'Sister or Wife, You've Got to Choose': A solution to the Puzzle of Village Exogamy in Samoa

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

    Abstract

    In Samoa, the principle of village exogamy goes back as far as family accounts stretch, to the late nineteenth century. This poses a puzzle, because the families (aiga) that make up a village (nuu) are generally far from related (aiga), and even so Samoans are unanimous in condemning marriage within a village. Why should this be so? Village organization could provide an answer: at a certain encompassing level of representations, all villagers are brother or sister to each other. This village organization is perhaps the most striking example of the high salience of the brother-sister relationship (feagaiga) in Samoa.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationLiving Kinship in the Pacific
    Editors Christina Toren & Simonne Pauwels
    Place of PublicationNew York, Oxford
    PublisherBerghahn Books
    Pages167-185
    Edition1st
    ISBN (Print)9781782385776
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2015

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