Explore the vast range of titles available.

Matrilineal systems in sub-Saharan Africa tend to co-occur with horticulture and are rare among pastoralists, with the causal arrow pointing from the introduction of cattle to the loss of matriliny. However, most work on this topic stems from either phylogenetic analyses or historical data. To better understand the shift from matrilineal to patrilineal inheritance that occurred among Bantu populations after the adoption of pastoralism, data from societies that are currently in transition are needed. Himba pastoralists, who practice ‘double descent’, may represent one such society. Using multi-generational ethnography and structured survey data, we describe current norms and preferences about inheritance, as well as associated norms related to female autonomy. We find that preferences for patrilineal inheritance are strong, despite the current practice of matrilineal cattle inheritance. We also find that a preference for patriliny predicts greater acceptance of norm violating behaviour favouring sons over nephews. Finally, we show that there are important generational differences in how men view women's autonomy, which are probably attributable to both changing norms about inheritance and exposure to majority-culture views on women's roles. Our data shed light on how systemic change like the shifts in descent reckoning that occurred during the Bantu expansion can occur. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The evolution of female-biased kinship in humans and other mammals’.

This paper assesses enduring values and on-going changes in kin relationships among eastern Tibetan pastoralists. A key finding is the importance of sibling ties, an aspect of kinship life that was overshadowed by earlier historical and anthropological concerns with clans and tribes. The paper begins by reviewing accounts drawn from premodern times, the problematic terms in which these accounts were couched and some of the presuppositions guiding the authors. Next, it discusses government reforms implemented in pastoralist regions beginning in the 1950s and how these reforms have affected personal life and livelihoods. It then considers how long-standing expectations for kin concerning residence and inheritance have combined with new circumstances to create novel household forms and patterns of mutual aid. Brothers and sisters have facilitated adaptations to these new opportunities by providing chains of assistance across the rural–urban divide. Finally, the paper illustrates how focusing on kinship at a personal and practical level can contribute to our understanding of social change.

This paper traces the recent history and major political and economic transformations that eastern Tibetan pastoralists have experienced from traditional times to the present and examines how changing rights over land and domestic animals have affected patterns of economic and social inequality in this population. Ethnographic data and responses to household surveys conducted in Sichuan and Gansu Provinces in China support the finding that the division of the grasslands to individual households through long-term contracts to state-owned land and government policies supporting sedentarisation are contributing to asset inequality and creating the foundation for class-based social differentiation in this population.

This review examines the implications of new kinship practices for anthropological theory, with a special focus on recent research in gay and lesbian kinship and assisted reproduction. The article begins with an account of the theoretical contexts in which kinship studies have been conducted and a brief survey of some of the older literature on alternative systems of marriage and family formation in preindustrial and modern societies. The emphasis then turns to current discussions of how gay men and lesbian women are creating meaningful networks of kin and families and the ways in which these practices both follow and challenge traditional expectations for family life. The final section surveys the ways in which the new reproductive technologies have been utilized in Euro-American societies and how cultural ideas and values concerning kin relationships have shaped the transfer of these technologies to and their utilization in other societies.

Abstract This paper assesses enduring values and on-going changes in kin relationships among eastern Tibetan pastoralists. A key finding is the importance of sibling ties, an aspect of kinship life that was overshadowed by earlier historical and anthropological concerns with clans and tribes. The paper begins by reviewing accounts drawn from premodern times, the problematic terms in which these accounts were couched and some of the presuppositions guiding the authors. Next, it discusses government reforms implemented in pastoralist regions beginning in the 1950s and how these reforms have affected personal life and livelihoods. It then considers how long-standing expectations for kin concerning residence and inheritance have combined with new circumstances to create novel household forms and patterns of mutual aid. Brothers and sisters have facilitated adaptations to these new opportunities by providing chains of assistance across the rural-urban divide. Finally, the paper illustrates how focusing on kinship at a personal and practical level can contribute to our understanding of social change.

Matrilineal systems in sub-Saharan Africa tend to co-occur with horticulture and are rare among pastoralists, with the causal arrow pointing from the introduction of cattle to the loss of matriliny. However, most work on this topic stems from either phylogenetic analyses or historical data. To better understand the shift from matrilineal to patrilineal inheritance that occurred among Bantu populations after the adoption of pastoralism, data from societies that are currently in transition are needed. Himba pastoralists, who practice 'double descent', may represent one such society. Using multi-generational ethnography and structured survey data, we describe current norms and preferences about inheritance, as well as associated norms related to female autonomy. We find that preferences for patrilineal inheritance are strong, despite the current practice of matrilineal cattle inheritance. We also find that a preference for patriliny predicts greater acceptance of norm violating behaviour favouring sons over nephews. Finally, we show that there are important generational differences in how men view women's autonomy, which are probably attributable to both changing norms about inheritance and exposure to majority-culture views on women's roles. Our data shed light on how systemic change like the shifts in descent reckoning that occurred during the Bantu expansion can occur. This article is part of the theme issue 'The evolution of female-biased kinship in humans and other mammals'.

Models of ethnicity in Nepal stress, on the one hand, unlimited ethnic diversity and, on the other, a rather limited set of ethnic contrasts: Hindu versus Buddhist, tribe versus caste, mountain versus middle hills versus lowland Terai. However, ethnic relations in Humla District, in Nepal's far northwest Karnali Zone, are characterized more by interaction, interdependence, and mobility than contrasts and boundaries between groups.1 In Humla, individuals and even entire villages readily change their ethnic affiliation and their position in the caste system. There, too, ethnic groups are linked by a regional economic and social system, and changes in a group's ethnic affiliations are coincident with changes in their economy and style of life. Finally, the case of Humla reaffirms what other scholars have noted: ethnic relations today are the outcome of a historical process of accommodation between regional ethnic systems and the policies of a centralizing state.

This paper discusses how Tibetan pastoralists living in Sichuan Province, China, have responded to recent state-initiated economic reforms. Individual households have increased their involvements in the new market economy, although the nature and extent of those involvements have been conditioned by local resource availability and proximity to markets. People have begun purchasing a varied array of modern consumption goods, they have increased their sales of pastoral products and sold more products whose prices have risen. Younger men also have begun working for wages in local towns. However, households have continued to resist government outreach offices' directives on herd management and marketing, to treat animals as commodities to be bought and sold to achieve some target herd size. The paper evaluates these findings in light of longstanding anthropological debates about the economic rationality of pastoralist practices.

Polyandry has long been viewed as an anomalous form of marriage that raises fundamental questions about variability in human kinship systems. This paper integrates and evaluates a set of hypotheses derived from sociocultural anthropological and evolutionary biological theories of polyandry against data collected on the Nyinba, a well‐studied ethnically Tibetan population living in northwestern Nepal. In this population, polyandry is fraternal; it is the normative form of marriage and highly valued culturally. Nonetheless, certain polyandrous marriages fail–‐men occasionally leave their natal households and abandon their joint marriages. In exploring the reasons for these marital breakdowns and the characteristics of men who instigate them, this paper offers a new perspective on the presumed contradictions of polyandry and a more fruitful approach to understanding how polyandrous practice comes to be perpetuated from one generation to the next. It also contributes to discussions about how sociocultural and evolutionary perspectives may provide complementary viewpoints for ethnographic data analysis.