Week 3 - Genealogy and Kin Terms

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WEEK 3 - GENEALOGY AND KIN TERMS

In a place like Fiji, where kin relations determine a good portion of people's behavior, it is important to supplement your census with genealogies or family trees, so that you can have a better sense of how people are related to each other. This week you will collect two genealogies, from two different informants. Be sure that the two people you choose are a) a part of your census already, and b) not so closely related to each other that you'll have a huge overlap of information. In addition, you'll be collecting information on kin terms and types of formal relationships.

In collecting a genealogy from someone, the idea is to probe for the full extent of their knowledge of their family tree, who they are related to and how. This will give you important information on how people are tied to each other through kinship, and it will also give you valuable information on just how much an individual knows about his or her own family tree.

Given that you are interested in tying people together in your village, it would be best to interview someone from the village unless the person residing there has an extensive knowledge of their spouse's family. We have found that middle aged people are generally the best.

Your genealogy assignment has the following tasks:

collect genealogies from two different individuals: the two characteristics you're looking for are a) someone who has a good knowledge of and interest in their family relations, and b) someone who is articulate in English and seems intelligent. You may or may not be able to find both characteristics in the same person. Avoid teenagers. It might also be helpful to bring along someone you feel comfortable working with, who can help with translating, etc.

collect a list of Fijian kin terms and information associated with namesakes, avoidance relationships, tavale relationships, etc.

draw up readable diagrams of both genealogies

put at least four (4) examples of the use of name avoidance and circumlocutions in your field notes, with a few sentences explaining why the person was avoiding and whey they used the term they did.

write as an organized paper a summary of your findings from the genealogy study (figure that some version of this will be integrated into your final ethnography). It should include your findings on namesakes and various formal relationships. Aim for something on the order of 1000-1500 words. Obviously at this point in the term this will be somewhat rough with incomplete information. Do not let this deter you. Just be as thorough as you can at this point. We'll save the presentation of your census information for next week.

You can work at collecting a genealogy and a list of kin terms at the same time with the same person, but it may also be useful to do separate interviews with people about kin terms as well, as the discussion will be a bit more focused.

Name Avoidance and Use of Kin Terms

As you have probably already found out, Fijians use name avoidance as a gesture of respect to certain types of relatives. For example, a daughter-in-law will always greet her mother-in-law with the term "nei" (aunt) rather than use her personal name. In some cases, people will even avoid using the name of another person who has the same name as a relative they have to respect. For example, this week I (Steve) observed a man calling his own daughter "yaca" (namesake). I was confused, because I couldn't see how he could possibly have the same name as his own daughter. When I asked, he explained to me that the girl had been named after her aunt, his sister. Since he wanted to avoid using the name of his own sister, he had to find a way to talk to his daughter since she had the same name. "Yaca" was a convenient choice since it emphasized that the daughter had been named after her aunt out of respect.

People also use some standard devices to avoid using names of more distant relatives and unrelated people as a gesture of respect. Adult women, for instance, will be referred to as "mother of (name of their oldest child)," so I Karen am often referred to as "tinai Jeffrey" instead of "Karen." Likewise men are called "father of (name of oldest child)." E.g. "tamai Jeff." Adult men are sometimes called by the name of their house (e.g. lei Malolo" because I Steve live in the house called Malolo). It's interesting to keep track of the use of these circumlocutions as these indicate who is owed respect by whom. You should also be aware that people are more likely to use these in more formal situations, such as the presentation of a sevusevu.

Collecting a Genealogy

Unlike a census, the genealogy is mostly focused on just how people are related to each other. Therefore, you need collect much less information for each person: collect name, marital status, and if the person is a woman, where she is from (of course in some instances a man may be from somewhere else as well). It is also important to be systematic, going through the family in a logical order. This will help make sure that neither you nor your informant gets confused. Here is a good order to follow:

