Hierarchy and equality in Merina kinship
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23633136 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Maurice Bloch (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Pages | 137-151 |
| Publication date | 2020-12-16 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Ritual, History and Power (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.4324/9781003136361-6 |
| OpenAlex | W4240897856 |
| ISBN | 9781003136361 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
In this chapter, the author analyses the Merina kinship system as a system of signs and then try to see how it has been used in certain limited historical circumstances. Social systems of representation must always be able to signify and symbolize relations of equality and of hierarchy. This is done differently in different systems. In some kinship systems hierarchy and equality are both represented but are sharply segregated. There are, however, several systems in the world where hierarchy and equality are so thoroughly mixed that what appears one at one moment reappears at the next moment as the other, without the antinomy between the two being reduced. The kinship system of the Merina is one such, and it is characterized by the intensity with which it stresses both hierarchy and equality at the same time in a bewildering kaleidoscope.
Hierarchy · Kinship · Political science · Sociology · African history and culture analysis · Anthropology · Language, Linguistics, Cultural Analysis · Law · Mathematics
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2023 - 2023 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |