Most anthropologists work as professors in universities. As teachers,
they often have to take very complex ideas and simplify them so their students
can understand and learn about anthropology. This is especially true for freshmen
-- first-year students in university -- who are new to the subject area.
"There
are a number of ways I try to simplify the material. I try explaining something
in a number of different ways, or I try to give a concrete example and relate
those examples to everyday life," says Brian Schwimmer, a professor of anthropology.
Imagine
you're a professor who is teaching a first-year class in anthropology. You're
preparing a lecture on residence rules -- the rules that tell people in a
society where they can live. You know some of the terms and concepts can be
pretty tough to grasp, so you want to find some examples that your students
can relate to.
Read through the following seven types of residence rules
and identify the rule that your students will know -- the residence rules
that Western society follows. When you know which one of the seven rules it
is, explain the rule in your own words so your students can understand it.
Post-marital residence rules specify where a couple
resides after marriage and, accordingly, influence the structure and size
of household units. Anthropologists have identified several basic rules and
related domestic forms. Residence rules have complicated consequences and
must be understood in terms of the broader social structure and the domestic
cycle -- how household composition changes.
1. Avunculocal Residence
The
avunculocal rule involves two residence changes. Household formation begins
with a virilocal rule, placing a married woman in her husband's household
where their children are raised. Upon reaching maturity, the men must relocate
to their mother's brother's household, the actual avunculocal move. The result
is an avunculocal extended family consisting of one or more elder men, their
sister's sons, and the wives and immature children of all the married men.
2.
Patrilocal Residence
A patrilocal rule specifies that, upon marriage,
a man remains in his father's household, while his wife leaves her family
to move in with him. As children are born, they are added to the paternal
unit. The result is a patrilocal extended family, in which three or more generations
of related men live together to form a shallow patrilineage. An alternate
designation, virilocal, refers to a simpler rule that a wife must move to
her husband's residence.
3. Matrilocal Residence
A matrilocal
family consists of a woman and her children remaining in her mother's household
while her husband leaves his family to move in with her. As children are born,
they are added to the maternal unit. The result is a matrilocal extended family
in which three or more generations of related women live together to form
a shallow matrilineage. An alternate designation, uxorilocal, refers to a
simpler rule that a husband must move to his wife's residence.
4.
Matrifocal Residence
Matrifocal families consist of women and children
and, sometimes, her daughter's children, without resident husbands or other
adult men. This pattern is not usually an expression of a rule or cultural
preference, but results from economic conditions in which a man is unable
to support a family. The household form is different from a matrilocal one,
in which wives and husbands are co-resident.
5. Neolocal Residence
Upon
marriage, each partner is expected to move out of his or her parents' household
and establish a new residence, thus forming the core of an independent nuclear
family. Neolocal residence involves the creation of a new household each time
a child marries, or even when he or she reaches adulthood and becomes economically
active.
6. Ambilocal Residence
In an ambilocal pattern,
a married couple decides whether to join either the husband's or wife's household
of origin. According to the choice made in the previous generations, they
may reside with either spouse's father or mother. The result is an ambilocal
extended family.
7. Natolocal Residence
The natolocal rule
specifies that each partner remains with his and her own families of residence
after marriage. If children remain in their mother's household, the result
will be the formation of domestic matrilineages to which all male and female
residents belong.
These definitions were provided compliments of
Brian Schwimmer -- Kinship and Social Organization: an Interactive
Tutorial