The Encompassing Kinship System of the Austronesian-Speaking Amis of Taiwan
Shu-Ling Yeh , Australian National University
Traditional Amis society has been described by previous scholars as a matrilineal clan-based society (involving a kinship principle) with a male age-set system (invoking an age-locality principle). However, ethnographical evidence suggests the need to rethink application of a locality versus kinship distinction to Amis male age-set organization and matrifocal family structure. I argue here for a broader analytical perspective that encompasses the kinship system of the female-focused domestic mother-daughter-sister houses and the male-focused communal age-set organization, the latter redefined in terms of father-son-brother (i.e. kinship) relations. By viewing both the maternal-focused kinship system and the paternal age-set system in indigenous kinship terms and concepts, the two systems may be seen as a single, encompassing system. From this perspective, numerous exchanges between the maternal-focused and paternal age-set houses – for example, house building, childbirth, initiation, inauguration, headhunting, harvest ceremony, and marriage – can be analyzed in different terms from previous studies. In addition, a revised view of traditional Amis sociality can provide a baseline to deal with change and continuity in the Amis socio-cultural system as it has been transformed by processes of colonization, commoditization and Christianization over the past century.
