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matrilineality, residence, and residential zones
Author(s) -
KOPYTOFF IGOR
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1977.4.3.02a00090
Subject(s) - residence , terminology , descent (aeronautics) , residence time (fluid dynamics) , geography , genealogy , sociology , demography , history , geology , philosophy , linguistics , meteorology , geotechnical engineering
The combination of matrilineal descent and patrilocal residence is regarded as inherently unstable by several theoretical models, notably Murdock (1949, 1959a, 1959b) and Lévi‐Strauss (1949). The case of the Suku of Zaire is examined to lay bare the unwarranted assumptions in these models. The logic of existing residence terminology, which focuses on households, is found to be inappropriate to some problems concerning the relationship of residence and descent. The concept of functional “residential zones” is proposed as appropriate to such problems.