Cooperation beyond consanguinity: post-marital residence, delineations of kin and social support among South Indian Tamils.

ABSTRACT: Evolutionary ecologists have shown that relatives are important providers of support across many species. Among humans, cultural reckonings of kinship are more than just relatedness, as they interact with systems of descent, inheritance, marriage and residence. These cultural aspects of kinship may be particularly important when a person is determining which kin, if any, to call upon for help. Here, we explore the relationship between kinship and cooperation by drawing upon social support network data from two villages in South India. While these Tamil villages have a nominally male-biased kinship system (being patrilocal and patrilineal), matrilateral kin play essential social roles and many women reside in their natal villages, letting us tease apart the relative importance of genetic re

SUBMITTER: Power EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6664129 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature