Ant 101
Btsisi Kinship
Trevan Davis
Ashford University
Anthropology 101
Instructor Jorge Garcia-Herreros
April 12, 2013
Btsisi Kinship
The society I have decided to write about are the Btsisi people. The Btsisi way of life and Kinship system is very similar to modern society worldwide. Btsisi are Horticultural people meaning they cultivate and produce their own food and they typically live close to water to provide them with another food source besides what’s cultivated. For this assignment, I will briefly describe the Btsisi and eventually compare and contrast to our society.
Marriage among the Btsisi is similar to Marriage in our society. In our society, we may receive canceling from our pastor before marriage. The Btsisi, “elders instruct them in the cooperative nature of matrimony (Nowak 2010).” When couples are married, the become best friends, and “form a cooperative, self-sufficient team (Nowak 2010).” This plays a major role in the Kinship system for the Btsisi. From this point on, the man will take on the more rigorous labor between the 2 showing that there is a division of labor. The wife will pretty much become a stay at home mom, cooking, cleaning, gardening, and taking care of the kids. The husband will be the provider for the family assuring hunting, and rough labor is taken care of. Btsisi culture is constructed in Bands, “the oldest social structure in human existence (Nowak & Laird 2010).” Bands are made up of Nuclear and Extended families. Nuclear families consist of, “mother and father and their children (Nowak & Laird 2010)” while extended families consist of grand parents, aunts, uncles and cousins. I believe this culture truly defines the meaning of teamwork. If someone in the family isn’t holding there own or helping the family, the families’ survival rate decreases. General Reciprocity is how the Btsisi run their society that has enabled the culture to be successful for so long. General Reciprocity is defined as, “a form of
Trevan Davis
Ashford University
Anthropology 101
Instructor Jorge Garcia-Herreros
April 12, 2013
Btsisi Kinship
The society I have decided to write about are the Btsisi people. The Btsisi way of life and Kinship system is very similar to modern society worldwide. Btsisi are Horticultural people meaning they cultivate and produce their own food and they typically live close to water to provide them with another food source besides what’s cultivated. For this assignment, I will briefly describe the Btsisi and eventually compare and contrast to our society.
Marriage among the Btsisi is similar to Marriage in our society. In our society, we may receive canceling from our pastor before marriage. The Btsisi, “elders instruct them in the cooperative nature of matrimony (Nowak 2010).” When couples are married, the become best friends, and “form a cooperative, self-sufficient team (Nowak 2010).” This plays a major role in the Kinship system for the Btsisi. From this point on, the man will take on the more rigorous labor between the 2 showing that there is a division of labor. The wife will pretty much become a stay at home mom, cooking, cleaning, gardening, and taking care of the kids. The husband will be the provider for the family assuring hunting, and rough labor is taken care of. Btsisi culture is constructed in Bands, “the oldest social structure in human existence (Nowak & Laird 2010).” Bands are made up of Nuclear and Extended families. Nuclear families consist of, “mother and father and their children (Nowak & Laird 2010)” while extended families consist of grand parents, aunts, uncles and cousins. I believe this culture truly defines the meaning of teamwork. If someone in the family isn’t holding there own or helping the family, the families’ survival rate decreases. General Reciprocity is how the Btsisi run their society that has enabled the culture to be successful for so long. General Reciprocity is defined as, “a form of
References: Nowak, B., & Laird, P. (2010). Cultural Anthropology . San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc Nowak, B, S. (2010). Can the Partnership Last? Retrived on April 12, 2013, from, http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/can-partnership-last