The Gift of a Girl
Hierarchical Exchange in North Bihar
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2735993 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Carolyn Brown (0000-0002-9421-0185, corresponding author), Carolyn Henning Brown |
| Year | 1983 |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 43 |
| Publication date | 1983-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Ethnology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0014-1828 • E-ISSN: 2160-3510 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/3773649 |
| OpenAlex | W266870053 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 2 |
Hierarchy, writes Dumont (1970:124), penetrates to the very core of the institutions of marriage and kinship. The primary way in which hierarchical principles find expression within North Indian kinship is in cases where individual castes are subdivided into various forms of ranked categories, whether clans, lineages, subcastes, or more amorphous units. To refer to the encompassing group as the implies that it is the endogamous unit, and that the internal subdivisions are in some kind of marital exchange relationship. In actuality, in most of the major castes with such internal structures, no clear demarcation between endogamy and hierarchical exchange2 (to avoid prejudging the situation as either hypergamous or hypogamous) exists. Both tendencies are present, exerting a certain tension on the structure of the group. This tension has a dynamic effect which modifies the static tendency which is the outstanding feature ofthe caste system. The immutable (Tyler 1973:26) becomes transformational. Furthermore, although it is generally held that marital exchange between unequal groups will be hypergamous, with girls of inferior families being given as wives to superior men, such is not invariably the case. There are some important systems which contain as a major element the giving of girls to inferior families. As a result, a relatively static structure becomes dynamic in the extreme, permitting a rank mobility over generations quite outside the usual paradigm of the fixed caste hierarchy, which traditional scholarship has established. This contrast between the fixed categories of the caste hierarchical structure and the alternative view of dynamic mobility within an otherwise fixed structure parallels certain of the major differences between the structural position of Dumont (1970) and the ethnoscientific position of Marriott and Inden (1977, 1974). In another paper (Brown 1981) I have argued that each position deals with part of the facts but that an adequate theory of Indian hierarchy requires a comprehensive paradigm which would be both structural and dynamic; which would in fact be transformational. Here, drawing on the insights of both views, I present more detailed ethnographic evidence for my earlier assertions. The significance of this tension between endogamy and hierarchical exchange is fundamental. The former is isolating and boundary-creating; the latter is unifying and hierarchizing. The basis of the caste system's fissiparous urges, the endoga? mous principle endlessly promotes diversification and segmentation, but when narrowly applied results in stasis. What is separated by the endogamous urge is reunited by the urge to unequal prestations. The ideology which underlies and
Developmental psychology · Ethnology · Genealogy · Geography · Girl · Anthropological Studies and Insights · History · Psychology · South Asian Studies and Conflicts · South Asian Studies and Diaspora
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,16 |
| Citation span | 1988 - 2025 (38) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |