Marriage and Incest Taboos in Cross-Cultural Anthropology
This paper examines the anthropological concepts of marriage and incest taboos from a cross-cultural perspective. Drawing on ethnographic examples such as the Nayar people of Kerala, India, it challenges assumptions about the universality of Western-style marriage and explores how different societies define and structure conjugal relationships. The paper also investigates the incest taboo — its near-universal presence, the theory of instinctive repulsion, notable exceptions such as institutionalized royal incest in the Inca empire, and the cultural rules of endogamy and exogamy that shape sexual and marital norms. The paper concludes by reflecting on how both marriage and incest taboos continue to evolve alongside shifting political economies and gender relations.
- Defining Marriage: Rights, obligations, and cultural variation in marriage
- The Universality of Marriage: Challenging the universal centrality of marriage
- The Nayar of Kerala: A Case Study: Nayar visiting husbands and consanguine households
- The Incest Taboo: Instinctive repulsion and institutionalized incest exceptions
- Endogamy, Exogamy, and Cultural Rules: Social exchange rules shaping marriage boundaries
- Conclusions: Evolving marriage and incest norms across cultures
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What makes this paper effective
- It grounds abstract anthropological concepts — such as the universality of marriage — in a concrete ethnographic case study (the Nayar of Kerala), making the argument tangible and specific.
- It maintains an appropriately comparative lens, drawing parallels between Nayar practices and Western cultural norms to help readers recognize that their own assumptions about marriage are culturally situated.
- The paper moves logically from definition to case study to theoretical analysis, building its argument in a structured and accessible way.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates the anthropological technique of cultural relativism — suspending ethnocentric judgment to evaluate practices (such as Nayar visiting marriages or institutionalized royal incest) on their own cultural terms. By consistently situating examples within their social and economic contexts, the paper avoids dismissing unfamiliar practices and instead uses them to complicate universal claims.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a definition of marriage and its cross-cultural variability, then moves into an extended case study of the Nayar people to challenge universalist assumptions. It pivots to the incest taboo, examining theories of instinctive repulsion, genetic harm, and institutionalized exceptions before addressing the rules of endogamy and exogamy. A brief conclusion synthesizes both themes and reflects on how anthropological inquiry keeps pace with evolving cultural values.
Defining Marriage
Marriage is a sanctioned union between people that establishes certain rights and obligations between those people, their children, and their relatives (Ember & Ember, 2010). These rights and obligations may include many things: the right to property, labor, childrearing and bearing, status, and home (Ember & Ember, 2010). These privileges and rights vary greatly from culture to culture. For example, in some cultures, women found guilty of certain crimes, such as adultery, may be stoned to death — this was the case for a woman in northern Nigeria, for instance (Haviland et al., 2010).
Marriage, for many cultures, is a social institution, and many societies spend considerable time and energy maintaining it. However, in many parts of the world, marriage is marginal and not central to establishing or maintaining the life of the family or society (Haviland et al., 2010). For many cultures, marriage has lost its traditional significance, resulting largely from "political economy, more balanced gender relations, and shared public benefits of the capitalist welfare states" (Haviland et al., 2010). So what significance does marriage have today?
References
Ember, C. R., & Ember, M. (2010). Cultural Anthropology. Pearson Education.
Gough, K. (1959). The Nayars and the definition of marriage. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 89, 23–34.
Haviland, W. A., Prins, H. E. L., McBride, B., & Walrath, D. (2010). Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenges. Cengage Learning.
Whelehan, P. (1985). Review of incest, a biosocial view. American Anthropologist, 87, 678.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families. (2005). Child maltreatment 2003. U.S. Government Printing Office.
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