Direct exchange and brideprice [photocopy] : alternative forms in a complex marriage system / Nancy Tapper.

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“Man (N. S.) 16, p. 387-407”—running caption.

Summary: “Anthropological theories of marriage customarily take little account of the Muslim Middle East where non-exogamous lineage organization exists in conjunction with a complex system of marriage choice. Students of Middle Eastern marriage have usually focused on patrilateral parallel cousin marriage to the exclusion of other issues. This article argues for a perspective in which marriage prestations and the transfer of women between households are seen as part of the wider system of exchange and control of all productive and reproductive resources. Marriage among Durrani Pashtuns of Afghan Turkestan is analysed in terms of two modes: direct exchange of marriages in the symmetrical mode conform to Durrani egalitarian ideals and define the ethnic group as a whole, while asymmetrical exchanges, in which women are given for brideprice or in blood compensation, create and maintain a status hierarchy between households. Actors manipulate the ambiguities of these alternative values to make status claims. Durrani interpret marriages in a way that precludes an association between any one union and a fixed level of social groupings. It is suggested that such a perspective will relate the study of marriage in the Middle East to wider theoretical concerns”—(Abstract).

English