The Dynamics of Polyandry - Nancy E. Levine - University of Chicago Press

Description: The Dynamics of Polyandry Kinship, Domesticity. amd Population on the Tibetan Border by Nancy E. Levine University of Chicago Press, 1988, 0226475697, Trade Paperback, VG condition, previous owner's namestamp on title page, no underlining, no highlighting, no creases, 309 pages. In the high Himalayan valleys on the border of Tibet and Nepal, a rare form of marriage and household organization is practiced: polyandry, the marriage of one woman to several men. Nancy E. Levine presents in this book a systematic account of fraternal polyandry (in which all the husbands are brothers) among the Nyinba, an ethnically Tibetan group living in Nepal. Levine, basing her arguments on comprehensive data drawn from years of fieldwork in these polyandrous communities, contends that polyandry cannot be explained by economic or demographic reasons alone. Her analysis encompasses a wide range of interactions: between concepts of kinship, cultural identity, and ethnic boundaries; between traditional systems of village management and external political systems; between a polyandrous household system, the constraints of mountain agriculture, and regional economic and labor systems; and, ultimately, between kinship, domestic economy, and population dynamics. Underlying Levine's discussion is a concern with how Nyinba men and women assess their own circumstances and with the interplay between individual decisions and sociocultural processes. The book also makes a substantive contribution to kinship theory, demonstrating the powerful role played by ideas about heredity, physical commonality, and social obligation in the Nyinba community. Notions about descent underpin a system of social ranking that divides the community into two circles of kin—landholders and their former slaves. These notions, Levine shows, serve to encourage endogamy and discourage migration. A provocative work of social anthropology, The Dynamics of Polyandry also provides rich material for rethinking ideas in gender studies, sociology, and human behavioral ecology and greatly contributes to knowledge of Himalayan societies. Nancy E. Levine is associate professor of anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. CONTENTS List of Tables List of Illustrations Preface Part 1 Introduction 1 Cultural Models and the Dynamics of Social Structure 2 Societal Reflexivity: Narrative Themes and Orientations Part 2 Kinship and Community 3 Descent, Kinship, and Alliance 4 Dependence, Domesticity, and the Legacy of Slavery Part 3 Domestic Processes and the Paradox of Partition 5 The Trongba Household in Village Structure 6 Person, Family, and Household 7 From Polyandry to Partition 8 Change in the Village: Regulative and Reformative Systems Part 4 Stasis and Change: Polyandry and Alpine Economics 9 Husbands, Husbandry, and the Economic Balance 10 The Logic of a Low-Growth Population 11 Conclusion Appendix A Weights and Measures Appendix B Sources of Data on Landholdings Appendix C The Nyinba Population Glossary Bibliography Index nthdegree books

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