Description
Book SynopsisAn authoritative analysis of kinship terminologies
Trade Review"The author applies evolved, forceful analytical methods to the Fanti and the book would seem set to become a standard text for anthropologists who seek a commanding introduction to what vigorous kinship analysis looks like at the beginning of the 21st century."--
Anthropos“Kronenfeld’s mastery of Fanti kinship, including social, linguistic, and semantic aspects, is of the very highest quality. He has a wide and masterful knowledge of the details of the research he discusses. He exhibits total integrity in presenting data as well as objective criteria for its interpretation. The outcome is one of the richest descriptions and theoretical interpretations of how kinship terminology and behavior actually operate in society.”--A. Kimball Romney, research professor, School of Social Sciences, University of California, Irvine
"David Kronenfeld's
Fanti Kinship and the Analysis of Kinship Terminologies is a ground-breaking and important addition to the anthropological literature on kinship systems, a formal analysis both of kinship terminologies and of social structures more generally, as well as an in-depth treatment of a particular ethnographic case. This book raises all the necessary questions about the nature and the goals of different versions of kinship theory and formal analysis, and at every turn it brings to bear Kronenfeld's splendid field ethnography. It should be an excellent textbook for new students; Kronenfeld makes it clear that formal analysis is relevant to the real issues of social and even political life."--F. K. Lehman (F. K. L. Chit Hlaing), professor of anthropology, linguistics, and cognitive science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
ix Acknowledgments
xiii Introduction
1PART 1 1. Fanti Kinship: The Structure of Terminology and Behavior
15 2. A Formal Analysis of Fanti Kinship Terminology (Ghana)
31 3. Particularistic or Universalistic Analyses of Fanti Kinterminology: The Alternative Goals of Terminological Analysis
53 4. Fanti Kinship Behavior: What a Fanti Needs to Know to Treat a Kinsman Correctly
71PART II 5. Context in the Late 1970s: Schneider, Needham, Scheffler, and Keesing
109 6. Morgan vs. Dorsey on the Omaha Cross-Parallel Contrast: Theoretical Implications
153 7. Comparison with Tax's Theoretic Approach (1980)
177 8. Krober vs. Radcliffe-Brown on Kinship Behavior: The Fanti Test Case
181PART III 9. The Uses of Formal Analysis re Cognitive and Social Issues
205 10. Computer Analysis of Skewed Kinship Terminologies
227 11. Using Sydney H. Gould's Formalization of Kinterminologies: Social Information, Skewing, and Structural Types
255PART IV 12. Sibling Typology: Beyond Nerlove and Romney
281 13. Fanti Kinship: Language, Inheritance, and Kin Groups
301 14. Some Observations Concerning Usage (1969)
319 Notes
325 References
349 Credits
361 Index
363
