| Summary: | Matrilineal descent and the societies that have it have long been seen as being more in need of
explanation than patrilineal descent, which tends to be treated as humanity's default when discussing
descent. There is a long history of theories of matrilineal exceptionalism in anthropology, dating from
the theory of an evolutionary priority for ‘mother right' in the nineteenth century to its contemporary
revival through what has become known as the ‘grandmother' hypothesis, positing female coalitions
as prior in evolutionary terms, with a grandmother looking after her daughter's children so the latter
can go gathering. Along the way matriliny has been explained with reference to horticulture,
increased women's rights and the so-called ‘matrilineal puzzle'. However, it is also reasonable to
suggest that matrilineal systems are not simply mirror images of patrilineal ones and that they
potentially have characteristics of their own such as the ‘visiting husband' phenomenon and the more
frequent tendency generally for the marriage bond to be weak and unimportant. The article explores
these latter aspects further.
|
|---|