Discussion

Think about one of your primary intimate relationship

Is that history important?

How far back should we go to better understand our present?

What do we look for in that past?

What about history of the humanity – can it be insightful?

Do you think it has been influenced by

the history of your prior relationships?

Ecological Model

Auca Tribe Cross-Cousin Marriage

▪ Can only marry father's sister’s children (“preferred cousin marriage”)

▪ Patrilineal: only blood related to the father’s side

▪ Aroused by both male & female cross cousins (father’s sister’s offspring)

Partible Paternity or Shared Paternity ▪ In the Amazon: theAraweté, Mehinaku, Tapirapé, Xokleng, and Bari

▪ Child has more than one father, because of the mother’s multiple acts of sexual

intercourse with different men during pregnancy

▪ Men are named as a secondary biological fathers and they are under an obligation to

the mother and the child

Menstruating woman - pure, was

worshipped as a Goddess

She could not go into a temple because

the Godly energy of the idol will

move over to her, menstruating

woman will absorb that life, and the

idol be lifeless.

Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati (Guruji),

founder of Devipuram temple in Andhra Pradesh

Polytheism: 330 million Gods & Goddesses

Avoiding cooking and eating with others during menstruation

While eating, people expel

negative energy all around.

Menstruating woman absorbs all

types of energies around her and

she can get affected by the lower

energies.

Why menstruating women were

told to stay away from others and

eat separately?

Marriage Institution: Pre-History

Marriage Institution: Domestication of Animals

Marriage Institution: Ancient World

Ancient Rome had a high rate of divorce and remarriage

▪ Divorce is an ancient phenomenon

Family: the Power of “Patria Potestas”

▪ Absolute paternal power within the family

Ancient Pompeii & Rome

ABC News: Portland OR

2005

▪ Portland: 7.4 strip clubs per 100,000 residents

▪ Las Vegas: 5.8

▪ San Francisco 2.2

2006

▪ Springfield (just outside Eugene) 9.3 strip clubs per 100,000 residents

1 West Virginia

2 District of Columbia

3 South Dakota

4 Nevada

5 New Jersey

6 Hawaii

7 Wyoming

8 Wisconsin

9 Oregon

10 Louisiana

Strip clubs per capita rates

Marriage Institution: History

12th century

▪ Women were obligated to take the name of their

husbands

13th century

▪ Priest took charge of the proceedings

Catholic Church: 5th century

▪ Marriage is no longer a civil contract

▪ But a sacred union

1215 marriage = sacrament

▪ Rules of the church were fuzzy

▪ “Private consent“ - still used

Were the first to think of love in the same way we do now

XII-XIV century Europe: Troubadours

Middle Ages (476 CE- 1450 CE)

children = miniature adults

Middle Ages (476 C.E.- 1450 C.E.)

▪ high mortality rate

▪ 1/2 to 2/3 of all children died

during infancy

▪ lack of parental affection

Middle Ages

(476 C.E.- 1450 C.E.)

Child’s labor

16th century: Protestant Reformation

▪ Marriage is "a worldly thing”

▪ Belongs to the realm of government

1563 Catholic church

▪ For marriage to be valid it should take

place before a priest & 2 witnesses

Marriage Institution:

History

Pope Alexander VI (1431-1503)

▪ Many mistresses

▪ Had 4 children with Vannozza dei

Cattanei

▪ Openly acknowledged them as his own

and legitimize them after becoming

Pope

▪ A later mistress, Giulia Farnese gave

birth to a daughter (pope was in his 60s)

▪ Fathered at least 7 (possibly 10)

illegitimate children

Ancient Rome

▪ Henry VIII

▪ English Reformation16th century

▪ The Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope & the Catholic Church

▪ Anne Boleyn: Crowned queen in 1533

▪ On the 10th day after Anne's execution (1536) Henry was married again

▪ Had 6 official wives

▪ Elizabeth The Virgin Queen: her 44 years on the throne provided stability for the kingdom

Catherine of Aragon

Henry's first wife Anne Boleyn Henry VIII The Virgin Queen

“I am married to England”

Sultan Suleiman Magnificent & Hurrem

Watch the Clip:

Marriage Institution in Ottoman Empire

(only this time 59:00-1:06:46)

Ottoman Empire (1299-1923)

Marriage

in the United States

▪ Common law marriage was the

norm in most of the U.S in its

early history

▪ 1870's: marriage reform

movement began (formal

ceremonies, licensing, and

registration)

▪ Beginning of 20th century:

marriage was regulated by the

states

▪ History of marriage: What influences and patterns

do you see?

