Early Human Kinship From Sex to Social Reproduction

by Allen, Nicholas J.; Callan, Hilary; Dunbar, Robin; James, Wendy

• ISBN13: 9781405179010
• ISBN10: 1405179015
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-06-23
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Questions of 'kinship' have always been at the center of anthropology. Was there a connection between the beginnings of language and the beginnings of organized 'kinship and marriage'? How far did evolutionary selection favor gender and age as abstract principles for regulating social relations within and between ancient bands of our early ancestors? This book debates these and other fundamental questions about the emergence of human society. Early Human Kinship brings together original studies from leading figures in the biological sciences, social anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics. The volume takes as its starting point the evolutionary link between enlarged brain capacity and the ability of human ancestors to support increasingly large population groups. It then moves beyond traditional Darwinian questions to ask how far early humans might have organized these groups according to rules about mating and social reproduction that we would recognize today. Sponsored by the Royal Anthropological Institute, in conjunction with the British Academy, Early Human Kinship provides a major breakthrough in the debate over human evolution and the nature of society.

Author Biography

Nicholas J. Allen is Emeritus Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Oxford. He has published on the Himalayas, kinship theory, the Durkheimian School and Indo-European Comparativism. His books include Categories and Classifications (2000) and Marcel Mauss: A Centenary Tribute (1998).

Hilary Callan has been Director of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland since 2000. Her research and publications include work on biological and social anthropology, occupational cultures, and gender, including Ethology and Society (1970)and The Incorporated Wife (edited with Shirley Ardener, 1984).

Robin Dunbar is Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford, and specializes in primate behaviour. He is co-director of the British Academy’s Centenary Research Project ('From Lucy to Language: The Archaeology of the Social Brain'). He is the author or co-author of numerous books, including The Human Story (2004) and Evolutionary Psychology: A Beginner’s Guide (2005).

Wendy James was until recently Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford, and is now Emeritus Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford. She has carried out ethnographic research in North East Africa, and her books include War and Survival in Sudan’s Frontierlands: Voices from the Blue Nile (2007) and The Ceremonial Animal: A New Portrait of Anthropology (2003).

Table of Contents

List of Tables	p. ix
List of Figures	p. x
List of Illustrations	p. xii
Preface	p. xiv
Acknowledgements	p. xvi
Notes on Contributors	p. xvii
Introduction and Background	p. 1
Why 'Kinship'? New Questions on an Old Topic	p. 3
A Brief Overview of Human Evolution	p. 21
Where and When: The Archaeological Evidence for Early Social Life in Africa	p. 25
Kinship and Material Culture: Archaeological Implications of the Human Global Diaspora	p. 27
Deep Roots of Kin: Developing the Evolutionary Perspective from Prehistory	p. 41
Women, Children, Men - and the Puzzles of Comparative Social Structure	p. 59
Early Human Kinship Was Matrilineal	p. 61
Alternating Birth Classes: A Note from Eastern Africa	p. 83
Tetradic Theory and the Origin of Human Kinship Systems	p. 96
What Can Ethnography Tell Us about Human Social Evolution?	p. 113
Other Primates and the Biological Approach	p. 129
Kinship in Biological Perspective	p. 131
The Importance of Kinship in Monkey Society	p. 151
Meaning and Relevance of Kinship in Great Apes	p. 160
Grandmothering and Female Coalitions: A Basis for Matrilineal Priority?	p. 168
Reconstructions: Evidence from Cultural Practice and Language	p. 187
A Phylogenetic Approach to the History of Cultural Practices	p. 189
Reconstructing Ancient Kinship in Africa	p. 200
The Co-evolution of Language and Kinship	p. 232
Epilogue	p. 245
Reaching across the Gaps	p. 247
Appendices to Chapter 12	p. 259
Bibliography	p. 270
Index	p. 302
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