Book

The traditional kinship system of the Nayars of Malabar

Prepared for the Social Science Research Council Summer Seminar on Kinship, Harvard University[s.l.]Published In 1954 • Pages:

By: Gough, Kathleen.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is a historical-functional analysis of Nayar caste kinship structure. A brief survey of the history of the Malabar (northern Kerala) coast reveals that there have traditionally been three major political areas, each with a different kinship system. The author discusses how the central area of South Malabar and Cochin (central Kerala) is differentiated into sub-castes, each having separate administrative functions, and each having a kinship system influenced by occupation, relationship to the land, and historical traditions. Evidence is presented for the emergence of a bilateral system. A concluding section deals with the structure of royal lineages.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Castes
Classes
Kinship terminology
Kin relationships
Community structure
Inter-community relations
Real property
Rule of descent
Lineages
Kindreds and ramages
Status, role, and prestige
Settlement patterns
Form and rules of government
External relations
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Kerala
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2017
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Asia
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
South Asia
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
Book
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Ethnologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
R. H. Ewald; 1956
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1947-1949
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1792-1954
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
northern and central Kerala, India
NotesAdditional notes
E. Kathleen Gough
Unpublished manuscript ; prepared for the Social Science Reserch Council Summer Seminar on kinship at Harvard University, 1954
The HRAF manuscript is a typed copy of a mimeographed original. Original page numbers appear in brackets in the text. Map I from the original has not been reproduced.
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Kerala (India)