Book

Navajo kinship and marriage

University of Chicago PressChicagoPublished In 1975 • Pages:

By: Witherspoon, Gary.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This source, based on the author's fieldwork and experience on the Navajo reservation, is a survey of social organization in the Rough Rock-Black Mountain area. The work is theoretically oriented towards demonstrating how actual patterns 'of' behavior differ from the ideal patterns 'for' behavior (p. x). Part I, for example, discusses the ideas and conceptual framework which guide and order Navajo behavior, but which are distinct from it. In Part II, Witherspoon presents actual patterns of social organization and behavior and attempts to illustrate how these patterns become more understandable when the underlying rules, ideas, and conceptual framework are understood. The concluding section deals with the 'Social Universe of the Navajo,' an attempt to explain and interpret kinship and social organization from the Navajo's standpoint. The researcher will find much information here on kinship and kin groups, family relationships, marriage, residence patterns and subsistence. Throughout the source the important role of the subsistence residential unit (a form of the extended family) in various economic and kin related activities is stressed.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Family relationships
Basis of marriage
Clans
Kinship terminology
Extended families
Residence
Termination of marriage
Ethnosociology
Kin relationships
Regulation of marriage
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Navajo
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2004
RegionThe area the document pertains to
North America
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Southwest and Basin
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
John Beierle ; 1985
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
ca. 1962-1970
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
ca. 1920s-1968
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
southwestern United States ( general Navajo area); and Rough Rock-Black Mountain region, Arizona, United States
NotesAdditional notes
Gary Witherspoon
Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-134) and index
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
74021340
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Navajo Indians