AUTHOR:
Marin Constantin
Francisc I. Rainer Institute of Anthropology, Romanian Academy; Department of Ethnology, Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest, Romania

PAGES: 19-32

KEYWORDS: Siblings; pastoralism; cross-cultural comparison; Mărginimea Sibiului; Romania.

ABSTRACT:
In southern Transylvania, sibling relations among herdsmen constitute a framework for organizing local shepherding practices. Our field data point to the importance of the brothers’ and sisters’ joint work in terms of the apprenticeship of young shepherds, the task rotation during seasonal transhumance, the sharing of their parents’ herds, and (as a result) the intergenerational continuity of pastoral ownership. Therefore, sibling relations among herders should be considered not only demographic evidence of consanguinity but more importantly a traditional pattern of sociality and economic mutual help, i.e., an institution. The functionality of such an institutional model is confirmed by the anthropological literature.

HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE:
Constantin, Marin. 2024. “Sibling Relations among Herders in Mărginimea Sibiului (Southern Transylvania).” Martor 29: 19-32. [DOI: 10.57225/martor.2024.29.02]

MARTOR applies to all published materials the Creative Commons Licence “Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives CC BY-NC-ND,” allowing others to download the published works and share them with others as long as they credit the author, but they can’t change them in any way, or use them commercially.

MARTOR no. 29 / year 2024

Sibling Relations among Herders in Mărginimea Sibiului (Southern Transylvania)