Everything about Matrilocal Residence totally explained
In
social anthropology,
matrilocal residence or
matrilocality (also
uxorilocal residence or
uxorilocality) is a term referring to the
societal system in which a married couple resides with or near the mother's parents, thus the female offspring of a
mother remain living in (or near) the mother's
house, thereby forming large
clan-families, typically consisting of three or four
generations living in the same place.
Frequently, visiting
marriage is being practiced, meaning that
husband and
wife are living apart in their separate families, seeing each other in their spare time. The
children of such marriages are raised by the mother's extended matrilineal clan. The father doesn't have a significant role in the upbringing of his own children; he does, however, in that of his sisters' children (
nieces/nephews). In direct consequence,
property is
inherited from generation to generation, and over all, remains largely undivided.
Examples of matrilocal societies include the
Ancient Pueblo Peoples of
Chaco Canyon, the
Nair community in
Kerala in
South India, the
Mosuo of
Yunnan and
Sichuan in southwestern
China, and the
Minangkabau of western
Sumatra. In native
Amazonia, this residence pattern is often associated with the customary practice of
brideservice, as seen among the
Urarina of northeastern
Peru. In contemporary
mainland China, uxorilocal marriage has been encouraged by the
government (Wolf 1985) in an attempt to counter the problem of unbalanced male-majority
sex ratios caused by
abortion and infanticide and
abandonment of girls. Because girls traditionally marry out in
virilocal marriage they've been seen as "mouths from another family" or as a waste of resources to raise. During the
Song Dynasty in medieval China, matrilocal marriage became common for wealthy, non-aristocratic families.
In other regions of the world, such as
Japan, during the
Heian period, a marriage of this type wasn't a sign of high status, but rather an indication of the
patriarchal authority of the woman's family (her father or grandfather), who was sufficiently powerful to demand it (Ramusack and Sievers 1999).
Another matrilocal society is the
!Kung San of Southern Africa. They practice uxorilocality for the bride service period which lasts until the couple has produced three children or they've been together for more than ten years. At the end of the bride service period the couple has a choice of which clan they want to live with.
In
sociobiology, matrilocality refers to
animal societies in which a
pair bond is formed between animals born or hatched in different areas or different social groups, and the pair become resident in the female's home area or group.
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