The Beng of the Ivory Coast

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The Beng of the Ivory Coast
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Key Terms

• Parallel Cousin marriage  marrying a cousin
  whose parent is of the same sex as your parent
  (the children of two brothers or two sisters)
• Cross Cousin marriage  marrying a cousin whose
  parent is of the opposite sex as your parent (the
  children of a brother and sister)
• Matrilateral vs. patrilateral cousin marriage 
  refers to whether it is a cousin on your mothers
  side or your fathers side

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Elementary complex marriage systems

• Elementary positive rules prescriptions
• Endogamy descent
• Complex negative rules prohibitions
• Exogamy alliance
• Beng inbetween a combination

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Lineal colateral kin (sibling branches
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Counting cousins
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Basic cousin relationships
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Matrilateral cross cousin marriage
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Patrilateral cross-cousin marriage
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Beng motivations for matrilateral parallel cousin
marraige

• Couple arguments matriclan
• Matriclan members resolve arguments
• Different matriclans indifferent to arguments
• Greater clan involvement during marital conflicts
• A positive relationship (identity) vs.
  patrikinship as a negative relationship
  (difference)

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Matriclan  Identity

• Close identity, idea of interchangeability
• Shared clan treasure (gold nuggets, French coins,
  a stool)
• Shared substance through concept of shared
  breastmilk
• Strict obligations to help one another (with age
  important, as juniors may be called upon to do a
  lot of the work of fulfilling obligations)

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Patriclan  Difference

• Members are united in their difference from other
  patriclans
• Each patriclan has a different set of food taboos
  
• Each patriclan has secret medicines to counteract
  effects of breaking food taboos
• Patriclans control the washing of corpses
  (uniting them to their patriclan and thus
  crossing back into identity)

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Beng -- complex elementary kinship system

• Matrilateral parallel cousin marriage alliance
  theory unites people who are already united
  (usually incest)
• Cross-cousin marriage ambivalence about
  marrying close
• Birth order system regulates marital alliances
  women regulating exchange
• ½ daughters assigned to each parent