	matriarchy

Discussion Questions

1. What is marriage? Discuss the problems that exist in answering this question from a cross-cultural perspective. Do cultures (including ours) have "ideals" of marriage which might differ from the "real"? Is this equally true in cultures with arranged marriages?

2. What functions may marriage have in particular cultures? What functions does marriage have in American culture? Emically, why do people get married in American culture? Is that different from the emic reasons in other societies? Specifically, look at marriage in Nepal and among the Hmong as depicted in Thailand.

3. What are some of the social and cultural advantages of exogamy? Are these advantages evident in groups like the !Kung, the Nuer, and the Hmong?

4. Compare and contrast brideprice and dowry. What are the emic reasons for each practice? What are the etic functions? In what modes of production are you most likely to find brideprice and dowry?

5. Why does Lenkeit say (Chapt. 9) that gender roles are cultural constructs? What specifically are the "third-gender" roles that exist among the Zuni (berdache) and in northern India (hijra)? (Consider similarities and differences.) How do these contribute to understanding of gender roles?

6. What is the difference between the terms sex and gender? What are traditional gender roles among the Hmong? The United States? How are gender roles taught? What ideology supports gender roles in the Hmong? The United States? The Yanomamo?

7. Briefly describe the different kinship terminological systems that exist. In general how are they related to mode of production and to kinship descent systems?

8. What are some of the functions of lineages (matrilineages and/or patrilineages) and clans? What corporate functions may they have? Why can kin groups like these do so much more than groups based upon bilateral descent?

9. Why do practices of preferred cross-cousin marriage, bride price, and levirate and sororate make sense in a culture with unilineal descent? What is the function of these various practices? In what ways are these practices related to universal human problems?

10. How can both polyandry and polygyny be manipulated to function as a method of population control? Is this usually the conscious reason why some cultures prefer these marriage forms? What is the situation in Tibet/Nepal? ("When Brothers Share a Wife")

11. What are the basic characteristics of horticultural and pastoral societies? Illustrate your answer with examples of these characteristics in the Nuer and the traditional Hmong in Thailand. In what environments are you likely to find such cultures today, and why?

12. Are horticultural/pastoral societies more or less egalitarian than hunter/gatherers? Than intensive agriculturalists? Does this apply also to the relative position and authority of men vs. women?

13. Why did pastoralism never develop in the Americas prior to the 1500's? In what major way was horticulture originally different in the Americas (prior to the 1500's) as compared to the "Old World" of Asia, Europe and Africa? What were the short and long term consequences of this difference?

14. What are “rites of passage” and what are their functions? Discuss, compare and contrast rites of passage (particularly initiation rituals) in the U.S. and the Nuer.

15. As population size increases, what are the four major options that any society may adopt? Which is usually the first, and why? Ultimately, what problems exist with each of the four possibilities? What way(s) did the !Kung San, the Hmong and the Nuer use to restrain population growth? Emically, was the problem recognized by any of the three cultures? (Refer to last lesson, Unit 1)

Topic: Political Organization/State Societies

Sources: Lenkeit Chapt 10, Lessons, including "The Nuer"

Terms

tribe	chiefdom	state	class stratification
socialization	enculturation	caste	sacred/profane
market exchange	status/role	social control	wealth
prestige	law	age grade	authority/power
positive/negative sanction	social class	big men	chiefs

Discussion Questions

1. Discuss some of the different ways in which cultures enforce social standards and maintain public order without formal police and legal systems. (eg. ridicule, gossip, witchcraft, etc.) Why does open disapproval or ridicule of a person's actions work in societies with some modes of production, and not work in an industrial culture such as ours?

2. In what types of cultures (modes of production) does "systematized inequality" emerge? When (and how) did leaders gain the right to exercise control over others? Compare and contrast the concepts of power and authority.

3. Compare and contrast the cultures of the traditional Hmong and the Nuer. At a minimum, mode of production, exchange system, political structure, kinship and marriage, and (briefly) religion should be examined. In what ways are the Nuer typical of a pastoral society? In what ways are the Hmong typical of a horticultural society? From what you know of these two cultures, how do they maintain social control? How does modern U.S. culture?

4. Explain the basic differences between bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states. Relate these differences to mode of production and to the four different types of exchange.