ABSTRACT
Indeed, contrary to Levi-Strauss’s contention that it is the prohibition of incest that makes possible society and the system of reciprocity that underlies sociality, it could be said that it is a recomposed image of androgynous and incestuous unity that stands at the very center of society and is the condition for both hierarchy and exchange. As a core category of kinship, the relationship between reciprocal korok appears to radiate outward from the incest taboo that is observed between brothers and sisters, as it shares with this relationship the imposition of strict rules of avoidance; one has to avoid looking directly at one’s korok, addressing her by name, sitting or walking next to her, passing things to her without using a middleman, or being found sleeping or eating in her presence. Avoidance rules may thus confound and even be symptomatic of an endogamous sociality that conceives of units of siblings as the core kinship category.
