The Nayars Today

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title The Nayars Today
Authors and Contributors      By (author) C. J. Fuller
SeriesChanging Culture Series
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:186
Dimensions(mm): Height 216,Width 140
ISBN/Barcode 9780521290913
ClassificationsDewey:301.45/19/48/05483 301.45194805483
Audience
Tertiary Education (US: College)
Illustrations Worked examples or Exercises

Publishing Details

Publisher Cambridge University Press
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publication Date 30 December 1976
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

The Nayars of Kerala, south-west India, unusually trace descent through the female line and, in the past, had a marriage system in which women were allowed several husbands simultaneously. This system has brought the Nayars continuing fame in anthropological circles. In this 1976 study, Dr Fuller analyses fieldwork data collected among Nayars in a village in southern Kerala, a region on which there is practically no modern anthropological information. In the final section of the book, Dr Fuller looks at the 'traditional' marriage system of the Nayars and offers some suggestions about its operation. He also discusses the collapse of the old joint-family system and, with the aid of his data from southern Kerala, proposes some arguments about the process of its disintegration. More fully than previous authors, he situates his analysis in its historical context throughout, as befits an account of a rapidly changing society.