Palauan social structure

Smith, DeVerne Reed

Book

Palauan social structure

Rutgers University Press • New Brunswick • Published In 1983 • Pages:

By: Smith, DeVerne Reed.

Abstract
This work presents an ethnographic description of the nature of Belau social organization. Smith's analysis indicates that structure and event are molded by the interaction of the core principles of descent, alliance and cross-siblingship. No one principle exists in isolation by itself, but instead each is interwoven with the others in such a way '...that at times one principle is set in opposition to another, while at other times two principles that once were in opposition at one level of contrast now complement each other in relation to the third principle' (p. 3). In this source then author investigates this synergistic interplay of structural principles in much detail presenting in the process a wealth of data on cross-siblingship, the exchange process, marriage, the 'first child' ceremony, adoption, kin structure, primarily of the matrilineal or patrilineal variety as viewed through 'child of the woman' and 'child of the man' transactions, and death (including 'final decisions' in the settlement of the affairs of the deceased in terms of lineage obligations.

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