Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0001/00011.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 26KB | 416 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00011}
$Pretitle{265}
$Title{Afghanistan
Chapter 2D.   Family}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Laurie Krieger}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{nomads
family
groups
afghanistan
kin
kirghiz
household
lineage
often
subsistence}
$Date{1986}
$Log{Afghan Hound Dog*0001101.scf
Farmer*0001102.scf
}
Country:     Afghanistan
Book:        Afghanistan, A Country Study
Author:      Laurie Krieger
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1986

Chapter 2D.   Family

[See Afghan Hound Dog: Courtesy Embassy of Afghanistan, Washington DC]

     Although great variation exists between ethnic groups and groups
practicing different modes of subsistence, families of virtually all Afghan
groups are characterized by their patrilineal organization, low incidence of
polygyny, even lower incidence of divorce, and relatively high birth rate. In
patrilineal kinship descent is traced through males, and almost all property
is inherited through men. People in patrilineal societies recognize that they
are related to the mother and her relatives, but ties with these kin are
somewhat different. Major property is not transmitted through them, and
relationships with them tend to be primarily affective rather than economic or
political. For example, anthropologist Bernt Glatzer observed that among
Durrani Pashtun nomads in the western part of the country, patrilineally
related kin provide social security and political support, but relations with
them may be strained. They are competitors for authority in the kin group and
in inheritance. He remarks that as property is passed patrilineally, so are
feuds about previous inheritance. Relations with maternal kin and affines tend
to be marked by "cordiality and helpfulness," for these relatives are not
competitors in the political or economic arenas unless they are also members
of the same patrilineage. Barfield explains the low incidence of polygyny
among the Arabs he studied both as a result of Arab women's vocal opposition
to the practice and as a possible consequence of sedentarization.

     The smallest kinship unit is the household-the basic unit of production
and reproduction. Households may consist of a nuclear family (a woman and her
children or a married couple and their children), an extended family ( a
multigenerational family unit), a fraternal joint family (two or more brothers
with their wives and children), or a compound family (two or more cowives
and their husband).

     The nuclear family is the most commonly reported household unit. It is
the predominant household form among the Hazaras of Bamian, the Durrani
Pashtun nomads in western Afghanistan, and the Kirghiz in Wakhan. Among the
Durrani nomads who have traditionally lived a pastoralist existence, herds are
owned only by the household and individuals. Nuclear families are usually
headed by the senior male. The Kirghiz household head is usually the senior
male, but households may be headed by a widow if she has young unmarried or
married sons and daughters. In Kirghiz households an important decision
requires consensus among all adult household members. The head does not impose
her or his will. The head is responsible for representing the household in
public, executing agreed-upon decisions, and managing the family's affairs.

     The Hazara household head is the husband (or wife, in the event of the
husband's death). Hazaras may form compound families, in which case the
senior wife succeeds to the husband's position until the oldest son reaches
maturity. Relations within the nuclear family may be quite intense. Louis
Dupree notes that fathers and daughters bond closely; they exhibit much love
and concern for each other. Sisters and brothers are often emotionally
intimate. These patterns of relationships are common in other parts of the
Middle East and South Asia and are owing to complex psychological and social
factors.

     Nancy Tapper, an anthropologist who has studied Durrani Pashtun women,
found the extended family to be both the ideal and common household form of
the Durrani in the Saripul region of Jowzjan Province. In other parts of the
country, extended households often fission after the father's death. The
married brothers then go their own way in a limited fashion, often retaining
some property in common. If an extended family consisting of aged parents and
two or more married sons and their families does not split at the father's
death, it becomes a fraternal joint family. Such families rarely last more
than 10 years without separating to form nuclear families. Reports from
Afghanistan in 1985 indicated that in urban areas, particularly in Kabul,
nuclear family households were becoming rarer. With the great influx of
country relatives fleeing rural fighting, many nuclear families found it
necessary to share dwellings with country kin.

     The next most inclusive unit of kinship is the agnatic (patrilineal)
minimal lineage. This consists of relatives descended from a common ancestor
and may include several to a large number of households. Minimal lineages
exhibit great variation. Among the Kirghiz, for example, this unit is
relatively stable, while among the Ghilzai Pashtuns it is quite fluid.

     The Kirghiz minimal lineage is an independent political actor and is the
most significant agnatic kin unit. Its members form a corporate unit sharing
camping grounds and pasturage. The political power of the Kirghiz minimal
lineage depends on its ownership of property and the willingness of its
members to cooperate as a group. The lineage head is the senior male of one of
the component households whose personal qualities make him an obvious
candidate. His choice is based on consensus by other lineage household heads.
His duties include mediation of disputes within his lineage and between his
and other lineages. He has no authority, however, to enforce his decisions.

     Ghilzai lineages are diverse; some are organized with an
institutionalized leadership position, while others coalesce around a
charismatic male relative. Groups of related households unite and divide,
depending upon which ancestor they choose to trace their ancestry. Lineage
members have mutual obligations to assist each other and mutual liabilities.
They are all fair game for retaliation should a feud erupt with another
lineage or should a relative commit a crime.

     Kin groups expand to become ever more inclusive. The next level above the
minimal lineage is the maximal lineage, followed by the tribe and, finally, by
the entire ethnic group. All these units are extensions of the nuclear family.
All are based on real or reputed agnatic kinship. Tribes segment into smaller,
sometimes mutually hostile, units, such as minimal or maximal lineages,
depending on the purpose for which the unit is needed. Such smaller units are
termed segmentary lineages. The principle of segmentation is succinctly summed
up by the Arab proverb, "I against my brother. My brother and I against my
cousin. My cousin, my brother, and I against the world." The potential for
tension with agnatic kin is expressed in the Afghan adage, "Do you have an
enemy? I have a cousin." Competition for the same mates and inheritance of
property cause much of the hostility between close agnates. Longtime Middle
East specialist John Gulick explains kin relations in the Middle East as an
expression of the "peril and refuge mentality." He observes that the kin who
provide a person with social, emotional, and, if necessary, armed support are
also competitors for the same resources. In the case of women, the same
brothers and father with whom they are so close and who are their protectors
are also their executioners, should the males doubt the daughter's or sister's
chastity. These are also the relatives who know the person best and to whom he
or she is consequently most vulnerable.

     Kin relations are expressed spatially in agnatic local descent groups,
i.e., a region, town, village, hamlet, or camp whose residents are agnatically
related. Local de