Family & Kinship (Anthropology)
Kinship in Chinese Culture and Matriarchy (Dominance of Women) among Chinese Families: Case Studies in Southwestern China and Taiwan
Anthropology, as the study of human life and culture, has developed through various studies and researches that have been conducted initially by Western social scientists. These researches have mainly centered on the "exotic" and native cultures of societies and nations located in the East, such as islands in the Pacific and countries in Asia and the Middle East. Although these studies have provided a Western-centric view of various cultures in the world, they have contributed to the development of theory and methodology in anthropology.
Anthropological studies often provide a description of features unique within the culture and analyze these features in the context of human life (in general) as perceived by the anthropologists (in this case, a Western-centric view of human life).
This paper discusses particular incidences of matriarchy being the prevalent cultural structure in an Eastern nation, China. Conducted by the anthropologists Lu Yuan, Sam Mitchell and Margery Wolf, these studies of two different cultures in China illustrates how societies can exist and assume values and traditions that is altogether different from the dominantly patriarchal societies and fixed kinship ties existing in most societies today. This paper posits that through the study of anthropology, cultures that have unique features and deviate from the normative structures of institutions within society (especially those who adopted the Western-centric view of what a society should be) have shown that their being different offers people (i.e., the outsiders) other perspectives in viewing what constitutes a society, which includes the values and traditions inherent in it.
In Lu Yuan and Sam Mitchell's study entitled, "Matrilineal kinship: walking marriage in China," the authors discuss about the powerful role that women play in the Mosuo tribe, located in the Luoshuri village in southwestern China. The Mosuo tribe provides a unique study of anthropology, since it has a social structure that deviates from the common notion of family that societies...
Kinship categories are fundamental to the study of anthropology, as they are the basis by which societies and cultures are formed. Family kinship categories are broad and generally universal, as human beings must pass on their genes in the same ways regardless of culture. For example, family kin categories include kin types such as mother, father, son, daughter, aunt, uncle, grandmother, and so forth. Even in modern industrialized cultures in
Family Stress Adaptation Theory of Family Stress Adaptation Family is the basic social unit of people sharing the same attributes. It is a group of people tied to the same kinship descent consisting of parents, guardians and children. It is necessitated that commitment and upkeep of the family be maintained, and for this reason, there has been introduced a number of theories implicating on the activities carried out in this social setting.
Kinship Systems It is important to note that a kinship system can be taken to be a rather complex feature that determines the role of individuals, their relations to each other as well as their obligations and responsibilities. In this text, I concern myself with the Australian Aborigines' kinship system. I further discuss the impact of the Australian Aborigines' kinship system on the behavior of the culture and lastly give my
This, then, essentially generates the same types of behaviors towards the social group, despite thousands of miles of distance and a completely different attitude and perspective on life. Australian Aboriginals do share a complex practice with American societies. They include skin types and names for members of the social group that are not of direct blood relation. Even strangers and foreigners who have spent enough time with a particular
Through this displacement of the libido, a build up of tensions is avoided, and individuals are allowed to live within social constraints of proper decency regarding modern sociocultural practices of acceptable forms of love within the contexts of relationships. However, oddly enough, Freud also posits the idea that all individuals are innately bi-sexual and can be attracted to both sexes. However, through the social constraints of modern society, most
Family Violence in Indigenous Australian Communities: Literature Review The issue of family violence is one of the key concerns impacting negatively on Indigenous communities of Australia. I will review available literature on the issue, identifying factors contributing to the same; outlining a framework for understanding why the problem has continued to persist despite the intensive government scrutiny and high level of public awareness; and bringing out the key knowledge gaps in
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