Hare - Marriage and Family



Marriage. Monogamy, perhaps serial, was probably the most common traditional marriage pattern; polyandry, which was sometimes fraternal, occurred, and polygyny, especially sororal, may have been preferred but was uncommon. The Hare observed a nuclear family incest taboo, and marriage proscription extended to parallel cousins. Marriage to cross cousins was preferred. Bride-service was performed, and Initial uxorilocality might be continued or followed by virilocality; bilocality seemed the ultimate pattern. The levirate and, perhaps, the sororate were both observed. Because of missionary influence, polygyny, polyandry, actual cross-cousin marriage, and child betrothal have disappeared. Marriage in adulthood, church ceremony, monogamy, absence of divorce, living out of wedlock with a partner who may be doing the same, and initial uxorilocality and ultimate neolocality are the rule.

Domestic Unit. The nuclear family has always been the basic unit of economic cooperation. The household has always consisted of a nuclear family, of a family extended by bride-service or initial uxorilocality or a widow or widower and adopted child, of a bilateral extended family (usually with a sibling core), or of individuals who have joined each other for some task like hunting, trapping, or trade.

Inheritance. There is no set of rules for inheritance, Perhaps because land and rights are not individually owned. Traditionally, individuals destroyed much of their own property at the death of a relative. Today, property like a cabin is inherited by a spouse, child, close relative who is in need, or a friend.

Socialization. Young children, males more than females, are indulged and treated with affection. Sanction is largely through ridicule; spanking is very rare and occurs only when a child puts himself in danger. Young children begin their attempts to use adult technology at an early age and learn mainly by trial and error and imitation. Today, when children and adolescents are not in school, they are expected to help with a range of increasingly gender-specific household chores. Children enculturate emotional restraint, independence, resourcefulness, flexibility, and reciprocity. Formerly, girls underwent exclusion and observed a number of taboos at menarche. There exists considerable ambivalence today about formal education. To participate fully has meant, for parents, residence in town and, for adolescents who continue with high school, both life in a hostel away from town and gaps in their knowledge about the bush. To drop out, however, means risking nonparticipation in the new economy.


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