Mr M'Lennan struggles vainly for universal facts on which to build, and seems to find one in what he has termed exogamy (i.
In other words, exogamy would have become extinct.
But as Mr M'Lennan is as much constrained to choose between exogamy and endogamy as was Mons.
Exogamy may thus be regarded as a natural and frequent accompaniment of totemism, but it is not a universal and necessary element of the totemic constitution.
Though exogamy differs from totemism in origin and function, the two are often found associated--their conjunction may be said to be the general rule.
Exogamy is said to exist in the atoll Lua Niua, in the Lord Howe group; the population is described as Polynesian (Brown, Melanesians and Polynesians, p.
The Kurnai show the greatest divergence from the ordinary type--they have neither totemic clans nor exogamous classes; their rule of exogamy relates to districts.
Exogamy supposes a body of clans, and, given a group of totemic clans, it would naturally be attached to these, and so become an organic part of their social constitution.
It is pointed out above[790] that totemism and exogamy are mutually independent arrangements, differing in function and origin, each being found without the other.
It is not probable that the totem was regarded as divine in the period in which exogamy arose--by the tribes whose ideas on this point are known the totem is looked on as a friend and an equal but not as a god.
The Aryans of India have exogamy but not totemism, and this is true in part of the Assamese.
When the custom of exogamy arose it would naturally attach to the clan as the social unit.
Fraser (Totemism and Exogamy, iv, 135), thinks it possible that exogamyof totemic clans is always exogamy in decay.
Where totemism is not accompanied by exogamy it is sometimes probable that the union of the two once existed,[791] or that exogamy is excluded by the peculiar form of the totemism.
Thus local exogamy may have superseded clan exogamy in many places, the former representing the more settled habit of life, and the absence of the totemic constitution may indicate a process of decay of totemism.
Where clan exogamy exists without phratries it is possible that these also formerly existed and have been dropped in the interests of freedom--that is, they limited the choice of a wife to an extent that proved inconvenient.
The totem exogamy, or prohibition of sexual intercourse between members of the same clan, seemed the most appropriate means for the prevention of group incest; and this totem exogamy then became fixed and long survived its original motivation.
It is quite obvious that the nature of totemism and exogamy could be most readily grasped if we could get into closer touch with the origin of both institutions.
It is not altogether easy to combine the two interpretations; in the first case exogamy would have existed before totemism; in the second case it would be a consequence of it[190].
Among the theories which seek to explain exogamy independently of totemism only a few need be mentioned in so far as they illustrate different attitudes of the authors towards the problem of incest.
Thus the ultimate origin of exogamy and with it the law of incest--since exogamy was devised to prevent incest--remains a problem nearly as dark as ever.
If it be granted that exogamy existed in practice, on the lines of Mr. Darwin's theory, before the totem beliefs lent to the practice a sacred sanction, our task is relatively easy.
But in the same book he advocates the other theory of Durkheim which explains exogamy as a consequence of the totem laws.
Andrew Lang also contends for another derivation of exogamy (see below) and leaves it in doubt how these two explanations are related to each other.
I must request the reader to bear constantly in mind that the two institutions of totemism and exogamy are fundamentally distinct in origin and nature though they have accidentally crossed and blended in many tribes.
The attitude of an author to the problems of exogamy is of course not independent of the stand he has taken toward one or the other of the totem theories.
Along with the exogamy of many tribes there is among other savages a system of endogamy, described by MacLennan; this is the prohibition of marriage between different clans.
Endogamy and exogamy do not form such an absolute contrast as at first sight might appear.
The causes of exogamy are explained in the same way, by the fact that members of the same clan often live together in close intimacy.
In this tribe exogamy is 'more respectable,' but not necessary.
Traces of exogamy may be suspected in the bridegroom's driving off with his bride, but no such custom, of course, is recognized in the law.
The rule of exogamy is said to be that a man must not marry in his own gotra nor in the al of his mother or either grandmother.
They have the same complicated arrangement of exogamy and hypergamy as the Khatris, and will take food from that caste.
