Ancestral Line Chapter Summary

In the book Ancestral Line: The Maisin of Papua New Guinea and The Fate of The Rainforest by John Barker a concept that connects this book to what have been learned in class is the idea of kinship. I will be discussing what kinship and it’s two main components are, and how they relate to the book.

Kinship is studied primarily in social and cultural anthropology. While there is no concise definition for what kinship means in the field of anthropology it can generally be thought of as the relationships within a society that are usually based off of blood or marriage. These two things in some way shape or form are recognized in nearly every society. Links of kinship form off the basis of property rights, division of labor, and political organization

(Hinrichsen).
In anthropology, people’s blood relations tell a lot about what is important in a society. People trace their descent and identity based on their ancestry. That ancestry can be traced through either unilineal, matrilineal, patrilineal and double decent or bilateral kinship (Hinrichsen). How family is determined also says a lot about a society. It makes a big difference whither or not a society is oriented around the the families of orientation or the families of procreation. Who a society considers apart of the family is also telling of that society.
The second main aspect of kinship, marriage, is important because a society determines what marriages are acceptable. Different society view marriage differently so for some marriage can be an economic or religious union. In most cases it is semi permanent, and in some religions it is seen as everlasting. In any case there are usually rights and obligations acknowledged between spouses. The idea of marriage or a marriage like structure is nearly universal. Marriage can solve many common problems in a society such as how to share work and resources, how to care for children and how to control the population. There are different marital practices such as endogamy and exogamy. There are also several different forms of marriage: monogamy, polygyny, polyandry, and group marriages (Hinrichsen). What the norms are in a society in terms or kinship give insight to the values and traditions that culture may have.
Families and marriage make up the main focus of kinship. What they mean and represent are always changing with the times and have grown to include and represent different things to different people. While not every culture may call it marriage, family, or kinship these ideas have been seen throughout nearly all cultures for many years and prove to be important to maintaining a society.
The book, Ancestral Lines, is the story of John Barker's experience studying the Maisin of of Papua New Guinea. In his book, Barker discusses many anthropological topics. He informs us the core values the of the Maisin with include reciprocity in action, ancestral traditions and locations. Due to these core values, the Maisin are dedicated to their traditional way of life and try their hardest to conserve it, along with their land (Barker).
The Maisin have long battled with falling victim to canonization, modernization, and westernization. Through all of these things they still try to maintain their own societal values and incorporate new and more modern concepts into their society on their own terms rather than it being solely forced upon them by outside forces.
In this book, the topic of Kinship is introduced in Chapter Three: The Social Design. In this chapter Barker talks about how the Maisin socialize children into gender roles, the different kinship groups they acknowledge and what role they play, and the alliances formed through marriage (Barker). In this case I am more focused on the latter two saw they exemplify the anthropological understanding of kinship.
According to Barker, Maison families resemble western families in the sense that they acknowledged mothers, father, brothers and sisters, but they differed mainly in that extended families were labeled with the same identifiers as immediate family. In this society they practiced “patrilineal descent, in which ancestry is traced through a series of male links … although many of the societies east of the Masin practice matrilineal systems in which descent is traced through female links,” (Barker 89-90).
They have decent groups which are comprised of lineage groups and clans.

Liniages groups are usually smaller and unnamed. Through lineage, they pass down property, tools, hunting equipment, drums and other items. If a man doesn’t have sons to pass these things down to then they are given to the sons of their brother. Clans are larger, named, and seen as permanent. Clans are comprised of all the descendants of at least two lineages. Elders in a clan can link the present day members of the clan back to the founding ancestors of the clan. This can become complicated so it is typical for people to the accept the clan that their father belonged to as their own

(Barker).
Lineages and clans are the basis of what families look like in this culture. How connected they are through these groups determines their interactions and how much they depend on one another. In these culture it is acknowledged that there is a difference in distance relatives and immediate relatives, but they are not labeled as such (Barker).
The next part of kinship, marriage, is is also talked about in the book. Barker informs us that in the Maisin culture:
A person’s success in life depends on his or her ability to meet both responsibilities to close kin and to create and maintain bonds with more distant relatives and strangers. The most important of these bonds is marriage. As in many cultures, the Maisin regard marriage not merely as a union between two individuals but as an alliance between households, extended families, and clans This is not to say that love an affection are not involved. The rich oral traditions related by elders over the evening fires incluse many romantic stories of courtship. (Barker 97)
This description gives a fair insight into what kinship and marriage mean in the Maisin culture.

He is basically saying that the way they treat their kin and the union of clans are of the utmost importance. Being successful in those two thing was equivalent to being successful at life which. This is a stark contrast to the values of western cultures where career success and material objects are seen as the number one indication of success in life. To the Maisin, to have succeeded in life is to have a success in both major aspects of kinship. It is also important to note that while marriage has other implications, that the happiness of those involved in the marriage is also

important.
The author tells us that in old times the Maisin practice what is called sister exchange. This means that two clans would come to an agreement to provide the other with a wife. This later broadened to include a husbands as well. This agreement was typically made while the children were young, but it was important because the clans are exogamous, meaning the members are required to marry outside of their own clan. Such agreements kept clans in harmony because it was seen as a fair agreement that each clan would get what they give, in this case a husband or a bride (Barker).
Barker also notes that even though this was the custom in those times, it didn’t always work out that way. Sometimes the betrothed would fall refuse to marry, in love with someone else, and in some cases elope. This is all problematic because it causes a somewhat breach of contract. Those involved in breaking their marital contract would often times just never return home because their actions may have triggered brutality amongst the clans that were in agreement (Barker).
In conclusion, kinship relates directly to blood lines and marriage specifically. Kinship, to some degree is important to every culture, but in cultures like the Maisin it is especially important because it offer a way for the community to expand and share resources, amongst other things. The ways in which the Maisin have integrated kinship into their society are extensive and complex, but it has proven to withstand the test of time. Like in any society there are cultural norms, and unspoken rules that are understop but nevertheless at the heart of their society is genuinely caring for one another. This idea presents itself in many ways and the Maisin have managed to adapted their beliefs in a sense to keep up with the times.