Social+Structures


 * Huli Social Structures**

The Huli people did not traditionally live in villages, instead random dwellings were created by individuals throughout their clans specific territory. Most large Huli towns are the result of European colonization, and they do not reflect the true Huli mentality. The Huli are organized into clans which are further organized into "igini" or "children of brothers". These subdivided clans are formed by having a cognate member (damene) and non cognate members. Cognate members descend from a common ancestor who started the clan, while non-cognate members are not descendants (at least not direct). Cognate descendants can fall into one of two categories regarding how they relate to the founding clan member. They can be an agnate, which means he or she would either be related to a brother of the founding ancestor or indirectly related to him through no less than three patrilineal bonds from a women agnate ancestor. The clans serve as political units which carry out diplomacy and wage war. Each member of a clan is responsible for defending their clan, paying taxes, and participating in rites. Members who leave the clan to go elsewhere have the risk of not having their clans support. Essentially, clans are Huli social structures, as they mediate the daily happenings.

Other social structures include marriage and education. Both of these are carried out through the performance and memorization of rituals. While there is no formal schooling system, every child is educated in the same fashion, through rites of initiation.

An anthropologist speaking with Huli elders

Further Reading:

This is an article about the descent system in the Huli social structure: http://www.jstor.org/pss/40329153

This is an article about Conflicts between Huli people and how conflicts are resolved: https://digitalcollections.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/42124/2/goldman.pdf

Interested in social organization or huli homes? []