The rule of exogamy is by no means strictly observed, and in Kawardha it is said that these three subcastes intermarry though they do not eat together, while in Balaghat the Bharotias and Narotias both eat together and intermarry.
But although the rule of exogamy in marriage is recognised, it is by no means strictly adhered to, and many cases are known in which unions have taken place between members of the same clan.
Within the main groupexogamy sometimes also goes by titles or family names.
In fact the rules of exogamy are so loose that an instance is known of an uncle having married his niece.
Until finally the primitive system of exogamy disappears and is replaced by the modern and convenient method of prohibition of marriage within certain degrees of relationship.
The study of exogamyis practically a branch of ethnology.
The opposite of exogamy is endogamy, or prohibition of marriage outside the tribe.
I do not know, however, that there is any definite evidence as to theexogamy of the Scotch clans, which would have disappeared with their conversion to Christianity.
The existing system of exogamy affords evidence in favour of this view, as will be seen.
The practice of exogamywas no doubt, as shown by Dr.
This may perhaps be supposed to have been the general primitive condition of society after the introduction of exogamy combined with female descent.
The instinct of exogamy first developed in the totem-clan when it was migratory and lived by hunting, at least among the Australians and probably the American Indians.
Exogamy and totemism are found not only in India, but are the characteristics of primitive social groups over the greater part of the world.
Similarly the Gonds say that their divine hero, Lingo, introduced the rule of exogamy and the division into clans before he went to the gods.
Thus exogamy first arose through the women of the clan resorting to men outside it.
Westermarck shows that the practice of exogamy or the avoidance of intermarriage did not at first arise between persons recognised as blood relations, but between those who lived together.
The class system, however, would not appear to have been the earliest form of exogamy among the Australian tribes.
The wide distribution of exogamy and the probable priority of the system of female to that of male descent were first brought prominently to notice by Mr. M'Lennan.
Totemism establishes a relation of kinship between persons belonging to one clan who are not related by blood, and exogamy prescribes that the persons held to be so related shall not intermarry.
They are divided into seven tribes, obviously totemic, and with rules as toexogamy still in force.
Atkinson builds his theory of the evolution of exogamy and of savage society in his Primal Law (Social Origins and Primal Law, by Lang and Atkinson, 1903).
Spencer and Gillen leave the origin of exogamy an open question.
In this opinion he has few allies: and on the origin ofExogamy he seems to possess no definite ideas.
McLennan explainedExogamy as a result of scarcity of women, due to female infanticide.
It is difficult to believe that exogamy was a conscious moral and social reformation, because, ex hypothesi, the savages had no moral data, nothing to cause disgust at relations which seem revolting to us.
The difficulty of accounting for exogamy does not seem to have been overcome, and no attempt is made to explain the animal names of totem kins and phratries.
But if class exogamy is also a survival of group marriage, why should this fall in abeyance on such occasions?
This fact is also noteworthy for the criticism of theories which see both in class exogamy and in sexual licence survivals of former group marriage.
Mathews) that the rules of exogamy were very strong, excluding in the majority of tribes a good number of females from all attempts by the males of forbidden classes.
Such local exogamyprevailed also in some of the North Central tribes, viz.
I mean the other forms of kinship organization: the exogamy class, the totemic clan, possibly also the other divisions reported by Mr. R.
He tries to show that clan-exogamy is the source of all other prohibitions against incest, and that clan-exogamy itself springs from totemism.
This attempt to explain the prohibition of marriage between kindred and exogamy has not lacked sympathetic support,[28] but more commonly, I think, it has been rejected.
As for the facts of the first group, Frazer and I agree that they all have the same root, exogamy being in some way or other derived from an aversion to the marriages of near kin.
I gratefully acknowledge that Frazer's chapter on the Origin of Exogamy has only strengthened my belief in my own theory.
To me it seems almost inconceivable that the extensive, cumbersome, and sometimes very complicated institution of exogamy should have been invented simply as a precaution against unions between the nearest relatives.
Frazer has definitely separated exogamyfrom totemism and thereby, it is to be hoped, saved us from further speculations about the totemic origin of the exogamous rules.