▪ What is your opinion on the restriction to

monogamy as the only legal type of marriage in the

US?

▪ Should the government determine what type of

marriage is legal and forbid other types on unions

that people may want to form with one another?

▪ Is this "forced monogamy" an indication of social

progress or lack of democracy?

▪ What is your general opinion about the institution of

marriage in the US?

▪ How economy can be linked to the

quality of relationships that people

formed throughout the history?

▪ Do you think we "progressed" today

or "regressed" in compare to how

people build relationships in the

past?

▪ What is your definition of progress?

▪ History of marriage: What influences

and patterns do you see?

▪ What is your opinion on the

restriction to monogamy as the only

legal type of marriage in the US?

Courtship in Early America

▪ 1700-1800 casual unsupervised meetings were condemned

▪ After a couple formally introduced they were chaperoned

▪ Little emphasis on romantic attraction

At the Turn of the 20th Century Married Women

Could Not:

▪ Sue or be sued

▪ Seek employment without husband’s permission

▪ Husbands had undisputed control & custody over their children

▪ Women had no direct legal control over her children

Marriage and Law in the US

1830 – Right of married woman to own property in her own name in Mississippi

(instead of all property being owned exclusively by the husband)

1882 – Congress passed the Edmunds Act, which prohibited not just bigamy,

which remained a felony, but also bigamous cohabitation, which was

prosecuted as a misdemeanor. The law also allowed polygamists to be

held indefinitely without a trial

1890 – Mormons in Utah officially renounce polygamy

1900 – All states now grant married women the right to own property in their own

name

Marriage and Law in US

1907 – All women acquired their husband's nationality upon any marriage

occurring after that date

1933 – Married women granted right to citizenship independent of

their husbands

1965 – Supreme Court overturns laws prohibiting married couples

from using contraception

1967 – Supreme Court overturns laws prohibiting interracial couples

from marrying (Loving v. Virginia)

Virginians Mildred Jeter, an African

American, married Richard Loving, a

white man. After returning to Virginia the

Lovings were arrested for breaking the

state’s anti-miscegenation laws but told

the one-year prison sentence given to

them would be dropped if they left

Virginia and did not return as a couple

for 25 years. Lovings violated this

condition, returning to Virginia to visit

family. They were again arrested. Their

case made it to the Supreme Court

Cultural Redefinition of Marriage

Black & White

1967 U.S. Supreme Court case

Loving v. Virginia

▪ Laws against interracial

marriage were declared

unconstitutional

▪ Old Attitudes die hard

▪ 1973 Richard Nixon (on

hidden microphone)

▪ “there are times when an

abortion is necessary. I

know that. When you

have a Black and White

or a rape”

Marriage and Law in US

1969 – The first no fault divorce law is adopted in California

• 1996 Ireland removed its constitutional ban on divorce and

remarriage (vote: 50.3% to 49.7%)

1972 – Supreme Court overturns laws prohibiting unmarried couples

from purchasing contraception

1975 – Married women allowed to have credit in their own name

1976 – Supreme Court overturns laws prohibiting abortions for

married women without the consent of the husband

1993 – All fifty states have revised laws to include marital rape

Marriage & Law in the US

2000 – Nebraska amends its state constitution to outlaw same-sex

marriage and polygamy, while Alabama became the last state

in the US to remove the ban on interracial marriage in its

state Constitution

2006 – 26 states outlaw same-sex marriage and polygamy through

their state Constitutions.

2009 – Iowa and Vermont grant and recognize same-sex marriages

2012 – North Carolina: vote to outlaw both same-sex marriage and polygamy,

bringing the total to 30 states that have outlawed both same-sex marriage

and polygamy through their state constitutions

2012 – Both Washington and Maine begins granting and recognizing same-sex

marriages. While Minnesota rejects a constitutional amendment banning both same-

sex marriage

2016 Oregon: Same-sex marriage law is effective on January 1

Russia Bans Drivers With Sexual Or Gender

'Disorders'

Marriage & Law: Canada

1. Polygyny in the USA

Do we still have a stereotype of a family: husband, wife, and children?

