Evolutionary Contributions to Solving the “Matrilineal Puzzle”

Abstract

Matriliny has long been debated by anthropologists positing either its primitive or its puzzling nature. More recently, evolutionary anthropologists have attempted to recast matriliny as an adaptive solution to modern social and ecological environments, tying together much of what was known to be associated with matriliny. This paper briefly reviews the major anthropological currents in studies of matriliny and discusses the contribution of evolutionary anthropology to this body of literature. It discusses the utility of an evolutionary framework in the context of the first independent test of Holden et al.'s 2003 model of matriliny as daughter-biased investment. It finds that historical daughter-biased transmission of land among the Mosuo is consistent with the model, whereas current income transmission is not. In both cases, resources had equivalent impacts on male and female reproduction, a result which predicts daughter-biased resource transmission given any nonzero level of paternity uncertainty. However, whereas land was transmitted traditionally to daughters, income today is invested in both sexes. Possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed.

The Rebirth of Kinship

“…In outlining this history, we hope to provide the reader with a sense of how modern evolutionary anthropology differs from unilineal evolutionism (see also Mattison 2011), with which it is sometimes conflated, and a sense of the unique contributions evolutionary and quantitative perspectives make to a relatively mature area of study.…”

“…Several recent papers (e.g., Kramer and Greaves 2011;Marlowe 2004;Wood and Marlowe 2011) have questioned the association between foraging subsistence and unilocal postmarital residence, positing instead flexibility in residence in order to capitalize on help from kin. Similarly, evolutionary anthropologists (e.g., Leonetti et al 2004Leonetti et al , 2007Mattison 2011) have explored the causes and consequences of lineality in inheritance or descent in terms of investment in children and other social outcomes, linking inheritance patterns to gender differences in fitness optimization. Marriage has received recent attention by evolutionary anthropologists considering the fitness consequences of polygyny (e.g., Borgerhoff Mulder 1990), polyandry (e.g., Smith 1998), and women's status within the household (e.g., Leonetti et al 2004Leonetti et al , 2007.…”

“…They can also discriminate between alternative causal hypotheses via incorporation of confounding variables. Thus, Mattison (2011) explores the explanatory value of a simple quantitative model of matriliny , emphasizing that the forms of wealth affecting reproduction may be more important in determining whether inheritance or wealth transmission will be daughter-biased than paternity certainty is on its own. Scelza (2011) shows that geographic proximity may not always be a good indicator of maternal support in studies of collaborative child-rearing, highlighting the dynamics between proximity and reported direct support in determining outcomes of child well-being.…”

The Matrilocal Tribe

“…The brief review in this section of economic and sociobiological factors in matricentricity is a prelude to the political-historical hypothesis set forth in the remainder of this paper. (For a more thorough treatment, see Mattison 2011;Shenk and Mattison 2011. ) Economy and Matricentricity Some modes of subsistence virtually preclude matricentric social organization.…”

“…Kin selection and Matricentricity Another theory relates matrilineality-especially matrilineal inheritance of property-to paternity uncertainty (reviewed in Mattison 2011). In its simplest version, the theory is quantitatively implausible.…”