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Postmarital Residence and Bilateral Kin Associations among Hunter-Gatherers

Pumé Foragers Living in the Best of Both Worlds

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Abstract

Dispersal of individuals from their natal communities at sexual maturity is an important determinant of kin association. In this paper we compare postmarital residence patterns among Pumé foragers of Venezuela to investigate the prevalence of sex-biased vs. bilateral residence. This study complements cross-cultural overviews by examining postmarital kin association in relation to individual, longitudinal data on residence within a forager society. Based on cultural norms, the Pumé have been characterized as matrilocal. Analysis of Pumé marriages over a 25-year period finds a predominant pattern of natalocal residence. We emphasize that natalocality, bilocality, and multilocality accomplish similar ends in maximizing bilateral kin affiliations in contrast to sex-biased residential patterns. Bilateral kin association may be especially important in foraging economies where subsistence activities change throughout the year and large kin networks permit greater potential flexibility in residential mobility.

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Notes

  1. The importance we infer for bilateral kin access is also supported by the 12 examples of non-natalocal second, third, and fourth marriages in our sample. Four (3 men, 1 woman) of the eight individuals with two non-natalocal marriages initiated their first union natalocally and subsequently sought mates in other communities. Two of those same men, and another woman, with exogamous second marriages had lived in the community into which they married as preadolescent children for at least 10 years before moving away with their parents. One other man’s second marriage took place uxorilocally within the same community into which he had married 13 years previously. One woman’s second and third marriages were both exogamous (as was her first), although she had lived extensively in the two communities where her second and third marriages occurred. She also had a small number of relatives in both groups. Only one woman’s two marriages were virilocal without gaining local kin though her husband. The other non-natalocal third (n = 2) and fourth (n = 1) unions (representing 2 men) were by individuals whose first marriages were natalocal. Both of these men with the highest number of exogamous marriages come from a family with a large number of surviving full and half brothers (and natalocally resident sisters).

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  1. Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    Karen L. Kramer

  2. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    Russell D. Greaves

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Kramer, K.L., Greaves, R.D. Postmarital Residence and Bilateral Kin Associations among Hunter-Gatherers. Hum Nat 22, 41–63 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-011-9115-7

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