Men's House Associates among the Eastern Bororo

Abstract

Among the Eastern Bororo, until quite recently, young unmarried girls served as sexual partners for the group of bachelors associated with the men's house. Such relationships were considered quite legitimate and followed the rule of moiety exogamy. Many of the normative requirements binding the bachelors and their consorts were precisely the same as those for marriage "proper." The problem is whether this custom can be considered an instance of true group marriage. The negative answer derives from a consideration of the native view of marriage as establishing paternity and an asymmetric relationship between affines. The men's house associates could not have children and, consequently, expressed a symmetric relation between the sister-exchanging moieties. Thus, it is argued, the 2 institutions of marriage and men's house associates can be regarded as examples, respectively, of descent and alliance.