Kinship Organisations and Group Marriage in Australia

by Northcote Whitridge Thomas

Overview

N. W. Thomas (1868–1936) was one of the first government anthropologists of the colonial era and published one of the first studies of central African languages. This book, written in the early stages of his career, is a study of kinship structures in indigenous Australian peoples, and was first published as part of the Cambridge Archaeological and Ethnological Series in 1906. Thomas develops and defines fundamental anthropological concepts used today – such as consanguinity as a distinct term affecting descent, status and duties in a society – and emphasises the importance of seeing kinship terms as a social description, instead of merely describing biological relationships. His deconstruction of Lewis H. Morgan's theory of social evolution is also of interest for constructing a historiography of social anthropology. This volume contains views on ethnicity which were acceptable at the time it was first published.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108010511
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/02/2010
Series:	Cambridge Library Collection - Anthropology
Pages:	188
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.39(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; Contents; Bibliography; Index to abbreviations; 1. Introductory; 2. Descent; 3. Definitions and history; 4. Tables of classes, phratries, etc.; 5. Phratry names; 6. Origin of phratries; 7. Class names; 8. Theories of the origin of classes; 9. Kinship terms; 10. Types of sexual unions; 11. Group marriage and Mortan's theories; 12. Group marriage and the terms of the relationship; 13. Pirrauru; 14. Temporary unions; Appendix; Indexes.