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house affiliation systems in Belau
Author(s) -
PARMENTIER RICHARD J.
Publication year - 1984
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.1984.11.4.02a00030
Subject(s) - social organization , german , residence , inheritance (genetic algorithm) , sociology , constitution , colonialism , genealogy , social system , social group , coherence (philosophical gambling strategy) , anthropology , ethnology , history , demography , political science , social science , law , biology , archaeology , biochemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , gene
Intravillage and multivillage systems of house affiliation in Belau, Micronesia, are analyzed diachronically in terms of the relationship between the constitution of social groups and the linguistic labeling of those groups. Social changes concerning land tenure and residence introduced during German and Japanese colonial periods disrupted the intravillage house affiliation system; these same changes prompted the rejuvenation, in the contemporary period, of multivillage house affiliation networks based traditionally on migration traditions. Data from ethnohistorical traditions, customary exchange, and title inheritance suggest that the coherence of Belau social organization is maintained by continuities in the relationships among terms referring to social groups . [social organization, lineage, Belau, Micronesia, social change]