According {377} to him the rule of clan-exogamy has been extended to near relatives belonging to different clans, because they are in no less intimate contact with each other than are the members of the same clan.
Thus Mr. Fison may after all be right in referring the partiality of a Fijian grandfather for his grandson in the last resort to a system of exogamy and female kinship.
Yet when we apply the method of variation to the best-studied regions of the globe, our confidence in the essential correctness of the exogamy hypothesis is considerably strengthened.
In this regard the exogamyhypothesis in the broader sense enjoys an obvious superiority.
As he suggests, it is most serviceable where the exogamous factor does not occur, or, as I should add, where diffusion of features from a system affected by exogamy seems improbable.
The exogamy hypothesis, with special reference, to the phenomena just mentioned, has recently been discussed by Professor Kroeber.
Of course it is not directly exogamy that is expressed but the alignment in groups which exogamy brings about.
In this connection a qualification must be made that applies equally to the exogamy hypothesis.
Further the development of an appropriate terminology is not an absolutely automatic process, as is shown by the failure of some tribes with exogamy to develop one.
Since both these relatives are eligible mates from the point of view of exogamy while as a matter of fact marriage with the paternal aunt’s daughter is prohibited, Mr. Gifford’s objection seems to be sustained.
Now as I have shown above, exogamy in North America largely goes hand in hand with the Dakota principle.
Thus tradition would harden into a prejudice, strong as a principle of religion, and exogamy would become the inviolable custom it is found to be among many races.
An additional explanation of the prevalence of exogamy may be found in the natural tendency of exogamous tribes to increase in numbers and strength at the expense of those communities which moved towards decadence by in-breeding.
Chaillu found exogamy the rule and blood marriages regarded as an abomination throughout western Equatorial Africa.
McLennan would find an explanation of exogamy in the prevalence of female infanticide, which, "rendering women scarce, led at once to polyandry within the tribe, and the capturing of women from without.
The Sundis have in fact outgrown the system ofexogamy and regulate their marriages by a table of prohibited degrees in the ordinary manner, the unions of sapindas or persons who observe mourning together at a death being prohibited.
Exogamy and totemism The Manjhis of Sarguja, like those of Raigarh, appear to be of Munda and Santal rather than of Gond origin.
This appears to arise from the primitive rule of exogamythat marriage should not be allowed between those who have been brought up together.
But as the number of septs is rather small, the rule is not adhered to, and members of the same sept are permitted to marry so long as they do not come from the same village; the original rule of exogamy being perhaps thus exemplified.
Frazer's Totemism and Exogamy affords, however, substantial evidence in favour of it among tribes still in the hunting stage in Australia, North America and Africa.
The Gond rules of exogamy appear to preserve traces of the system found in Australia, by which the whole tribe is split into two or four main divisions, and every man in one or two of them must marry a woman in the other one or two.
The rule ofexogamy is thus rather wide in its action, as is often found to be the case among the lowest and most primitive castes.
The confusion as to exogamy seems to arise from the fact that blood ties tend to hold the children to the band of the father.
These bands have been discussed by Grinnell who considers them true gentes[24] though he states that in recent times, at least, the adherence to exogamy was not absolute.
In closing, we may remark that exogamy is often but a rule for marriage respecting some conventional groupings.
We must not permit the question of exogamy to conceal the important political and social functions of the band system.
If Exogamy was originally the vital utility of Totemism, the institution is undermined by the Marriage-classes, whether the clans are subordinated to the classes and merely repeat their rules, or are not subordinated and lose their Exogamy.
But the bands that adopted Totemism were already exogamous, having an aversion to marriage with others of the same band; and the practice of Exogamy was thus brought under the mysterious sanction of totemic ideas.
This was the beginning of Exogamy, and it may have preceded the rise of Totemism; but Totemism, once established, strengthened the custom of Exogamyby mysterious sanctions.
Tribes, such as the Arunta, that do not observe this rule are so few that it is reasonable to consider them aberrant; so that in each case the non-coincidence of Totemism and Exogamy is a distinct problem.
If any races were able to perceive that the interest of Exogamy was the prevention of marriage between near kin, and then to keep account of kinship and govern themselves accordingly, they chose the better part.