BUT only a small number of families fit this mold!

Single-parent families, same-sex parents, blended families, and childless

couples are far more common than most people think.

Polygyny

is a form of polygamy

in which one man has 2

or more wives

Polyandry

is a form

of polygamy in which

one woman is married

to 2 or more husbands

simultaneously.

Polygyny

is a form of polygamy

in which one man has 2

or more wives

Polyandry

is a form

of polygamy in which

one woman is married

to 2 or more husbands

simultaneously.

Polygyny

▪ Accepted/preferred in 3/4 of preindustrial traditional societies

▪ Seldom practiced by lower classes

▪ To ensure plenty of heirs

▪ Where women do most farm/household work

▪ To shared child-rearing - more freedom

▪. Polygyny is not about sex, but productive/reproductive labor of women

▪ The main tensions among wives: usually is not about sex, but the

distribution of resources among the wives and their children

▪ Polygamous societies: both men and women are more emotionally

invested in their relations with siblings and parents than in their marriage

relations

2. Polyandry

Polyandry: one wife and several husbands

Fraternal polyandry: is a variant in which the husbands are brothers

Polyandry

Fraternal Polyandry: all husbands are brothers

Dowry

Ancient Greece, Rome, South Asia, North Africa, Balkans

▪ Money, goods, property offered by the parents of a bride to her husband to

finalize the marriage

▪ To ensure their daughter's economic security & "buy" the best possible

husband

▪ Daughters did not normally inherit anything from their father’s estate

▪ Do we see have a trace of this practice today in the US?

India

Islamic Marriage: Mahr payment (money/possessions) made by the groom to the bride

Differs from dowry

▪ Legally required (mandatory) for all

Islamic marriages

▪ Required to be specified at the time

of marriage

▪ Paid directly to the bride and not her

parents

▪ Husband has no legal claims to his

wife's mahr

▪ Gives the bride's financial

independence

Ancient Greece & Rome:

Proxy Marriage ▪ Bride or groom is not physically present for

the wedding

1810: Napoleon married Archduchess Marie

Louise by proxy

Today in the US?

California, Colorado, Montana, Texas, Kansas

Montana: permits double proxy

Proxy marriage

▪ Absent person usually being represented by other person

▪ Military service, imprisonment, travel restrictions

California, Colorado,

Montana, Texas, Kansas

Montana: permits double

proxy

Types of Marriages Around the World

US age 12 (f) 14(m)

Child Marriage

Forced Marriage

A marriage in which one or more of the parties is married without his/her

consent or against his/her will

UK 2010: 1735 cases

70.9%: Pakistani, Indian and Bengali

86% : female and 35% were under 18

5. Bride Kidnapping: Kyrgyzstan

Ghost Marriage

Posthumous marriage One of the participants deceased

Legal in France after WWI

Hundreds requests every year

Similar marriages are practiced in Sudan and China

Policeman who was killed

by a jihadist has been

married in a posthumous

ceremony with his gay

partner.

The wedding was

conducted in the presence

of former President

Francois Hollande and

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.

May 30 2017

Ethnographic Research by a Cultural Anthropologist Dr. Kimber McKay

▪ One of Israel's most prominent journalists; TV anchor and producer, radio broadcaster

▪ September 2012 TED talks

▪ "paradigm shift“

Merav Michaeli: Cancel Marriage

▪ In 3/4 of both developed & developing countries, the rate of divorce is

increased

▪ Divorce contributes to singlehood & blended families

▪ Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Hungary: more than 60%

▪ Belgium: 70%

▪ Chile with the lowest rate 3%

Please name types of relationships

• Intimacy = Quality of a relationship

• What is Intimacy for you?

• Does it implies physical /sexual closeness?

• What sets an intimate relationship apart from any other relationship

Three dimensions of intimacy emotional, physical, & intellectual domains

1. Breadth: range of activities shared by two people

2. Openness: share of meaningful self-disclosures

3. Depth: share really true, central, and meaningful aspects of themselves

Analysis of an Intimate Relationship: Breadth

Analysis of an Intimate Relationship: Openness

Analysis of an Intimate Relationship: Depth