'Sister or Wife, You've Got to Choose': A solution to the Puzzle of Village Exogamy in Samoa

Abstract

In Samoa, the principle of village exogamy goes back as far as family accounts stretch, to the late nineteenth century. This poses a puzzle, because the families (aiga) that make up a village (nuu) are generally far from related (aiga), and even so Samoans are unanimous in condemning marriage within a village. Why should this be so? Village organization could provide an answer: at a certain encompassing level of representations, all villagers are brother or sister to each other. This village organization is perhaps the most striking example of the high salience of the brother-sister relationship (feagaiga) in Samoa. Show more