| Abstract: | Among the patrilineal, virilocal Beti, a people of the Southern Cameroon, the 3 stones of the cooking hearth symbolize the 3 kinship identities which define a woman's place in Beti society: her mother-in-law ("senior co-wife"), her daughter-in-law ("junior co-wife"), and her son-in-law ("daughter's husband"). Among her own descent group she is always a daughter; among her marital relations she is an adult, but a foreigner; but her real place in society is defined in terms of her position among her "co-affines," i.e., those with whom she is linked by common marital ties. A Beti village is the material manifestation of the "house of people," which is composed of a headman, his same-womb brothers, his mother's house's junior co-wives' sons, and his unmarried same-womb sisters and daughters. The house of people's women's children are classified as "of same father." Within the "same father house of people" are a series of matrifocal houses, which form the basis of new domestic units when the headman dies and the mens' house is dismantled. A new house of people is formed with son as headman and mother as "hindwoman." Thus, although the Beti are patrilineal, a man's house of people proceeds from his mother's house, but whether or not a woman becomes a "hindwoman" depends on her sons-in-law's bridewealth payments, which enable her to have daughters-in-law. A woman's becoming a "hindwoman" and originator of a new domestic unit depends on both her mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relation and her mother-in-law/son-in-law relation. Thus in the domestic organization of the village, the making of a woman's place determines the making of a man's. On the level of the lineage system, an analogous process takes place. The Beti are divided into about 100 exogamous, patrilineal, patrilocal clans, each consisting of up to 4 levels of patrilineages, designated by the names of their eponymous female ancestors. Descent is determined by recruitment and alignment. Recruitment proceeds from the matrimonial ties to the mother's husband's group or (in the absence of bridewealth) to her father's group. Alignment is founded on ritual food distribution and operates through co-affinal links between women. On the level of lineage organization a woman's place is determined by a succession of mother-in-law/daughter-in-law ties. The woman's place in Beti society is thus defined by both the static domestic structure and by the dynamic supra-domestic lineage syste. |
