Beyond Kinship

Beyond Kinshipbrings together ethnohistorians, archaeologists, and cultural anthropologists for the first time in a common discussion of the social model of house societies proposed by Claude Levi-Strauss. While kinship theory has been central to the study of social organization, an alternative approach has emerged--that of seeing the "house" both as a physical and symbolic structure and a principle of social organization. The house stands as a model social formation that is distinguished by its attention to a number of material domains (land, the dwelling, ritual and nonritual objects). As the essays in this volume make clear, the focus on material culture and on place contributes to the ongoing convergence of anthropology and history and helps erase the artificial distinctions between prehistory and history. Contributions to the volume offer significant new interpretations of primary data as well as reconsidering classic ethnographic material. Beyond Kinship crosses the boundaries within anthropology--not only between cultural anthropology and archaeology but between structural--symbolic and materialist approaches and between American and British schools of anthropology; it is intended to advance the fruitful dialogue now taking place within the field.

Clark E. Cunningham is Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana Susan D. Gillespie is Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana Rosemary A. Joyce is Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley Patrick V. Kirch is Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley Yvonne Marshall is Lecturer in Archaeology, University of Southampton, United Kingdom Susan McKinnon is Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia Alan R. Sandstrom is Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne Ruth Tringham is Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley Roxana Waterson is Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore, Kent Ridge, Singapore