View source for Bride service

{{Anthropology of kinship |concepts}}
{{Close relationships |practices}}

'''Bride service''' has traditionally been portrayed in the [[Anthropology|anthropological]] literature as the service rendered by the [[bridegroom]] to a bride's family as a [[bride price]] or part of one (see [[dowry]]). Bride service and [[bride wealth]] models frame anthropological discussions of [[kinship]] in many regions of the world.<ref>
*{{cite journal|last=Langenbahn |first=Hans-Jürgen |title=Bridewealth and bride-service among the Ingessana (Rep. of Sudan) |journal=Sociologus |volume=39 |number=1 |pages=36–53 |date=1989|jstor = 43645292}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Fricke |first1=Tom |first2=Arland |last2=Thornton |first3=Dilli R. |last3=Dahal |title=Netting in Nepal: Social change, the life course, and brideservice in Sangila |journal=Human Ecology |volume=26|number=2 |date=1998 |pages=213–237|pmid=12293840|doi=10.1023/A:1018766806955 |s2cid=21202633 }}
*{{cite journal|last=Hagen |first=Edward H. |date=1999 |title=The functions of postpartum depression |journal=Evolution and Human Behavior |volume=20 |issue=5 |pages=325–359|doi=10.1016/S1090-5138(99)00016-1 |citeseerx=10.1.1.335.7173 }}
*{{cite journal|last=Gose |first=Peter |title=The state as a chosen woman: Brideservice and the feeding of tributaries in the Inka empire |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=102 |number=1 |date=2000 |pages=84–97|jstor = 683540|doi=10.1525/aa.2000.102.1.84 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Helliwell |first1=Christine |title="Never stand alone": a study of Borneo sociality |date=2001 |publisher=Borneo Research Council |isbn=978-1-9299-0002-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-hRwAAAAMAAJ}}
*{{cite journal|last=Jamieson |first=Mark |title=It's Shame That Makes Men and Women Enemies: The Politics of Intimacy among the Miskitu of Kakabila |journal=Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute |volume=6 |number=2 |date=June 2000 |pages=311–325|jstor = 2660898|doi=10.1111/1467-9655.00018 }}</ref>
==Patterns==
Patterns of [[matrilocal]] post-marital residence, as well as the practice of temporary or prolonged bride service, have been widely reported for [[indigenous peoples]] of the [[Amazon basin]].<ref>
*{{cite thesis|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21386610?q&versionId=25591579 |last=Arvelo-Jimenez |first=Nelly |date=1971 |title=Political relations in a tribal society: a study of the Ye'cuana Indians of Venezuela |type=PhD |publisher=Cornell University |series=Latin American Program Dissertation Series |volume=31 |page=104}}
*{{cite book |last1=Dumont |first1=Jean-Paul |title=The Headman and I: Ambiguity and Ambivalence in the Fieldworking Experience |date=1978 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-2927-3007-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/headmani00dumo_g89/page/75 75] |url=https://archive.org/details/headmani00dumo_g89 |url-access=registration |language=en}}
*{{cite book |last1=Harner |first1=Michael J. |title=The Jivaro: People of the Sacred Waterfalls |date=1984 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-5200-5065-5 |pages=79–80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=APziu1G7TtoC |language=en}}
*{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Hill |first1=Johnathan |last2=Moran |first2=Emilio F. |date=1983 |title=Adaptive strategies of Wakuenai peoples to the oligotrophic rain forest of the Rio Negro basin |encyclopedia=Adaptive responses of Native Amazonians |editor-last1=Hames |editor-first1=Raymond |editor-last2=Vickers |editor-first2=William |location=New York |publisher=Academic Press |pages=124–25}}</ref> Among these people, bride service is frequently performed in conjunction with an interval of [[uxorilocal]] residence. The length of uxorilocal residence and the duration of bride service are contingent upon negotiations between the concerned parties, the outcome of which has been characterized as an enduring commitment or permanent [[debt]].<ref name=Rosengren>{{cite book |title=In the eyes of the beholder: Leadership and the social construction of power and dominance among the Matsigenka of the Peruvian Amazon |date=1987 |page=127 |last=Rosengren |first=Dan |publisher=Göteborgs etnografiska museum |location=Göteborg}}</ref><ref name=Gow>{{cite journal |last=Gow |first=Peter |date=December 1989 |title=The perverse child: Desire in a native Amazonian subsistence economy |journal=Man |volume=24 |number=4 |pages=299–314|doi=10.2307/2804288 |jstor=2804288 }} </ref> The [[Power (sociology)|power]] wielded by those who "give" wives over those who "take" them is also said to be a significant part of the political relationships in societies where bride service obligations are prevalent.<ref name="Rivière 1997">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Rivière |first=Peter G |date=1977 |title=Some problems in the comparative study of Carib societies |encyclopedia=Carib-speaking Indians: culture, society, and language |editor-last=Basso |editor-first=Ellen B. |location=Tucson |publisher=University of Arizona Press |page=41}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Mentore |first=George P. |date=September 1987 |title=Waiwai women: the basis of wealth and power |journal=Man |volume=22 |number=3 |pages=511–27|doi=10.2307/2802503 |jstor=2802503 }}</ref>

