Exchange Marriage

Sister exchange is a type of marriage agreement where two sets of siblings marry each other. In order to get married, a man needs to persuade his sister to marry the bride's brother. It is practised as a primary method of organising marriages in 3% of the world's societies: in some tribes from Australia, Melanesia, Amazonia and Sub-Saharan Africa; and can replace other methods in 1.4% of the societies.

Researchers disagree about the reasoning behind sister exchange but most believe that it is some type of reciprocity. Several anthropologists and sociologists expressed objections to the term "sister exchange" believing that it is not accurately describing the actual arrangement.

Despite earlier claims of its simplicity, sister exchange is a complex arrangement that involves many family members and not simply the four people who are getting married.

Social functions

Sociologists and anthropologists who are interested in reciprocity study sister exchange. It establishes a symmetrical link between men and binds them together—which can be used to settle pre-existing conflicts. Marcel Mauss stressed that, since women are not alienable possessions, the exchange was not the end of the transaction but merely the beginning.

Many anthropologists pondered the social benefits of sister exchange and reasons why this exchange takes place without any evident "scarcity" of women—contrary to the theory of exchange laid out by Adam Smith. Claude Lévi-Strauss wrote in ''The Elementary Structures of Kinship'' that exchanged women are "the supreme gift"; he also asserted that sister exchange embodies the principle of reciprocity present in all marriage and kinship systems. At the same time, the research available to him did not firmly establish the existence of sister exchange without cross-cousin marriage and Lévi-Strauss expressed doubts in whether it is real. However, local census data in Nigeria and other West African countries from 1920s already included information about people who primarily practised sister exchange without cross-cousin marriage. Similarly to Lévi-Strauss, Charles Kingsley Meek wrote that sister exchange is similar to bride price and the former can also be considered a type of exchange marriage with the woman substituted by material possessions.

did not agree with Lévi-Strauss' position that women are merely objects in this exchange; he argued that women comply with their brothers' wishes because it gives them power and protection. Marilyn Strathern supported this view too, adding that this exchange does not involve disposal of values but lies in the domain of interpersonal relations where kin get indebted to one another. She wrote: "′a model of active subjects exchanging passive objects′ is clearly inadequate for the analysis of sister exchange."

Writing about the origins of this type of marriage, sociologist Peter Bearman came to the conclusion that sister exchange arises from the incest taboo when two men exchange women who they cannot marry. James Weiner draws a parallel between the spread of sister exchange in New Guinea and the prevalence of a certain attitude towards food and vital substances: this marriage is practised by peoples who do not see food as a source of life for men, using direct semen transmission instead.

Several sociologists including Lévi-Strauss claimed that sister exchange is a "primitive" and "simple" system, however, this arrangement involves reaching consensus with not only the siblings themselves but also their parents and other kin because of other factors at play: how old are the siblings, how are the couples related to each other etc. Another difficulty arises if a man does not have an unmarried sister. He might remain unmarried, the marriage might occur without sister exchange, or some criteria for choosing appropriate marriage partners might become more flexible.

Terminology

Alfred Gell who studied Umeda believed that "sister exchange" is not an appropriate term for this type of marriage referring to the fact that the "exchanged" women do not cease being sisters to their brothers; he also argued that sister exchange is not a proper exchange either.

Another objection to this term comes from Robin Fox and Donald Tuzin who pointed out that the exchange is usually organised by senior men (fathers, uncles) and not by the grooms themselves.

Africa

This type of marriage system was described in the "middle belt" of the West Africa ravaged by the slave traders, on the plateau region of Benin ( Mbelime), Nigeria and Cameroon ( Tiv, Mambila); it is also used in DRC and Uganda (Amba, Mbuti); and on the border between Ethiopia and Sudan (Koman peoples).

Mbuti consider exchange marriages the only permanent type.

Koman

Koman-speaking peoples from the savannas on the Ethiopia–Sudan border historically exchanged sisters but by 1970s Uduk people abandoned this method completely, Kwama people partially substituted it with bridewealth payments while Gumuz people still practised it.

The Gumuz marriage is arranged by the elders who hold all the power over their children; the exchange must occur between members of different patrilineal clans. This is the only socially acceptable way of marriage; marrying a woman without providing a sister or daughter in exchange often results in violence and must be "settled" by giving a daughter to the wife's clan later. Elders have considerable authority and often marry their children when the sister is very young—in this case, she moves to her future husband's place and is raised there.

The elders hold less power in Kwama society, women are seen as honourable and important members of the society. They can refuse the arrangement and their family complies with their wishes, but usually the sister agrees in order to not upset her brother. Men see the exchange as an act of losing a sister who is missed. If money is used instead of providing a sister, the brother can ask for a big sum justifying it by the strength of love between his sister and her husband.

Uduk, unlike Gumuz and Kwama, are matrilineal; they abandoned sister exchange but do not use bridewealth because they see it akin to slavery.

Mambila

Exchange marriage was the standard way of acquiring a marriage partner for Mambila, although other options existed too. If a Mambila man who had married without the exchange found someone who could exchange sisters, he returned his wife to her brother and married with exchange instead. Children from the exchanged woman belonged to their father, but if bride price was paid instead, the children born in this union were returned to the mother's brother.

Tiv

The most detailed accounts about sister exchange in Africa came from descriptions of Tiv people. British colonial officials made reports about the Tiv system before abolishing it in 1927; however, that did not solve the problems that the British attributed to this type of marriage. Unlike many other peoples, marrying cross-cousins was forbidden for Tiv. After the marriage if one of the exchanged women had more children than the other, she gave them away to her to make the numbers equal.

Amazonia

Macuna people from the eastern part of the Amazon basin exchange sisters between patrilineal descent groups. Sister exchange is considered the most appropriate type of marriage, emphasising the ideal symmetric relationship between descent groups unlike bride kidnapping and gift marriage that imply debt relation.

Asia

Mongolia

High-ranking Mongol Borjigin clan members exchanged sisters and daughters with Khongirad and Oirat clans which is mentioned in History of Yuan and Jami' al-tawarikh. This marriage exchange was used to strengthen political unions.

Pakistan

In Pakistan, sister exchange marriage is called ''watta satta

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