Comparative projects - Assignment Example

Thus, societies that fundamentally observe matrilocality and matrilineal descent will regard women with higher social functions than in one where their custom provides for patrilocality and patrilineal descent. The living arrangements upon marriage and the order of inheritance have a direct correlation to the status of women in the group. The practices of the Minangkabau of Indonesia and the Yanomamo of Venezuela illuminates on these differences as postulated by Scupin. Matrilineal societies do not necessarily imply that women are the center of power in this setting.

This suggests that contrary to the belief of male dominance, women have a more active role and participation in society. Lewis Henry Morgan in his work Ancient Society which inspired no less than Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels theorizes that matriarchy had always been the standard during earlier times. But there was a movement toward patriarchy as adopted by men in order to secure that their property passes on to their male lineage in contrast to the matriarchal system where property is communal (as cited in Scupin, 2012, p. 228). Peggy Reeves Sanday in her study of the Minangkabau confronts the Western ideas of patriarchy.

She writes that the women in this culture are viewed in an egalitarian manner rather than being subdued members of the tribe (as cited in Scupin, 2012, p. 230). On the other hand, Yanomamö are patrilineal and the men hold the most power. The common system in their survival follow the common conception of a patriarchal system where the men prepare the forest for agriculture while concurrently protecting everyone from intruders and the women tend to the vegetation and harvesting of crops as they simultaneously rear the children (Scupin, 2012, p. 175). The Minangkabau is recognized as the largest matrilineal society in the world and studied