ANTH 4181 - Kinship and Marriage

This course covers some central topics in anthropology: sex, family and kinship in cultures ranging from tribal to modern. The first half of the course covers major topics and theories, including evolutionary roots of kinship and the incest taboo, descent groups, marriage and marriage rules, and folk theories, rituals, and symbols involving where babies come from and what kinship is. The second half of the course is a tour of kinship around the world, covering Melanesia, Amazonia, Africa, East Asia, the Middle East, and the West, and including how kinship systems have developed historically, and how they affect and are affected by modernization.