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 language | English |
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Title of host publication | Living Kinship in the Pacific |
Editors | Christina Toren & Simonne Pauwels |
Place of Publication | New York, Oxford |
Publisher | Berghahn Books |
Pages | 167-185 |
Edition | 1st |
ISBN (Print) | 9781782385776 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2015 |