Informant's siblings, listed in order from eldest to youngest, with spouse, if applicable (attend to possibilities of former marriagesÑthese are important, especially if children are involved)
Children for each of informant's siblings, grandchildren if applicable.
Parents of informant
Father's siblings in order from eldest to youngest, spouses of same.
Father's siblings' children, grandchildren if applicable.
Parents of father
Parents of father's siblings, in order from eldest to youngest, spouses of same.
Children and grandchildren of those. Etc.
Do the same for informant's mother's side. Etc.
After completing the list, go back through it, asking your informant that the kin term is for the relationship he or she has with each person. Be sure to get them to tell you the Fijian words. You can also try prompting, saying, for example, "Is so-and-so your tavale?" After a couple examples like this they should get the idea.
Then ask them to tell you what term they'd use in calling out to the person to get their attention. Try to find out if they're willing to use the person's name, or if they are more comfortable avoiding use of the name. It they do not use the name, what do they use instead to greet or call out to someone?

This is an example of a systematic inquiry. If you want to make adjustments to these, feel free to. The important thing is to collect as complete and accurate a genealogy as possible.

Drawing Up the Genealogy Diagrams

One key to doing a genealogy is to make it readable so that it will be useful to you as a reference. We have found that the standard anthropological diagrams (with O and D for females and males and lines connecting descent and siblings) works pretty well. A tip for drawing up the diagram is to have a good sense of the size of the whole genealogy before you begin, so that you can do things like space sibling sets from a given generation across the page. Another thing you can do is link two parts of a genealogy across a couple different pages with a marker such as an asterisk (*) denoting the link. Look at the diagram I've made up for a reference.

Collecting Kin Terms

Collecting kin terms can be a challenge, as informants often get mixed up (especially if asked to think in the abstract). Generally it is a good idea to use as a model an actual family the informant knows well (such as their own). A good strategy is to use one of the two people from whom you have already collected a genealogy. Choose the informant who seems more knowledgeable and comfortable talking with you. Go back through their family tree and ask "How are you related to (name of each relative)" You may have to give them a prompt to help them understand what you want such as "Is he your tavale?" A good informant will catch on quickly to what you are doing and will try to assist you as possible. Go through the whole genealogy. Once you've got a fairly complete list, then draw up a diagram (like a hypothetical genealogy diagram with the terms clearly listed; if you have used someone's actual genealogy you could also list on the family tree the kin term for each relative, along with their name). Be aware that you may well find differences in terms of address vs. terms of reference. I call my father "Dad" to him (term of address) but will refer to him as "my father" (different word, term of reference) when referring to him in a conversation. Differences between terms of address and reference can be very hard to collect, but it's worth a try. Remember that when doing the "what does so-and-so call so-and-so?" questions, you'll likely get terms of address as answers. There also may be significant differences depending on whether you are dealing with a female Ego or a male Ego. All this can be very difficult. Just try your best, and do not be discouraged if you have gotten only partial information.

Kinship in Field Notes

It is a good idea to always keep an ear tuned to examples of people's various ways of addressing others in casual conversation. Try to see if you can follow the logic of the terms they use. Make a regular habit of noting down in your field notes interesting examples of the use of kin terms, name avoidance, or of culturally patterned behavior in relation to others. The easiest to notice is joking behavior (such as between tavale, cross-cousins). We also got a great example of the odd way vasu (mother's people) may interact with someone at Andrew's sevusevu. Andrew's tata insisted on giving my envelope of $400 to Jerry to take home with him. (He did end up keeping it himself, of course, but he made a big joke out of trying to give it to Jerry).

Written Summary of Genealogy Project

You will likely feel after you have done all this that you have much too much information to fit into the short format I have suggested (1000-1500 words). There is no need to summarize in detail the kin terms you have already listed in your diagram. Instead, focus on short descriptions of the logic of the system, as you see it (again you can use Ravuvu as a guide). Note things of particular interest about this and about the specific genealogies you collected. Then go on to describe what you have found out about the avoidance relationships, about tavales, about relations in one's mother's village, and so on. Figure that this paper will be rough and can be expanded upon later as you get more information.

Assignments for Week 3:

complete the genealogy project (Å1000-1500 words + 2 diagrams + 1 kin term diagram)
continue collecting census information, up to ten more houses
continue field notes/journal to hand in
do the following reading for discussion: Ravuvu book chapters 5 and 6; Nest in the Wind: Chapters 5 and 6.

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