Rather than seeing affinity in terms of a "compensation" model whereby individuals are exchanged as [[Object (philosophy)|object]]s, Dean’s (1995) research on Amazon bride service among the [[Urarina]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Dean |first=Bartholomew |url=http://www.upf.com/book.asp?id=DEANXS07 |title=Urarina Society, Cosmology, and History in Peruvian Amazonia |location=Gainesville |publisher=University Press of Florida |date=2009 |isbn=978-0-8130-3378-5}}</ref> demonstrates how differentially situated subjects negotiate the politics of [[marriage]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dean |first=Bartholomew |title=Forbidden fruit: infidelity, affinity and bride service among the Urarina of Peruvian Amazonia |journal=Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute |volume=1 |number=1 |date=March 1995 |pages=87–110 |url=https://www.academia.edu/24961221|doi=10.2307/3034230 |jstor=3034230 }}</ref>

==Example==
An example of bride service occurs in the [[Hebrew Bible]], {{bibleverse||Genesis|29:16-29|NIV}}, when [[Jacob]] labored for [[Laban (Bible)|Laban]] for fourteen years to marry [[Rachel]]. The original deal was seven years, but when the wedding day arrived, Laban tricked Jacob by giving him [[Leah]], his older daughter, instead of Rachel. Jacob then had to work for Laban another seven years before he was permitted to marry Rachel.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|url=http://biblio.wdfiles.com/local--files/holmberg-1950-siriono/holmberg_1950_siriono.pdf |last=Holmberg |first=Allan |date=1969 |title=Nomads of the long bow: the Siriono of eastern Bolivia |location=Prospect Heights, IL |publisher=Waveland Press |page=217}}
*{{cite journal|last=Kracke |first=Waud |date=1976 |title=Uxorilocality in patriliny: Kagwahiv filial separation |journal=Ethos |volume=4 |issue = 3|pages=295–310|jstor = 640055|doi=10.1525/eth.1976.4.3.02a00020 |doi-access=free }}
*{{cite conference |last=Maybury-Lewis |first=David |authorlink=David Maybury-Lewis |date=1971 |title=Some principles of social organization among the Central Gê. |conference=Verhandlungen des XXXVIII Internationalen Amerikanistenkongresses |volume=3 |page=384}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CqpZugEACAAJ |last=Maybury-Lewis |first=David |authorlink=David Maybury-Lewis |date=1967 |title=Akwē-Shavante society |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |page=97f}}
*{{cite encyclopedia |last=Maybury-Lewis |first=David |authorlink=David Maybury-Lewis |date=1979 |title=Kinship, ideology, and culture |encyclopedia=Dialectical societies: the Gê and Bororo of Central Brazil |editor-last=Maybury-Lewis |editor-first=David |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=9 |isbn=9780674202856 |oclc=253693411}}
*{{cite journal |last=Murphy |first=Robert F. |date=1956 |title=Matrilocality and patrilineality in Mundurucu society |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=414–34|doi=10.1525/aa.1956.58.3.02a00030}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GXx2QgAACAAJ |last=Rivière |first=Peter G |date=1984 |title=Individual and society in Guiana |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=40f|isbn=9780521269971 }}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PhykZ8_lWBAC |last=Renshaw |first=John |date=2002 |title=The Indians of the Paraguayan Chaco: identity and economy |location=Lincoln, NE |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |page=186ff|isbn=9780803289918 }}
*{{cite book |last=Siskind |first=Janet |date=1977 |title=To Hunt in the Morning |location=London |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=79–81 |oclc=918281851}}
*{{cite encyclopedia |last=Turner |first=Terrence S |date=1979 |title=The Gê and Bororo societies as dialectical systems: a general model |encyclopedia=Dialectical societies: the Gê and Bororo of Central Brazil |editor-last=Maybury-Lewis |editor-first=David |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=Harvard University Press |pages=159–60 |isbn=9780674202856 |oclc=253693411}}
*{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Whitten |first1=Norman E. |last2=Whitten |first2=Dorothea S. |date=1984 |title=The structure of kinship and marriage among the Canelos Quichua of East-Central Ecuador |encyclopedia=Marriage practices in Lowland South America |editor-last=Kensinger |editor-first=Kenneth M. |location=Urbana, IL |publisher=University of Illinois Press |page=209 |isbn=9780252010149}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bride Services}}
[[Category:Anthropology]]
[[Category:Ethnology]]
[[Category:Marriage]]