Kinship

PNG societies are held to both patrlinial and matalinial lineages. All the members of a kin group must participate in clan affairs, contributing to bride-prices and other exchanges and helping with initiation and mortuary ceremonies. Persons join other clans, allying themselves with their wives' clans or being adopted as children.
An important asset is the land a clan's members hold in common. Land is valuable and a way of life for 85 percent of the population. Inheritance of land is most commonly passed down from parents to children, or even from Uncles to neices and nephews.
For all intensive purposes, given the overwhelming hierarchy of gender in PNG, I was not expecting to see the inheritance of land handled in this way. Since most of the population lives under a sustenance system, and there is so much importance riding on the land for agriculture, it is suprising to learn that there is no clear distinction of whom is to have the rights to family land. This does, however, show the importance of kin and the family system.
Kinship in PNG also entails great importance due of the diversity of language, as seen earlier in the blog. If a member of a tribe of 200, who had their own distinct language and specific societal structure, decided to wander away from his tribal land, he would soon be confronted by a world of which he is unfamiliar, not only in scenery but in language and culture as well (talk about Culture Shock). It is not suprising see how tightly knit family systems become. Furthermore, this also shows the importance of the tribe as a whole. Nonkin may become "sons" and "daughters" of a family if they contribute generously to group affairs, such as bride prices. A similar idea is held in the United States, given the idea of God parents and such; however, it seems as though ones acceptance is dependent more on gifts than on personal relations.