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The origin of kinship in Oceania : Lewis Henry Morgan and Lorimer Fison

journal contribution
posted on 2008-07-01, 00:00 authored by Helen GardnerHelen Gardner
This article investigates the importance of Oceania in the early study of kinship. It examines the tensions between evidence and analysis from the Pacific Islands in the development of Lewis Henry Morgan's theory of evolving kinship forms. While other sources from the Pacific islands are investigated it is focused particularly on the correspondence between Morgan and Lorimer Fison, Methodist missionary and key figure in the spread of kinship schedules and anthropological theories throughout Oceania in the I 870s. The empirical data gathered by Fison, challenged Morgan's schema and questioned the orthodox evolutionist hierarchy in Asia and the Pacific. Also investigated is the British response to this unruly
evidence.

History

Journal

Oceania

Volume

78

Issue

2

Pagination

137 - 150

Publisher

Oceania Publications

Location

Australia

ISSN

0029-8077

eISSN

1834-4461

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2008, Oceania Publications

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