Endogamy

Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific social group, caste, or ethnic group, rejecting those from others as unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships.

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Endogamy is common in many cultures and ethnic groups. Several religious and ethnic religious groups are traditionally more endogamous, although sometimes with the added dimension of requiring marital religious conversion. This permits an exogamous marriage, as the convert, by accepting the partner's religion, becomes accepted within the endogamous rules. Endogamy, as distinct from consanguinity, may result in transmission of genetic disorders, the so-called founder effect, within the relatively closed community.

Adherence
Further information: Population genetics and inbreeding

Endogamy can serve as a form of self-segregation; a community can use it to resist integrating and completely merging with surrounding populations. Minorities can use it to stay ethnically homogeneous over a long time as distinct communities within societies that have other practices and beliefs.

The isolationist practices of endogamy may lead to a group's extinction, as genetic diseases may develop that can affect an increasing percentage of the population. However, this disease effect would tend to be small unless there is a high degree of close inbreeding, or if the endogamous population becomes very small in size.

Social dynamics

The Urapmin, a small tribe in Papua New Guinea, practice strict endogamy. The Urapmin also have a system of kinship classes known as tanum miit. Since the classes are inherited cognatically, most Urapmin belong to all of the major classes, creating great fluidity and doing little to differentiate individuals.[1]

The small community on the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha are, because of their geographical isolation, an almost endogamic society. There are instances of health problems attributed to endogamy on the island, including glaucoma and asthma as research by the University of Toronto has demonstrated.[2]

Examples

Other examples of ethnic and religious groups that practice endogamy include:

  • Amish.[3]
  • Assyrians, indigenous Christian people of upper Mesopotamia.[4]
  • Armenians have a history of endogamy due to being almost entirely surrounded by Islamic neighbours while being a strongly Christian nation.[5]
  • Daylamites, an ethnic group living south of the Caspian Sea in ancient and medieval Persia.
  • Druze of the Levant.[6]
  • Gitanos typically practice endogamy within their raza, or patrigroup.[7]
  • Iranian Turkmens[8]
  • Judaism traditionally mandates religious endogamy, requiring that both marriage partners be Jewish, while allowing for marriage to converts. Orthodox Judaism maintains the traditional requirement for endogamy in Judaism as a binding,[9] inherent part of Judaism's religious beliefs and traditions, while the more liberal Jewish religious movements are far more permissive with regard to interfaith marriage and conversion requirements.
  • Knanaya, an endogamous group within the St. Thomas Christian Community of India. The community claims to have arrived to India in the fourth century and have been noted for their historical practice of endogamy.[10]
  • Jews of Mashhad, Iran
  • Mormons
  • Parsis.[11]
  • Rajputs
  • Yazidis, an group with a syncretic religion indigenous to upper Mesopotamia.[12][13]
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See also

Cousin marriage:

Marriage systems:

References
  1. Robbins, Joel (2004). Becoming Sinners: Christianity and Moral Torment in a Papua New Guinea Society. University of California Press. pp. 191–192. ISBN 0-520-23800-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. "Worldwide search for asthma clue". BBC News. 9 December 2008. Archived from the original on 23 November 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  3. Ruder, Katherine 'Kate' (July 23, 2004). "Genomics in Amish Country". Genome News Network.
  4. Dr. Joseph Adebayo Awoyemi (14 September 2014). Pre-marital Counselling In a Multicultural Society. pp. 75–. ISBN 978-1-291-83577-9.
  5. Waters, Bella (2009). Armenia in Pictures. Minneapolis, MN: Learner Publishing Group. p. 25. ISBN 9780822585763.
  6. Chatty, Dawn (2010-03-15). Displacement and Dispossession in the Modern Middle East. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81792-9.
  7. Gay y Blasco, Paloma. "Gitano Evangelism: the Emergence of a Politico-Religious Diaspora" (PDF). Index of working papers. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  8. Manijeh, Maghsudi (1 January 2011). "THE FUNCTION OF MARRIAGE CUSTOMARY LAW AMONG TURKMEN OF IRAN". 2 (4): 25–39. Archived from the original on 9 May 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2018 – via en.journals.sid.ir. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. Kiddushin 68b
  10. Vellian 1986b, p. 18-19.
  11. Qamar et al. 2002, p. 1119.
  12. Açikyildiz, Birgül (2014-12-23). The Yezidis: The History of a Community, Culture and Religion. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 9780857720610.
  13. Gidda, Mirren. "Everything You Need to Know About the Yazidis". TIME.com. Retrieved 2016-02-07.
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