Endogamy

Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific social group, caste or ethnic group, rejecting those from others as unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships.

Endogamy is common in many cultures and ethnic groups. Several religious and ethnic religious groups are traditionally more endogamous, although sometimes with the added dimension of requiring marital religious conversion. This permits an exogamous marriage, as the convert, by accepting the partner's religion, becomes accepted within the endogamous rules.

Adherence

Endogamy can serve as a form of self-segregation; a community can use it to resist integrating and completely merging with surrounding populations. Minorities can use it to stay ethnically homogeneous over a long time as distinct communities within societies with other practices and beliefs.

The isolationist practices of endogamy may lead to a group's extinction, as genetic diseases may develop that can affect a larger percentage of the population. However, this disease effect would tend to be small unless there is a high degree of close inbreeding, or if the endogamous population becomes very small in size.

Social dynamics

The Urapmin, a small tribe in Papua New Guinea, practice strict endogamy. The Urapmin also have a system of kinship classes known as tanum miit. Since the classes are inherited cognatically, most Urapmin belong to all of the major classes, creating great fluidity and doing little to differentiate individuals.[1]

The small community on the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha are, because of their geographical isolation, an almost endogamic society. There are instances of health problems attributed to endogamy on the island, including glaucoma and asthma as research by the University of Toronto has demonstrated.[2]

Examples

Other examples of ethnic and religious groups that practice endogamy include:

  • Assyrians, indigenous Christian people of northern Mesopotamia[3]
  • Dailamites, an ethnic group living in south of Caspian Sea in ancient and medieval Persia
  • Druze of the Levant.
  • Iranian Turkmens[4]
  • Jews of Mashhad, Iran
  • Judaism traditionally mandates religious endogamy, requiring that both marriage partners be Jewish, while allowing for marriage to converts. Orthodox Judaism maintains the traditional requirement for endogamy in Judaism as a binding, inherent part of Judaism's religious beliefs and traditions, while the more liberal Jewish religious movements are far more permissive with regard to interfaith marriage and conversion requirements.
  • Yazidis, an ethnically Kurdish religious community or an ethno-religious group indigenous to northern Mesopotamia

See also

Cousin marriage:

Marriage systems:

References

  1. ↑ Robbins, Joel (2004). Becoming Sinners: Christianity and Moral Torment in a Papua New Guinea Society. University of California Press. pp. 191–192. ISBN 0-520-23800-1.
  2. ↑ "Worldwide search for asthma clue". BBC News. 9 December 2008. Archived from the original on 23 November 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  3. ↑ Dr. Joseph Adebayo Awoyemi (14 September 2014). Pre-marital Counselling In a Multicultural Society. pp. 75–. ISBN 978-1-291-83577-9.
  4. ↑ Manijeh, Maghsudi (1 January 2011). "THE FUNCTION OF MARRIAGE CUSTOMARY LAW AMONG TURKMEN OF IRAN". 2 (4): 25–39. Archived from the original on 9 May 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2018 – via en.journals.sid.ir.
  • Wikisource "Endogamy". Encyclopædia Britannica. 9 (11th ed.). 1911.
  • Commentary: The background and outcomes of the first-cousin marriage controversy in Great Britain
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