Social Systems
Social Systems The Tiwi’s were a very isolated group of people. They didn’t make contact with many people, but when they did it tended to be a hostile and unfriendly situation. The Tiwi people were grouped into Bands. “Bands were large and tended to move in a dispersed fashion, so fellow members might not see one another for weeks.” (P.218 Cultural Sketches) The Tiwi’s had their bands organized so that everyone knew what their job was within the band. In the Tiwi culture everyone is kin to everyone else. (p.218) The way that the Tiwi’s classify themselves is with their clans. They belong to their mother’s matrilineal descent group and with their father's clan group. These two factors are important to an individual. The Tiwi culture did not practice preferred marriage in their culture level within a polygynous system. In the Tiwi culture it is mandated that all women must be married. The Tiwi culture has strong beliefs towards this. All women will be married from birth to death. There is not even a word for an unmarried woman in their language. It is the family’s responsibility to make sure that every woman is married and that her child will have a father. The Tiwi’s believe that spirits only impregnates women. Women could get impregnated at anytime and by her being married or betrothed it ensures her child a father. The father of a child makes the decision to betroth his daughter and to whom his future son-in-law will be. He would pick a man that may help him economically in the future. It was usually someone he was associated with “Therefore, he chose either someone who was an important friend or ally or whom he wished to engage as a friend or ally.” (p.219) Women would usually leave the home around the age 14.