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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bride service | 1/1 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bride_service | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T14:59:43.546724+00:00 | kb-cron |
Bride service has traditionally been portrayed in the anthropological literature as the service rendered by the bridegroom to a bride's family as a bride price or part of one (see dowry). Bride service and bride wealth models frame anthropological discussions of kinship in many regions of the world.
== Patterns == Patterns of matrilocal post-marital residence, as well as the practice of temporary or prolonged bride service, have been widely reported for indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin. Among these people, bride service is frequently performed in conjunction with an interval of uxorilocal residence. The length of uxorilocal residence and the duration of bride service are contingent upon negotiations between the concerned parties, the outcome of which has been characterized as an enduring commitment or permanent debt. The power wielded by those who "give" wives over those who "take" them is also said to be a significant part of the political relationships in societies where bride service obligations are prevalent. Rather than seeing affinity in terms of a "compensation" model whereby individuals are exchanged as objects, Dean’s (1995) research on Amazon bride service among the Urarina demonstrates how differentially situated subjects negotiate the politics of marriage. "Bride service" involves a comparatively minimal amount of wealth transfer between families, especially if it is performed by a solitary prospective groom rather than by his entire family or clan. Thus, bride-service "may in many cases function more as a trial marriage than as a [form of] payment." Bride service has traditionally been practiced by Jivaro people in Peru–Ecuador and Timbira people in Brazil.
== Example == An example of bride service occurs in the Book of Genesis, when Jacob labored for Laban for fourteen years to marry Rachel. The original deal was seven years, but when the wedding day arrived, Laban tricked Jacob by giving him Leah, his older daughter, instead of Rachel. Jacob then had to work for Laban another seven years before he was permitted to marry Rachel.
== References ==
== Further reading == Holmberg, Allan (1969). Nomads of the long bow: the Siriono of eastern Bolivia (PDF). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press. p. 217. Kracke, Waud (1976). "Uxorilocality in patriliny: Kagwahiv filial separation". Ethos. 4 (3): 295–310. doi:10.1525/eth.1976.4.3.02a00020. JSTOR 640055. Maybury-Lewis, David (1971). Some principles of social organization among the Central Gê. Verhandlungen des XXXVIII Internationalen Amerikanistenkongresses. Vol. 3. p. 384. Maybury-Lewis, David (1967). Akwē-Shavante society. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 97f. Maybury-Lewis, David (1979). "Kinship, ideology, and culture". In Maybury-Lewis, David (ed.). Dialectical societies: the Gê and Bororo of Central Brazil. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 9. ISBN 9780674202856. OCLC 253693411. Murphy, Robert F. (1956). "Matrilocality and patrilineality in Mundurucu society". American Anthropologist. 50 (3): 414–34. doi:10.1525/aa.1956.58.3.02a00030. Rivière, Peter G (1984). Individual and society in Guiana. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 40f. ISBN 9780521269971. Renshaw, John (2002). The Indians of the Paraguayan Chaco: identity and economy. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. p. 186ff. ISBN 9780803289918. Siskind, Janet (1977). To Hunt in the Morning. London: Oxford University Press. pp. 79–81. OCLC 918281851. Turner, Terrence S (1979). "The Gê and Bororo societies as dialectical systems: a general model". In Maybury-Lewis, David (ed.). Dialectical societies: the Gê and Bororo of Central Brazil. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 159–60. ISBN 9780674202856. OCLC 253693411. Whitten, Norman E.; Whitten, Dorothea S. (1984). "The structure of kinship and marriage among the Canelos Quichua of East-Central Ecuador". In Kensinger, Kenneth M. (ed.). Marriage practices in Lowland South America. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. p. 209. ISBN 9780252010149.