Sans Tribe And Their Kinship System

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San Tribe and their Kinship System Valery Taylor ANT 101 Prof. Melissa Kirkendall March 27, 2012 San Tribe and their Kinship System One of the historical tribes of Southern Africa, is the San society who have lived for a long time on a land that spans across Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Angola. San people, are a foraging tribe in Africa, they are band society made up of the nuclear family and extended family. Band society such as the San survive by going where there is numerous amount of food and water. The San people divide their labor between gender just like many other foraging bands. The women care for their children and forge for vegetation and men hunt and provide other skills. The San society have bilateral descent which means they consider themselves related to both sides of their families which is important because in extreme situations such as a drought, the San people are able to find relatives that can provide water. The kinship of the San people are very important in every aspect of their lives. The Women of the San tribe are very important in their society because they help provide food and care for the children, this allows them to have a say in important decision in the community. In the Sans community the women get married before maturity, and the groom can not consummate his marriage until the bride has fully matured physically and mentally, during this time the groom lives with the bride family and provide brideservice, which means the groom contributes meat to the bride's family band. Since young women are scarce in the San community, due to the fact that the band practices polygny, the groom waits on his bride securing his place with her. In the San marriage divorce is common the bride typically initiate the separation. Divorce is easy in part because there is little division of wealth (Nowak & Laird 2010). In the San

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