India and the Muslim Punjab: a unified approach to South Asian kinship

The comparison of kinship of different South Asian regions with the Muslim Punjab reveals basic invariants, thus denying a fundamental division between the Dravidian South and the Indo-Aryan North, though concepts of kinship reveal themselves in different media: Muslim Punjabi kinship is expressed p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 2007-09, Vol.13 (3), p.657-678
Main Author: Alvi, Anjum
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anthropology
Brothers
Comment
Comparative analysis
Consanguinity
Cousins
Cultural anthropology
Cultural differences
Culture
Daughters
Desire
Dowry
Exchange
Identity
Incest taboo
India
Kinship
Minority & ethnic groups
Muslims
Ontology
Otherness
Punjab
Punjab, India
Regional studies
Ritual exchange
Self
Social history
Social organization
South Asia
Terminology
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Summary:The comparison of kinship of different South Asian regions with the Muslim Punjab reveals basic invariants, thus denying a fundamental division between the Dravidian South and the Indo-Aryan North, though concepts of kinship reveal themselves in different media: Muslim Punjabi kinship is expressed primarily in gift exchange, but exhibits characteristics commonly associated with the South Indian terminology. The present article argues for an approach which takes meaning embedded in the 'act' or 'person' as non-separable from 'culture', and grasps kinship as structuring the dynamic relation between self and other, regarded as ontological categories. / La comparaison de la parenté entre les différentes régions du sud de l'Asie et le Pendjab musulman révèle des constantes fondamentales et remet ainsi en question la division de principe entre le Sud dravidien et le Nord indo-aryen, bien que les concepts de parenté trouvent des expressions différentes: dans le Pendjab musulman, la parenté s'exprime principalement à travers l'échange de dons mais présente des caractéristiques habituellement associées à la terminologie du sud de l'Inde. Le présent article plaide en faveur d'une approche considérant la signification de « l'acte » ou de la « personne » en tant qu'entité indissociable de la « culture », et aborde la parenté comme un moyen de structurer la relation dynamique entre soi-même et l'autre, considérés comme des catégories ontologiques.
ISSN:1359-0987
1467-9655
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9655.2007.00449.x