Concerning Trobriand clans and the kinship category TABU

Leach, Edmund R.

essay

Concerning Trobriand clans and the kinship category TABU

developmental cycle in domestic groups • (1) • Published In 1971 • Pages: 120-145

By: Leach, Edmund R..

Abstract
Leach demonstrates in this paper that some of the conclusions reached by Malinowski regarding the concepts of clans and the kinship category TABU, are incorrect. To clarify his position on the matter and to substantiate his criticism of Malinowski, Leach explores the rationale behind the existence of the four Trobriand clans, then discusses the nature of the word TABU with all its implications, and concludes by tying in these concepts with the origin myth '…whereby various original ancestors are made to emerge from holes in the ground conveniently situated at known sites on ancestral property' (p. 121). During the process of investigation, Leach re-examines and partly reinterprets some of Malinowski's basic views regarding the nature of Trobriand rules of incest and exogamy.

Subjects

Reviews and critiques

Theoretical orientation in research and its results

Regulation of marriage

culture