Ambonese Kin Groups

Ambonese soc org manifests 2 contrasting types of kin groups: corporate unilinear descent groups called clans, following Murdock (1949, SOCIAL STRUCTURE, New York) & non-corporate, cognatic or bilateral groups called kindred. Based on ethnographic data collected in 1960 in several villages in Central Molucca (Indonesia) the structure & functions of these contrasting types of kin groups are described. Each village is composed of a number of clans, called mata rumah or fam, some large & some small as to total/sum membership, which include all M's & unmarried F's descendent from a particular ancestor together with the in-marrying F's. Hence, it is a compromise kin group rather than a consanguineal kin group or lineage. As corporate groups, clans regulate marriage by the rule of exogamy, control the utilization of lands, & serve to fix status of members & fill village offices. The cognatic kindred, called familie, is organized on bilateral principles & includes all persons related to an individual through consanguineal & affinal ties. It functions primarily to render services to the individual in connection with events during the life cycle. It also softens the sharp competition between & within clans as corporate groups controlling rights & privileges in connection with the inheritance of land, status & offices. The simultaneous occurrence of these 2 types of kin groups, not usually reported as present in Indonesian societies, is accounted for by offering a highly tentative hypothesis which posits a shift from a matrilineal-matrilocal to a patrilineal-patrilocal principle of soc org in the past, for which the author uncovered data, & then later found that R. Kennedy (1955, FIELDNOTES ON INDONESIA: New Haven: Ambon & Ceram) had earlier reported similar findings. However, this account & hypothesis must be regarded as provisional since it is based on field data collected in connection with res on another problem. Further investigation & validation are necessary both for the description & the hyp. AA.