Euro"and that they have since learntExogamy under other conditions from neighbouring people, or by conquest.
Totemic sanctions may have been useful in confirming the Exogamy of some groups, but all superstitious aids to right conduct are liable to perverse issues, and at best they are second best.
The connexion of Totemism with Exogamy (the custom of marrying outside the group or kin) Lang conceives of in this way.
Some exceptions to the rule that Totem-clans are exogamous may, perhaps, be explained by supposing that certain bands had not adopted Exogamy when they became totemistsaEuro"may not this have happened amongst the Arunta?
Further, many nations of advanced culture cannot be shown ever to have been totemists, but have always (as far back as can be traced) enforced Exogamy so far as to prohibit marriage within certain degrees of kindred.
They are not all Wolves, for example, where descent is reckoned in the female line, and exogamy is the rule.
What was the condition of human society before totemic exogamy was evolved?
The Kaitish, as regards exogamy and religion, are a link between the primitive south-eastern tribes and the Arunta.
But such colonies of a "clan" with exogamy and female descent are impossible.
He then gave his theory of howexogamy was introduced into the "compact undivided mass.
Where I believe you err is in regarding exogamyas the essential feature of totemism.
That exogamy and the totem group with female descent go together is accidental, and follows from the fact that the totem group is always, in Indian theory at least, blood related.
That spiritual entity is the essence of totemism, exogamy is an accident--according to Mr. Hill-Tout.
It is obvious that they constitute, when once thoroughly amalgamated by exogamy and peaceful intermarriage, a local tribe, with a definite joint territory, and without clan territory.
The system indicated in diagram II, in which children belong directly to the clan of the mother in maternal descent and to that of the father in paternal descent, may be designated as limited exogamy with direct maternal or paternal descent.
Exogamy as such has generally been approached from a rationalistic point of view.
Now it is apparent that precisely the same conditions that underlie the development of the various forms of exogamy also generate polygyny and polyandry.
It is just as intrinsically improbable as is the above-mentioned hypothesis that in prehistoric times the Australians invented totemic tribal organization and exogamy for the purpose of preventing the marriage of relatives.
This last form of exogamy seems to be the one which is most common in Australia, whereas, of course, it has no place in the pure clan exogamy of the American Indians.
Now, the forms of totemicexogamy unmistakably constitute a developmental series.
This form of exogamy does not appear to occur except where the divisions of the tribe are not more than two in number.
Thus, the limits ofexogamy are here narrower than those, for example, which obtain in Germany.
This transition of exogamy from clan to totem group, and from the unlimited to the limited form, came only gradually.
Though the dual organization of the tribe seems to admit of a comparatively simple and easy explanation, the totemic exogamy which is closely bound up with it offers great difficulties.
Following this exogamy with direct maternal or paternal descent and undeniably proceeding out of it, we finally have, as the third main form, exogamy with indirect maternal or paternal descent.
Consequently, though the old machinery of exogamy existed, the practice of exogamy was dropped: persons might marry within their own totem kins.
The second salient feature in the totemic life of some communities which I select as even prior to the totemic name, is the exogamy of the "clans" now bearing totemic names.
Phratry exogamy is the rule; descent is in the female line.
I first examine Mr. Frazer's account of them in Totemism and Exogamy (vol.
Mr. Frazer finds what he calls totemism without exogamy in parts of Melanesia.
All this is exogamywith totem kins, under the phratries, as the exogamous units,[37] and with the totemic taboo.
Of course I do not say that totemism was the cause of exogamy; I hold that exogamy was prior to totemism, and think it perfectly possible that some exogamous peoples may never have been totemic.
Consequently I see no error of method in holding that the totemic name and exogamy are normal features of totemism, while totemism is "an integral phenomenon.
Lastly, the result of the Indian evidence is that it is only in connection with the rules of exogamy that totemism at the present day displays any considerable degree of vitality.
The real basis of exogamy in Northern India seems to be the totem sept, which, however, flourishes at the present day only among the Dravidian tribes and those allied to them.
In every tribe, so far as known, gentile exogamy prevailed—i.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "exogamy" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
