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In social
anthropology, matrilocal residence or matrilocality (also
uxorilocal residence or uxorilocality) is a term referring to the
societal
system in which a married couple resides with or near the mother's
parents, thus the female offspring of a mother remain living in (or near)
the mother's house,
thereby forming large clan-families, typically consisting
of three or four generations living in the
same place.
Frequently, visiting marriage is being practiced,
meaning that husband and
wife are living apart in
their separate families, seeing each other in their spare time. The
children of such
marriages are raised by the mother's extended matrilineal clan. The
father does not have a significant role in the upbringing of his
own children; he does, however, in that of his sisters' children
(nieces/nephews). In
direct consequence, property is inherited from generation to
generation, and over all, remains largely undivided.
Examples of matrilocal societies include the
Ancient
Pueblo Peoples of Chaco
Canyon, the Nair community in
Kerala in
South
India, the Mosuo of Yunnan and Sichuan in
southwestern China, and the
Minangkabau of
western Sumatra. In native
Amazonia,
this residence pattern is often associated with the customary
practice of brideservice, as seen among
the Urarina
of northeastern Peru. In contemporary
mainland
China, uxorilocal marriage has been encouraged by the
government (Wolf 1985) in an attempt to counter the problem of
unbalanced male-majority sex ratios
caused by
abortion and infanticide and abandonment of girls.
Because girls traditionally marry out in virilocal
marriage they have been seen as "mouths from another family" or
as a waste of resources to raise. During the Song Dynasty
in medieval China, matrilocal marriage became common for wealthy,
non-aristocratic families.
In other regions of the world, such as Japan, during the
Heian
period, a marriage of this type was not a sign of high status,
but rather an indication of the patriarchal
authority of the woman's family (her father or grandfather),
who was sufficiently powerful to demand it (Ramusack and Sievers
1999).
Another matrilocal society is the !Kung San of
Southern Africa. They practice uxorilocality for the bride service
period which lasts until the couple has produced three children or
they have been together for more than ten years. At the end of the
bride service period the couple has a choice of which clan they
want to live with.
In sociobiology, matrilocality
refers to animal
societies in which a pair bond is
formed between animals born or hatched in different areas or
different social groups, and the pair become resident in the
female's home area or group.
References
- Ember, M., and C. R. Ember. 1971. The Conditions Favoring Matrilocal versus Patrilocal Residence. American Anthropologist 73:571–594.
- Kinship and Marriage: An anthropological perspective
- Korotayev, Andrey. 2001. An Apologia of George Peter Murdock. Division of Labor by Gender and Postmarital Residence in Cross-Cultural Perspective: A Reconsideration. World Cultures 12(2): 179-203.
- Peregrine, Peter N. "Matrilocality, Corporate Strategy, and the Organization of Production in the Chacoan World. American Antiquity. January 2001: 66:1, 36-46.
- Ramusack, Barbara N., and Sharon Sievers. Women in Asia: Restoring Women to History. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press: 1999.
- Wolf, Margery. Revolution Postponed: Women in Contemporary China. Stanford University Press, 1985. 196-198.
- Stockard, Janice E. "Marriage in Culture" Australia: Wadsworth, 2002
matrilocal in French: Matrilocalité
matrilocal in Norwegian: Matrilokal
bosetting
matrilocal in Polish:
Matrylokalność