Re: Social evolution of hominids debra mckay (email@example.com)
Tue, 21 Jan 1997 21:48:25 GMT firstname.lastname@example.org
(Jim Foley) wrote: >In article <32E036A9.5A7D@scn.org>, Phillip
Bigelow <email@example.com> wrote: >>Actually, history shows
that in certain cultures, when men possess >>most of the
influence in a society, polygamy can also be socially- >>And
when polygamy is practiced in human society, it is ?always one
>>man with multiple wives. I am not aware of any historical
accounts >>of the reverse being the case. Anyone? >Check out
"Man on Earth", by John Reader. He describes a polyandrous
>society in India. Polyandry is known in Nepal, where one woman
marries a group of brothers (even the ones not born yet); this
is known as "fraternal polyandry". The economic aim seems to be
to prevent the fragmentation of land among many households where
land is scarce. Some Sinhalese (Sri Lanka) practice "associated
polyandry" where one woman has two (rarely more) husbands who
are not related; it usually st