Crow-Omaha : new light on a classic problem of kinship analysis / Thomas R. Trautmann and Peter M. Whiteley, editors.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Trautmann, Thomas R.

Whiteley, Peter M.

Series:

Amerind Studies in Archaeology

Amerind studies in anthropology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Crow Indians--Kinship.

Crow Indians.

Omaha Indians--Kinship.

Omaha Indians.

Crow Indians--Social networks.

Omaha Indians--Social networks.

Kinship--Great Plains--History.

Kinship.

Social structure--Great Plains--History.

Social structure.

Social evolution--Great Plains--History.

Social evolution.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (348 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Tucson : University of Arizona Press, c2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The "Crow-Omaha problem" has perplexed anthropologists since it was first described by Lewis Henry Morgan in 1871. During his worldwide survey of kinship systems, Morgan learned with astonishment that some Native American societies call some relatives of different generations by the same terms. Why? Intergenerational "skewing" in what came to be named "Crow" and "Omaha" systems has provoked a wealth of anthropological arguments, from Rivers to Radcliffe-Brown, from Lowie to Levi-Strauss, and many more. Crow-Omaha systems, it turns out, are both uncommon and yet found distributed around the world. For anthropologists, cracking the Crow-Omaha problem is critical to understanding how social systems transform from one type into another, both historically in particular settings and evolutionarily in the broader sweep of human relations. This volume examines the Crow-Omaha problem from a variety of perspectives--historical, linguistic, formalist, structuralist, culturalist, evolutionary, and phylogenetic. It focuses on the regions where Crow-Omaha systems occur: Native North America, Amazonia, West Africa, Northeast and East Africa, aboriginal Australia, northeast India, and the Tibeto-Burman area. The international roster of authors includes leading experts in their fields. The book offers a state-of-the-art assessment of Crow-Omaha kinship and carries forward the work of the landmark volume Transformations of Kinship, published in 1998. Intended for students and scholars alike, it is composed of brief, accessible chapters that respect the complexity of the ideas while presenting them clearly. The work serves as both a new benchmark in the explanation of kinship systems and an introduction to kinship studies for a new generation of students. Series Note: Formerly titled Amerind Studies in Archaeology, this series has recently been expanded and retitled Amerind Studies in Anthropology to incorporate a high quality and number of anthropology titles coming in to the series in addition to those in archaeology.

Contents:

""Contents""; ""Preface""; ""Kinship Notation""; ""Linguistic Note""; ""1. A Classic Problem - Thomas R. Trautmann and Peter M. Whiteley""; ""Crow-Omaha in Theory""; ""2. Crossness and Crow-Omaha - Thomas R. Trautmann""; ""3. Tetradic Theory and Omaha Systems - Nicholas J. Allen""; ""North America""; ""4. Omaha and “Omaha� - R. H. Barnes""; ""5. Crow-Omaha Kinship in North America: A Puebloan Perspective - Peter M. Whiteley""; ""6. Phylogenetic Analysis of Sociocultural Data: Identifying Transformation Vectors for Kinship Systems - Ward C. Wheeler, Peter M. Whiteley, and Theodore Powers""

""Africa""""7. A Tetradic Starting Point for Skewing? Marriage as a Generational Contract: Reflections on Sister-Exchange in Africa - Wendy James""; ""8. Crow-(and Omaha-) TypeKinship Terminology: The Fanti Case - David B. Kronenfeld""; ""9. Deep-Time Historical Contexts of Crow and Omaha Systems Perspectives from Africa - Christopher Ehret""; ""South America""; ""10. The Making and Unmaking of “Crow-Omaha� Kinship in Central Brazil(ian Ethnology) - Marcela Coelho de Souza""

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references, glossary and index.

ISBN:

1-299-19183-5

0-8165-9931-9

OCLC:

923438472