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Black Carib Domestic Organization in Historical Perspective: Traditional Origins of Contemporary Patterns

1981; University of Pittsburgh; Volume: 20; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/3773363

2160-3510

Mary W. Helms,

Caribbean history, culture, and politics

In a highly influential study of the domestic organization of the Black Carib of Livingston, Guatemala, Nancie Gonzalez (1969) identified two basic household types characteristic of that population: one form, comprising 54.7 per cent of her sample, centered upon a married couple, with or without children; the other, comprising 45.3 per cent of her sample, focused upon consanguineal rather than affinal kinship ties (Gonzalez 1969:68). Gonzalez then related the high level of adaptability of these forms of domestic organization to contemporary economic conditions. In particular, she associated the high incidence of consanguineal households with conditions demanded by the migratory wage labor characteristic of this economic hinterland of eastern Central America.